Working Towards National Museums Accreditation

We’re working towards National Museums Accreditation

Towards the end of 2023 the National Videogame Museum (NVM) became eligible for Accreditation, which is Arts Council England’s Industry Standard for UK museums and galleries.

Accreditation is the Gold Standard for UK museums, and achieving this benchmark will mean working across all of our different departments and functions during 2024, and working with our Charity Board. This ensures everything about the Museum is properly run, all of our Collections and Exhibitions are carefully managed, and the needs of our Communities and Audiences can be met, both within our venue and online.

Videogames are for everyone. Forever

NVM recently celebrated five years at our venue in Castle House, Sheffield, and in that time we’ve welcomed tens of thousands of visitors – including members of the public, schools and university groups who have engaged with everything from our interactive exhibits, collections objects and learning programmes. 

Over the next period we want to make sure our venue and exhibits are as welcoming and accessible as possible. We’ve been fortunate to have the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, who are supporting the museum to re-imagine our visitor experience.

We have been taking some of our exhibits on the road as pop-up experiences (including a playable 1980’s vintage arcade game, and more unusual items like Computer Engineer Barbie) to hear directly from local communities what they would like to see. In 2024, the Level Up project will return for a significant exhibition within the Museum.

Why Videogames Matter

Videogames can be both physical and digital objects, and this creates challenges for how they are cared for. In 2024 we’ll be engaging more with peer museums and universities on what it really means to collect and care for videogames. We have already begun to take a full inventory of our existing collections working with a dedicated Collections Assistant, Ann Wain, and input from the museum Community Champions.

This year we will be working towards the creation of a published catalogue, so that everyone – from local individuals & communities to academic researchers from across the world – can find out about the objects that we keep at our Collections facility. In the spring, working with University of Nottingham Phd. Researcher Imogen Kaufman, we will be creating some special new displays at the museum, celebrating the diversity of objects in our collections, and putting human stories at the centre of everything we do. 

Operation “Shipshape”

The National Videogame Museum is constituted as a charity (part of the BGI) and – as well as receiving box office revenue from those who buy tickets – we rely heavily on support from grant funders, donations and industry sponsorship.

The pandemic took a tremendous toll on cultural organisations across the UK, and were it not for support from the videogames industry, our communities, and Arts Council England Culture Recovery Fund scheme (plus many other public grant and private funders) our museum might have perished. 

The Accreditation process is not an end-point, but a journey. There will always be more work to do caring for objects, enhancing visitor experience, collaborating with peers and understanding our subject. Working towards Accreditation is creating an opportunity to review and revise our onward Business Plans. It makes sure we have all of the right systems and support in place for future challenges – all ensuring there is a long term future for the museum.