Archives Wales – Audience Development Explore Your Archive 2015 Campaign Grants 1. Introduction Explore Your Archive will take place from 14-22 November 2015. This public awareness campaign is led by the Archives and Records Association and The National Archives in conjunction with the All-Wales Audience Development Team. Archives throughout the UK and Ireland are being asked to plan as many events and activities as possible from 14-22 November in order to make maximum impact. Please put the week in your diaries now and start planning what you will do. For more information on the 2014 campaign including evaluation summary please go to: http://www.archiveswales.org.uk/staff-toolkit/explore-your-archive-2014/ We are offering grants to encourage services to organise events and activities in Wales specifically for the campaign. These could include open days, workshops, talks, tours or outreach activities. Alternatively, the grant money may be used to develop your own Story Box. 2. Story Boxes Story Boxes are a way of introducing people to what they could find. Your Story Box can be filled with documents, journals, objects and curios all connected to a theme, story, place or person e.g. a local scandal, a famous person, travel, sport, a film set in the area, fashion, music, conflict, buildings, unsolved mysteries – the choice is yours. The Story Box can be physical as well as virtual. The idea is to allow you to highlight, on a national level, the goldmine of information and untold stories within your archive. You could engage with local groups and organisations by taking your Story Box to one of their gatherings or you could organise an event about your Story Box. 3. Grant Guidelines Grants are available to all archive services in Wales eligible for Museums, Archives, Libraries Division Welsh Government (MALD) grant funding. The funding is to be used for events/activities which are specifically organised for the Explore Your Archive campaign (14-22 November). Events/activities do not necessarily have to be held in your archives office. 1 Developing/improving existing events/activities or organising new events/activities will be considered. Organisers are encouraged to work with external partners and/or other archive services. Applications targeting audiences within Communities First clusters / Pioneer Areas will be specifically welcomed. All promotional materials created must be bilingual, use the campaign branding and where possible use the #explorearchives / #archwilioarchifau The Welsh Government funded by logo must be included on any promotional material associated with the events/activities (with the exception of small items such as promotional giveaways). Grants cannot normally be used for purchasing equipment for adding to the archives resources (please consult with Audience Development Team if you have a specific enquiry). 4. Budget A total budget of £7000 has been allocated for the grants. Grants of up to £1000 are available – please do not request £1000 if you really only need £500 as this will allow us to fund more events/activities. Please include an approximate breakdown of costs on the application form provided. This is a competitive grant fund. Archive services may submit more than one grant application if they wish - as long as it is for completely separate projects. The money can either be spent on one event/activity or split to organise several events/activities connected to the campaign. If applicable, archives may wish to put additional funding to the events/activities. 5. Selection Process The grants will be selected using the following criteria: Relevance to Explore Your Archive campaign Originality of event/activity Potential to increase awareness/attract new users Working with audiences in Communities First / Pioneer Areas Methods of promotion Maximising value for money Working with partners Methods of evaluation 2 Potential for future development 6. Evaluation All events/activities must be evaluated and a staff survey must be completed following the campaign. 7. Application Process Please submit your proposal using the short grant application form provided no later than Monday, 3rd August 2015. Please email your completed application form to nicola.williams@wrexham.gov.uk Invoices for the full amount must be sent by 15th January 2016 to nicola.williams@wrexham.gov.uk 8. Contact Details For more information or to discuss your ideas/proposals please contact – Nicola Williams nicola.williams@wrexham.gov.uk Tel: 01978 722988 3