What we do

The Great Court at the British Museum The Great Court at the British Museum NMDC represents its members and the issues they care about to policy makers and opinion formers. We work to inform and shape the museums and cultural policy agendas across the UK.

Here you can find out more about some of our current areas of activity. 

Encouraging investment

Making the case to government and major funders for continued investment in museums.

»read more

The climate crisis

Supporting members in taking action to address the climate crisis is a key priority for NMDC. Read more about our work on environment and ecology issues here. 

»read more

Partnerships

We work to foster closer ties and better collaborative working across the museum sector, including skills and collections sharing. NMDC also promotes the partnership work museums do, including through regular research and briefing papers.

»read more

Collections and cultural property

NMDC supports and represents members on a range of collections management and cultural property issues, sharing best practice across the membership and offering a forum for discussion and debate.

»read more

Working internationally

As any museum with a website now has an international audience and because the collections of the UK's museums tell not just stories of the UK but stories of the world, many museums have developed ambitious international partnerships. NMDC supports and promotes this work, including through the annual Working Internationally Conference.

»read more

Supporting learning

Working to ensure that museums and galleries remain at the heart of children’s learning and development and continue to innovate to reach out to all young people in their communities.

»read more

Policy and projects

Working with members and external partners to drive the development of museum policy.  Recent areas of focus include intellectual property, copyright, restitution and spoliation.

»read more

Promoting philanthropy

Working with Government and third sector organisations on ways to increase charitable giving to museums.

»read more

Supporting our members

NMDC provides a shared service for members, working on Directors’ shared concerns and priorities.

»read more

Digital museums

Promoting museums' digital working, sharing best practice and developing policy on digital issues such as maximising public access to digital content and promoting financial sustainability.

»read more