All museums that are eligible to apply for Accreditation can. However, the intention to submit an application, as well as agree a time to do this, must be agreed with SMC in the first instance. This is to ensure that a museum does not do a large amount of work if they are not eligible and also to make sure the SMC officers responsible for Advice and Assessment have time within their work schedules to deal with the application (along with the many others that will be continuing over the five-year period). Below is a guide of what steps you should take if you are a new applicant
Step 1 Are you already a member of SMC?
SMC advises and assesses the Accreditation applications of member museums as part of the benefits of SMC membership. If you are not already a member of SMC you should contact us to discuss membership -
E: [email protected]
T: 0131 550 4100
Step 2 Are you Eligible?
The Accreditation Standard details the types of organisations that can and cannot apply for Accreditation
Step 3 Read the Accreditation Standard document and the sample application
Step 4 If you are ready to make an application
Please contact the SMC Standards Manager to arrange a suitable time for invitation to apply. Please remember that once invited your museum will only have 6 months to put their full application together for Assessment.
Step 5 Once invited work toward submission of a draft application
Step 6 Advice from SMC Officers and support materials
Step 7 Assessment of your application
Step 8 If you meet the Accreditation Standard you will be awarded Full or Provisional Accreditation
Full Accreditation means you have met all the criteria of the standard and Provisional Accreditation means you have only partly met the criteria and have been given a short timescale to put arrangements in place to meet the criteria fully.
Once you are awarded either of these your museum will progress to become a full member of SMC and will be eligible to apply for SMC grants.
Step 9 Monitoring of your status
If you have any enquiries about the information on these pages or require more detailed information on the Museum Accreditation Scheme, please contact the SMC Standards Manager.
