Museum compass 9.

Summary

In the past two years Hungarian museum institutions faced a new challenge unknown up till then, namely the state funding constructions of the New Hungary Development Plan (NHDP) for the period 2007–2013. These financial support constructions have been the major source of development for this sphere of institutions. The grant proposals, the entire system of tendering and the whole process of realisation – starting from the time of the composition of the proposal up to the closing of the project – have induced extreme reactions from our institutions.
Those museums that had already participated in EU funded tenders were prepared for the required undertakings; however the ones that met with this system in 2008–2010 for the first time, found this task a big challenge, since the criteria of EU funded tenders very much differ from the national grant system they were familiar with. The two constructions launched for museums in the framework of the NHDP are TIOP 1.2.2 (in the Social Infrastructure Operational Program) and TAMOP 3.2.8/A-B (in the Social Renewal Operational Program).
The goal of the TAMOP 3.2.8/A titled „Museums for everyone” – Strengthening the educational role of museums – Central methodological development is to find new museum pedagogical approaches in order to help public education based on competency development, as well as set up cooperation agreements between museums and institutions of public education. The present methodological volume is the realisation of this goal. The project is being accomplished by the Educational and Training Centre for Museums (MOKK) of the Open-air Museum of Ethnography.
The objective of the TAMOP 3.2.8/B titled Strengthening the educational role of museums is the development of museum pedagogical activities encompassing museum services supporting public education and life long learning. This component of the construction intends to promote further development, the integration into local education and the dissemination of good practices of museum pedagogy by realising and publicising museum pedagogical and didactic projects.
However, these development constructions meant for museum institutions – ensuring the supply side – cannot be successful unless the institutional system of public education generates the demand that enables to make use of the infrastructural development and the educational program packages of museums worked out in the cooperation of our institutions. The secret of success of museum developments lies in the partnership of the pedagogical and museum profession – cemented in a cooperation agreement – in their common role and activities.
As part of the project TAMOP 3.2.8/A titled „Museums for everyone” – Strengthening the educational role of museums – Central methodological development, the project element was accomplished with the title Planning of sample projects, fixing project simulations and multipliable sample projects the results of which are published in this volume. With the help of this project, managers and staff of museum institutions – who had been less familiar with proposal writing and project management – learned how to perform project planning, project management, financial planning and implementation, proposal writing, public procurement, project accomplishment and the pertinent communication in a practical environment and through thinking and working together in a simulative workshop-type setting. The simulation of the planning and project writing workshop, the implementation and the administration of the sample project help answer questions like: How to plan „school-museum” project? How to write a proposal to it? How to handle the individual characteristics of the museum field? How to carry out and administer the project? etc.
The simulative planning of the nine accomplished small-scale sample project facilitated significantly the professional development of the potential grantees and the didactic implementation of the methodologies worked out in the selected project. Sample projects were realised with the direction of one or more colleagues working in the local museum institution. The museum was led by a project simulation throughout the whole process illustrating the tasks of project planning, project administration, museum pedagogy, dissemination, financial accounting, monitoring starting from the emergence of the project idea via writing and composing the proposal up to its accomplishment. Further local museums were also invited for the workshop, with 3–6 participants in each sample project in order to ensure a multiplying effect, to make use of the simulation experiences. Case studies presenting the achievements of sample projects planned and accomplished in the above manner are collected in our volume.
The aim of this publication is to facilitate and model the entire process of tendering for the institutions interested, from the emergence of the project idea to the compilation of the whole tendering documentation. We believe that the most appropriate way to make museum colleagues understand these steps is to let them learn in practice. We have collected a few workshop secrets, underlined the mandatory, the most important features, we presented the methods resulting in efficiency and performance, warned to avoid typical mistakes. Having revisited the methodology we offer a colour palette of case studies of the sample projects presenting the process of project planning and accomplishment and also the lessons learnt. As a consequence, future applicants can more easily and confidently proceed on a paved path to gain EU support needed to realise their projects.
The volume consists of two major parts. In the first one, the simulation practices are presented together with the most important features of the tender construction and the information needed for project planning and application. The reader will learn the financial and monitoring tasks as well as the closing activities running parallel to the professional accomplishment of the project.
The second part presents one by one and in a unified structure the sample projects based on the workshops. On the first page there is a brief introduction of the sample project and the project owner. Following the description of the museum, the partners and the place of accomplishment of the project, comes a detailed report of the project content and elements. The presentation of the activities goes along with the order of the budget categories. There is mention about the results, the communication, financial events, and obviously we draw the lessons learnt, help avoid mistakes and highlight good examples.