One of the strands running through Arts Council England’s strategy for the cultural sector is a need to extend the reach and diversity of its audiences and working towards ‘real engagement with people and communities’.

Knowing who visits and who does not visit is of importance to museums of every scale. However, finding the means to capture and translate information poses different challenges depending on the capacity available. SHARE Museums East supports audience development plans with institutions across the region, as well as providing specific support for localised clusters of museums where interests and resources can be shared.

We also support museums that are exploring and developing work with local communities. There is a good deal of scope for developing practice in and reflection on nurturing audience access and engagement, yet at the same time, in an era of spending cuts to the arts and to local government, there is growing concern about how museums can deliver positive social impact to the communities they serve. SHARE Museums East supports museums of varying sizes to reach and involve new audiences, whilst sharing the knowledge gained from these diverse experiences in the form of resources and cohort work.

We offer training on working with communities through our training calendar – click here to view current courses and events on Communities and Audience Development.

We also coordinate a Co-Production Cohort with museums already running community programmes, and offer ongoing funding opportunities for audience development and small-scale community engagements.

Contact[email protected] for more information on our work with communities and audiences.