Nominations for the 2013 Victorian Museum Awards are now open.

The Victorian Museum Awards recognise and celebrate excellence in museum practice. They seek to reward the museums and individuals who strengthen Victoria’s museum industry through outstanding work and a commitment to best practice.

> See the Awards nominations page for further details

The final conference program is now available online. We are pleased to announce that we have over 30 speakers confirmed from a wide range of museums and galleries.

This year's theme is Reinventing Museums: Collaborate, Innovate & Transform, and the conference will take place on 18-19 April at the National Wool Museum, Geelong.

> See the latest Program and Speaker details online

MA (Vic)’s Exhibition Services encourages Victorian collecting organisations to apply for grants relating to exhibition development and production. Grants of up to $10,000 are available for static or touring exhibitions. Applications are welcomed from all Victorian museums and galleries.

See our Exhibition Grants page for examples of past grant recipients and projects, grant guidelines and application form. Applications close Monday 15 April.

We hope you enjoyed the Museums Australia (Victoria) events for 2012. As this year draws to a close we are putting the finishing touches on our 2013 Annual Program which will be distributed to members and available online in the new year.

We wish you all the very best for the festive season and look forward to seeing you in 2013. The MA (Vic) Office will be closed from 1pm Monday 24 December and will reopen on Wednesday 2 January.

Following the success of this year’s conference, we invite you to join us at the National Wool Museum in Geelong in 2013 for the second state conference for Victorian museums and galleries.

The theme of the conference is Reinventing Museums: Collaborate, Innovate & Transform and the program will explore the brave new ideas and lessons learned in recent times of change and challenge in the sector.

We have over 20 speakers confirmed so far, including:

•     Rhana Devenport, Director, Govett Brewster Gallery, New Zealand
•     Tony Ellwood, Director, National Gallery of Victoria
•     Don Herron, Design Manager, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
•     Tom Mosby, CEO, Koorie Heritage Trust
•     Karen Quinlan, Director, Bendigo Art Gallery
•     Chris Winter, formerly ABC Innovation Division and ABC2 Manager

> Click here for further details and Registration

We are pleased to announce the date for our 2013 Conference.
18 - 19 April 2013
Victorian Museums & Galleries Conference 2013
Reinventing Museums: Collaborate, Innovate & Transform

To be held at the National Wool Museum, Geelong.

Please register your details online to stay in touch.
Further details to be announced shortly.

We are proud to announce the Award winners, and congratulate the nominees, supporters and members on their dedication to the Victorian museum sector. We are proud to announce the following Award winners.

Victorian Museum Awards 2012 – Winners

The Museums Australia (Victoria) Award for Excellence  (Volunteer)
Bill Llewellyn, Sovereign Hill

The Museums Australia (Victoria) Award for Excellence (Paid Staff)
Liza Dale-Hallett, Museum Victoria

The TASHCO Systems Award for Volunteer Run Museums
Victorian Jazz Archive
Aiming for the highest standard in all areas of documentation

The Archival Survival Award for Small Museums (2-7 Paid Staff)
Shepparton Art Museum
Shepparton Art Museum Redevelopment and Rebranding

The Museums Australia (Victoria) Award for Medium Museums  (8-50 Paid Staff)
Shrine of Remembrance
‘Indigenous Australians at War’ Travelling Exhibition

The Museums Australia (Victoria) Award for Large Museums (51+ Paid Staff)
Immigration Museum
‘Identity: yours, mine, ours’ Exhibition

> Further details available on our Awards page

We are pleased to announce eight successful recipients for the 2012 Exhibition Grant round:

• Arts and Culture, Southern Health
• Castlemaine Historical Society
• Mornington Peninsula Shire Council
• Public Record Office Victoria
• Shire of Buloke
• Talbot Arts and Historic Museum
• Upper Yarra Valley HS
• Walhalla Board of Management

We would like to thank everyone who all who submitted applications to the grant program, please do not be discouraged if you did not receive funding, we are only able to fund a very limited number of projects.

> Click here for more information about the Exhibition Grants

Nominations for the 2012 Victorian Museum Awards are now open.

The Victorian Museum Awards recognise and celebrate excellence in museum practice. They seek to reward the museums and individuals who strengthen Victoria’s museum industry through outstanding work and a commitment to best practice. 

Nominations now close Friday 29 June.

> See the Awards page for further information including past winners, nomination forms and guidelines

Thank you to everyone who attended Collect, Conserve, Connect: Museums Australia (Victoria) State Conference 2012.

We are pleased to announce there is a podcast available for the public panel session on disaster planning: Risky Business: Our heritage is too important to be lost forever, thanks to our partnership with ABC Radio.

The panel members were:

• Susan Fayad: Heritage Coordinator, City of Ballarat
• Norman Free: Manager, State Fire Management Planning Support
• Jim Gard'ner: Executive Director, Heritage Victoria
• Mark Remnant: Community Development Officer, Buloke Shire
• Roger Trudgeon: Curator, Gold Museum Ballarat
• Special Guest: Robyn Riddett, Blueshield Australia

> Visit the ABC website to hear the podcast

Museums Australia (Victoria) in partnership with Museum Victoria announces the launch of Victorian Collections a free, easy to use, online cataloguing system for all types of collecting organisations throughout Victoria.

The Victorian Collections project was officially launched by Penny Hutchinson, Director of Arts Victoria, at the Museums Australia (Victoria) State Conference held in Ballarat on Thursday 29 March 2012.

Victorian Collections is an online tool for groups wanting to take the initial step from manual to digital cataloguing. For the past twelve months the project has undertaken pilot training and consultation sessions with historical societies, RSL’s, community collections and museums throughout Victoria.