Friday, 28th January 2022

Trident Manor has been commissioned by ACE – (Arts Council England) to undertake a project exploring the current and future security needs of museums, galleries, and other cultural venues within the United Kingdom with an intention of ensuring advice and guidance is available for those who need it.

The arts, cultural, heritage, and associated sectors have gone through a period of intense changes, primarily caused by the impact of Covid on their operations and ability to function. In some cases, the current activities of sites and venues differ greatly from what existed pre-covid and adjustments have had to be made.

Where organisational changes occur threats, risks, or vulnerabilities can be introduced through a lack of understanding of security requirements, training, or knowledge about sources of specific security-related information and data. The type of threats that exist, and the threat sources are also continually changing therefore it is important to ensure the sector can access accurate and informative information which helps make informed decisions.

Trident Manor has been commissioned by ACE to deliver this project on their behalf. (click to open) Letter of Introduction 2022 January.pdf.

The Trident Manor team will collect, collate, and analyse general information (mindful of information security, no individual or site will be identified) about current and future security needs, thoughts, and perceptions to ensure that the advice and guidance available to the sectors is accurate, beneficial, and support informed decision making regarding the protection of assets.

The project approach is twofold, firstly there is an anonymised survey which we would encourage anybody directly engaged in the UK arts, cultural, or heritage sectors, or those organisations that indirectly support the sectors to complete.

The second approach is the holding of online discussions/interviews with a wide cross-section of those within or supporting the sectors from across the UK to ensure a balanced engagement is achieved. (Anybody wishing to participate in the interview element of this project can contact Andy Davis.)

The survey (click 'survey' to open) will run until the 14^th of February 2022, and we would like to encourage anybody within, or supporting the UK arts, cultural, and heritage sectors (Senior management, archivists, curators, front of house teams, security, logistics, insurance brokers etc.) to complete it and help to ensure support and assistance is provided now, and into the future.