Our cross-sector partners
We work with a number of organisations across various sectors to deliver our collective aims. Find out who our partners are, and how we collaborate with them.
Partnership aims
Together with partners, we aim to:
- deliver a single leadership role for the archives sector in England
- deliver the government’s strategic vision for archives
- deliver strategic sector engagement, helping archives services and their parent bodies to respond to government policy, and to develop in ways that strengthen the national network of provision
- provide a policy information and advice role for government
- encourage new thinking and initiatives in the sector
- develop and implement Archive Service Accreditation
- ensure archives are embedded in Arts Council England’s wider cultural offering.
Our partners
Arts Council England
We work with Arts Council England on several initiatives such as the designation scheme and cultural property. Our collaboration agreement, covering the period 2024-2027, details how we will continue to work together over this period.
Research Libraries UK
We have also signed a collaboration agreement with Research Libraries UK, which sets out the role of both organisations and how we will work together in the future to achieve our goals.
Museum sector statement
We also support this joint statement on unethical sales from museum collections, which recognises the essential role that museums play in holding items of artistic, cultural, historic and scientific importance on behalf of society. Unethical sale of parts of their collections risks reputational damage to museums and organisations associated with them. Those who have signed this statement want to work with museums to find the most effective ways to develop, protect and engage with our public collections so that we can meet our collective responsibility to pass on this precious legacy to the next generation.
Other partnerships
- We have a Memorandum of Understanding with Jisc, collaborating on various shared priorities, including continually improving Discovery and Archives Hub.
- We have a collaboration agreement with the Archives & Records Association, focusing on areas such as workforce development, leadership training and inclusion
- We work closely with the Local Government Association to promote service improvement
- We collaborate with the Digital Preservation Coalition on strategic and practical solutions, including our free online digital preservation training, Novice to Know-How
Additionally, many of our current initiatives are delivered in partnership with archives and interested bodies.