In September 2016, the ‘Mendoza Review’ was launched with a public consultation. This met an earlier Government commitment, made in the Culture White Paper to a wide-ranging review, the first in ten years, of national, local, and regional museums.
The Mendoza Review recommends the creation of a Museums Action Plan by September 2018.The review asks Arts Council England (ACE) and Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to show how they will deliver nine key priorities that will enable museums to diversify audiences, contribute to the identity of their local area and become more accessible.
The nine key priorities that the Mendoza Review recommends DCMS, ACE and HLF include in the Museums Action Plan are:
- Helping adapt to today’s funding environment;
- Improving curation and management of collections so that they are accessible to the public;
- Growing and diversifying audiences;
- Ensuring museums contribute to the priorities of the local area;
- Delivering cultural education;
- Developing future leaders;
- Diversifying the workforce of museums;
- Increasing digital capacity and using digital technology to create innovative and engaging exhibition content; and
- Work internationally.
The Government accepts the report’s recommendations and will begin work to prioritise and make them a reality stating that: ‘they are a sensible set of ideas, particularly within the current financial circumstances and in light of Britain’s exit from the European Union, designed to streamline and improve how Government and its Arm’s-Length Bodies operates with, for, and towards the museums sector – helping them to remain ‘jewels in our national crown’.