Any non-national institution may apply for Designation of all, or an identifiable part, of its museum, archive or library collections. Applications for Designated status are considered by a panel composed of senior members of the museum, library and archive professions. Panel meetings are held twice a year, normally in January and July.
The date of the next meeting is 31 January 2013. The deadline for this meeting has now passed. To ensure your application is considered at the meeting in July, please submit the papers to Arts Council by 4 April 2013.
Before considering an application, you should read the Designation application guidance notes.
Eligibility
Applicants should be confident that their collection or collections will meet the standards required for Designation and that they will be able to provide sufficient evidence and supporting information. Therefore all potential applicants must complete an Intention to apply and eligibility form, and send it to the Designation Manager.
The purpose of this form is to inform the Arts Council about the applicant's organisation, their collections, and enable their eligibility for the scheme to be checked. At this stage the information provided will not be seen or considered by the Designation Panel. However, eligibility information from this form will be summarised for the Panel if a full application is made.
Once the Arts Council has confirmed eligibility, the Designation Scheme application form may be submitted in accordance with the timetable above. This application will be assessed against the quality and significance, and collections management and services to the public criteria, and will then be brought before the Panel.
Please also see the Designation frequently asked questions, which can be downloaded from the link on the right.
Application
The application, together with scanned or electronic supporting documents should be submitted by email. In addition, one unbound, unstapled, paper copy of the application and supporting evidence must be submitted.
Completed application forms must be emailed to designation@artscouncil.org.uk.
The paper copies should be sent to:
Assistant, Designation and PRISM Fund
Arts Council England
82 Granville Street
Birmingham B1 2LH
All applications will be acknowledged on receipt and checked for completeness.
Incomplete applications will be returned, as the Arts Council cannot accept missing documents and information once the application has been received.
Once the application has been assessed by the Arts Council, the applicant may be asked to submit additional evidence or other material if this is necessary for the Panel to consider the application.
