Nicola Bell

An A to Z of 25 years

2021 marks 25 years of working as a freelancer and consultant in cultural heritage.  During that time, the projects and clients I have worked with cover the whole alphabet.  Here are some of them: Archives, Archaeology; British Library, British Museum, Beamish: Churches, Community Consultations, Carlisle Castle; Darlington Railway Museum, Head of Steam; English Heritage, Evaluation; Forestry; Glass; Henry VIII, Heritage Schools, Historic England; Imperial War Museum; Journey to Justice. More to follow!

New Evaluation Principles from the Centre for Cultural Value

These new evaluation principles have just been launched, to help cultural organisations evaluate their work more effectively.  The principles are about the intentions for evaluation, applicable to cultural organisations, funders and the evaluators themselves. Evaluation should be:

  • Beneficial, resulting in learning or change
  • Robust, but proportionate
  • People-centred
  • Connected - findings are transparent and shared with other organisations

Read more about the principles here

Railway Resources

Good learning resources stand the test of time. Back in 2006, I created resource boxes about the Railways, the Seaside and Victorian Childhood for the museums in the Tees Valley and the boxes are still regularly used by schools. I'm starting work with Head of Steam, Darlington Railway Museum, to find out what sort of learning resources teachers would like while the museum will be closed for re-development (December 2022 to Spring 2024) and when it re-opens. At Kirkleatham Museum, I'll be carrying out an audit of all their existing resource boxes and refreshing them in appearance and content.

Good News for Heritage

Two pieces of good news for heritage: firstly the National Lottery Heritage Fund has announced its new funding programme which will help heritage recover from the impact of covid:

Read more: Good News for Heritage

  1. New Questions for New Times
  2. Canny Chanters Chopwell Arts
  3. Heritage Schools evaluation report 2018/19 launched
  4. Kings Seat hill fort
  5. Heritage Centre Bellingham
  6. Who are our visitors?
  7. Places of Worship for Community Wellbeing
  8. Snapping the Stiletto
  9. Dementia Friendly Heritage
  10. Martin Luther King in Newcastle
  11. Art up your tab
  12. Museums Change Lives
  13. Charred timber cladding for the Kielder wildlife hide
  14. New wildlife hide for Kielder
  15. Martin Luther King - Freedom City Launch
  16. On tenterhooks
  17. Heritage Schools wins Europa Nostra award
  18. Glass Beats
  19. Leeches and Stories of Glass
  20. Selma - the right to vote
  21. Kinder Transport Memorial, Liverpool Street Station
  22. Goulash Cannon and Tin Helmet
  23. Remembrance
  24. Making glass at the National Glass Centre
  25. The Canary Girls
  26. Recycling from the First World War
  27. The Talented and Colossal Mademoiselle D'Jeck
  28. Visitor Studies in Split, Croatia
  29. On the border of Slovenia and Hungary
  30. Culture Matters
  31. Slovenia
  32. Repositories of technology
  33. A piece of Hungarian social history
  34. Museum + Heritage Show; Arts Professional
  35. Evaluation training in Slovenia and Croatia
  36. Iron Applause in Central Europe
  37. Escaped Circus Elephant!
  38. Gold from Afghanistan and Foundling fabrics
  39. The Old Herring Factory, Djúpavík
  40. Contemporary art from North Korea
  41. Nicola appointed to Board: Kuratórium
  42. Workshop in Hungary
  43. Evaluation Training in Hungary
New Article

Page 5 of 16