The Natural History Museum: one of three museums taking part in a pilot programme to introduce a new system of self-assessment and peer review for directly sponsored museums.
The results of a pilot programme to introduce a new system of self-assessment and peer review for directly sponsored museums have been published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
The National Portrait Gallery, Natural History Museum and Tyne & Wear Museums carried out the pilot scheme to take forward recommendations made by Sir Brian McMaster in his report Supporting Excellence in the Arts, which called for a renewed focus on excellence in the cultural sector.
Welcoming the results, Culture Secretary Andy Burnham said: "Peer review is the right way to drive forward quality and excellence across museums and the wider cultural sector moving away from the concerns about targets and box ticking.
"The museums will learn much from the exercise and become stronger and more confident as a result. I am pleased to see the evidence of how strongly they are all performing and I look forward to developing this work across the cultural sector over the coming years."
Each museum was asked to detail its vision, its successes and its challenges. In each case the peer review was then conducted by a panel of three individuals, from both the UK and abroad and from a range of professional backgrounds.
The peer reviews took place over three days and the panel reports include a critique of the self-assessment, an over-arching appraisal of the excellence across the museums functions and a set of recommendations for each museum to consider.
Each museum was also asked to provide a management response to the peer review. The process comes on the heels of a similar review undertaken by Arts Council England, who recently completed a consultation on self-assessment and peer review for its Regularly Funded Organisations.
The results of the latest review are now being evaluated by the DCMS who are considering the roll out of the system, taking on board refinements from the pilot, to all sponsored museums with Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) status.
The McMaster review made a series of 26 recommendations including proposals to make government funded cultural organisations develop good-practice guidelines for self-assessment and peer review and to develop a commitment to excellence, innovation and risk taking.
The recent launch of the Arts Council England managed scheme for free theatre tickets for under 26's is also part of the wider McMaster implementation programme. Other recommendations made in the review are being taken forward by Arts Council England and the Museums, Libraries and Archive Council.
