From fire-fighting to flourishing: the financial sessions at M+H Show 2026

How do museums and heritage organisations build financial resilience in an uncertain world, and what does a sustainable operating model look like in 2026? Those questions sit at the heart of a rich strand of sessions at this year’s Museums + Heritage Show, taking place on 13–14 May at Olympia London.

Leading the group of sessions is From fragile to flourishing: Museum operating models in an uncertain world, in which Lisa Ollerhead, AIM Director, and Matt Smith, AIM Head of Communications at the Association of Independent Museums, present a new set of resources launched in 2026 to help museums and heritage organisations rethink their operating models. The session invites attendees to reflect on current practice, explore what others are doing differently, and consider where their organisation sits on the spectrum from fire-fighting to flourishing.

Diversifying income is the focus of Building financial resilience: Beyond grant dependency, in which Samantha Prince, Deputy Director of the Food Museum, and Laura Renaud-Studer, Investment Director at Figurative, explore how impact investment can complement grants and sponsorship. The session offers practical tools and insights for organisations navigating rising costs and reduced funding.

Net zero is addressed directly in Funding the future: Making museums net zero, with Fran Sanderson, CEO of Figurative, Sarah Newman [title to be confirmed] at Russell-Coates Art Gallery and Museum, and Andrew Wylie, Partner at Buro Happold, sharing research into retrofit economics and the development of a Decarbonisation of Cultural Assets Fund. The session sets out practical routes for museums, galleries and theatres seeking to cut carbon emissions and energy costs.

The mixed-use heritage model gets a thorough airing in How mixed-use models drive sustainable heritage regeneration, with Richard Morsley, Chief Executive, and Olivia Horner, Commercial Director of Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, sharing how the Historic Dockyard Chatham has evolved over 40 years into a financially resilient mixed-use estate blending tourism, education, industry and community.

Doing more with less is the theme of Big impact, small budget, delivering the Melsonby Hoard exhibition, in which Jamie McCall, Creative Director at PLB Projects Ltd, and Glynn Davis, Senior Curator at Yorkshire Museums Trust, share how they are delivering a blockbuster-feel exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum on a restricted budget, balancing storytelling, design and collections care.

Standards and governance underpin the programme too. In Museum Accreditation: how do you define a well-run museum?, Sarah Hartshorne, Senior Manager, Museums and Cultural Property at Arts Council England, is joined by a panel of scheme deliverers and museums involved in testing, to discuss the redesign of the UK-wide Museum Accreditation Scheme and what it means to be a well-run museum fit for a sustainable future.

Income generation on the ground is the focus of Resetting the spend: A case study on income generation at V&A South Kensington, in which Jonathan Curzon, Head of Front of House, and Nell Guy, Senior Front of House Manager at V&A South Kensington, share how they manage ticket strategy, monitor onsite spending and adjust their approach to encourage visitors to spend more during their visit.

Two further sessions round out the strand. Supporting innovation in heritage workforce brings together George Stanley-Jones, Head of Partnerships and Innovation at NLHF, Jenna Marrion, Safe Access Freelance Project Manager at the Association of Independent Museums, Emma Dakin, Youth Engagement Officer at Butterfly Conservation, and Anna Dinnen, Senior Associate at Young Foundation, to reflect on the Heritage Innovation programme and what it means to support innovation in heritage organisations.

And Support and funding for museums’ and heritage organisations’ archives sees Philippa Turner, Sector Development Manager, London and Business Archives, and André Santos, Digitisation Production Manager at The National Archives, outline the free advice, guidance and digitisation support available to museums and heritage organisations.

For professionals attending the show, the programme offers plenty of space to explore what financial resilience and long-term sustainability look like across different types and sizes of institution.

The Museums + Heritage Show takes place on 13–14 May at Olympia London. It is free to attend. Register for your pass at show.museumsandheritage.com.