Surrey Museums Partnership has been a single point of contact for our county’s museums and galleries for 30 years. We provide advice and support for over 40 museums and their staff, including hundreds of volunteers, and a voice on a larger stage where most museums are small. Our organisation is the only museum partnership of its kind. It is funded jointly by Surrey’s District & Borough Councils, and Surrey County Council.
“A source of expert guidance, a forum to meet and share ideas, a supporting voice for
the profession, and an unfailing inspiration for new ventures – this is the Surrey Museums
Partnership. It brings together the diverse museums of the county, large and small, to create a whole which is more than the sum of its parts. Its work in conservation, joint projects, development grants, publicity, and advocacy has made a huge difference to the services we are able to supply to the public. Museums here would be much weaker in their public profile and professional standards without the help of Surrey Museums Partnership. And they serve good cake.” Jeremy Harte – Curator, Bourne Hall Museum
We raise the profile of Surrey’s cultural opportunities for residents and visitors. We promote museums through events, annual campaigns, joint advertising, media coverage, articles, interviews, web presence and links to wider networks. All of these help increase visitor numbers, and promote museum contribution to the local economy and tourism.
All Surrey museums and galleries can benefit from our small grants programme. It is the only small grants programme in the Southeast region, and the only grant supporting remedial conservation. Our funding priorities include family and community events, conservation of artefacts, training and IT development.
We build quality relationships with those in community groups, heritage, arts, education, archives, tourism, and libraries. We work towards a common purpose together with our museum partners to improve cultural opportunities, break down barriers and build community cohesion. You’ll find examples of our partnership projects on the Blog page.
We help museums preserve local heritage, promote cultural identity and work with vulnerable and hard-to-reach members of the community. Part of this stems from our support for the volunteer workforce who are the backbone of many museums in the heart of their communities.
We work in partnership to develop school programmes, support family activities, connect with communities, create learning resources, provide training, coordinate network groups, share professional knowledge of national developments and respond strategically. You can find out more about our learning partnership work on the Blog page.
Care of collections is key. Good conservation is expensive and hard to find. We provide free, on-call advice, practical conservation and skills sharing to all Surrey museums. We also work with regional colleagues who provide conservation expertise and training through the Southeast Museum Development service.
We provide links to relevant contacts in the sector for advice, partnership working, bids for resources, joint events and joint purchasing. We also provide links to Sector Professionals, and work especially closely with our colleagues in Arts Council England and the Southeast Museum Development service.
We believe museums & galleries have a vital role in education, community spirit, identity, health and well-being, opportunity and recreation.
Surrey museums and galleries are outstanding cultural providers and we believe that we have a responsibility to support them. Scroll through to read Our 3 Guiding Priniciples.
We aim to make significant contributions to Surrey’s cultural offer. Our work increases awareness, enjoyment, use and professional standards of museums in our county. We strive to make the cultural, community and economic benefits of Surrey museums known at a local, regional and national level. We believe learning in its broadest sense is lifelong and life-enhancing. Museums have a fundamental role in this.Our partnership is therefore committed to raising the profile of all Surrey museums, promoting the widest possible access to all types of museums, their ideas and their collections.
We are here to help Surrey museums sustain and develop their work, to be driven by their needs, and not be directive or prescriptive. We take account of the wider framework within which Surrey museums operate and take every opportunity to maximise resources and opportunities for their benefit.
We are a conduit for all Surrey museums to communicate with each other, and for those wishing to communicate with Surrey museums. We are a mutually supportive partnership that is always ready to listen and collaborate towards common aims.
Surrey Museums Partnership is a true collaboration. It provides a unique platform for our museums and galleries, councils, regional and national agencies to work together to support goals and initiatives at local, regional and national levels. We are grateful for the ongoing support and representation from Surrey County Council, and from each of our supporting District and Borough partners.
Surrey Museums Partnership would like to thank the following councils for their continued support:
Elmbridge Borough Council
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council
Guildford Borough Council
Runnymede Borough Council
Spelthorne Borough Council
Tandridge Borough Council
Waverley Borough Council
Waverley Town Council
Woking Borough Council and
Surrey County Council