David Gelsthorpe
In February 2025 the Collections Trust, which supports museums and cultural institutions in managing their collections, announced a new chief executive. David Gelsthorpe reflects on the first year in the role.
I’ve been Chief Exec at Collections Trust for nearly a year now and have relished stepping into a role I have always wanted. I have brought my collaborative leadership style to co-develop a new strategic plan, vision and values and learnt lots. Our new Find an Object site is ready to launch, and the pioneering Museum Data Service continues to thrive in our partnership with Art UK and the University of Leicester. Our collections consultancy work is supporting museums big and small, and we are developing new partnerships in digital skills, standards and infrastructure.
Things are pretty tough for many museums, with reductions in funding and staffing particularly for civic institutions. But recent announcements of the 5% uplift of Arts Council England NPO funding and the extra £160M from the Museums Estates Development Fund will make all the difference. I am more conscious than ever that the free training and outreach we deliver and transforming collections access through the Museum Data Service makes a real difference.
We are at a pivotal moment at Collections Trust as we reflect on how we best support the sector and raise ambition in the next ten years. Our 2035 strategic plan will use our training, outreach and partnerships to further transform collections standards, infrastructure and research using collections. We aim to shift how museums manage and understand their collections and transform how collections are used.
For too long museums have struggled to document their collections, get the information out there and get them used. We need a new momentum for documentation so museums can reach their full potential and demonstrate their value to society. By 2035 we want all museums to know what’s in their collections with 100% basic documentation, manage collections to Spectrum standards and routinely enrich data. All things we are excited to work with our Spectrum partners to deliver. Alongside this, the Museum Data Service will deliver collections information from all UK museums to drive impactful research by providing a one-stop shop for finding information and using it like never before.
It is great to get hands on with often quite knotty challenges that museums are dealing with from duplicate numbers and refining policies to collection reviews.
My experience leading the panel for the UK Museum Accreditation Scheme has been really useful in contributing to the redesign and positioning collections at the heart of museum best practice. There is so much that is positive about Accreditation, but it feels like a bit of a burden for some museums. Refocusing on what’s really important and how it is measured is very welcome. On a personal level it has been great to further develop relationships with Arts Council colleagues.
Making progress with disposals has been another recurring theme when chatting to sector colleagues. Collections Trust already undertakes lots of work building confidence in disposals work, but to support this we will be taking on the running of the Find an Object platform from the Museums Association. We will be rolling out the new site in the next couple of months and it will have lots of new features to make advertising disposals much more user friendly.
Leading Collections Trust has been a significant change from working at Manchester Museum, but I have relished the opportunity to work with brilliant colleagues to transform collections access and standards. It has been interesting to get an outside perspective on Manchester Museum which continues to lead the sector in co-production and indigenisation. One of the joys of moving to a new role is the relationships you bring with you, though I don’t miss radioactive mineral store!
An unexpected joy of working at Collections Trust has been the collections consultancy work. It is great to get hands on with often quite knotty challenges that museums are dealing with from duplicate numbers and refining policies to collection reviews. With a bit of guidance and the structure that Spectrum gives, you can make a real difference to how to get collections well managed and used. A recent favorite was the Jazz Centre in Southend. They are a dedicated and passionate group of volunteers who want to celebrate UK jazz and bring it to a wider audience and are fairly early in their journey to become an accredited museum. I was able to help them with how to manage their collection and understand how to document it all for the first time. Other work has included Spectrum training for Singapore Museums and data cleaning for two museum services.
I’m hugely optimistic about the difference Collections Trust can make in partnership with the sector. Museums have their fair share of challenges, but we can do so much more to realise the full potential of collections to address the defining issues of our generation from climate change to social cohesion. As a trusted organisation Collections Trust can support standards, raise ambition and bring people together in a way no other organisation can. I feel really fortunate to be leading Collections Trust and look forward to working with you in the coming years.
