Ripon Museum Trust was established in 1982 and runs three museums in the heart of Ripon in North Yorkshire. They tell the story of poverty, law, crime, punishment and justice - using a Grade II Victorian Workhouse Museum (pictured), Grade II* Liberty Gaol and Police Station, Grade II* Georgian Courthouse, and a collection of 9,000 objects. They are now seeking to appoint an experienced contractor to design and deliver inclusive, co-produced evaluation strategies reaching diverse audiences for their £2.25 million "Fairer Futures" project. Estimated size of this contract is £25,000 across both phases of the project.

Evaluation Consultancy

Our ‘Fairer Futures’ Project is worth £2.25M and is a substantial first step to delivering our ‘Master Plan’ for the Trust’s future. Delivery of this Project will make significant strides towards achieving our Vision, transform the visitor experience and our engagement work with communities. It will create inclusive new spaces in the Workhouse Museum, open up previously unseen rooms and make our heritage accessible to a wider more diverse audience across all three museums. The Project will use joined up stories of the people who lived, worked and suffered at our three sites. We will make better use of our outdoor spaces and of digital techniques for more immersive engagement. The Project will secure our future and lower our carbon footprint through environmentally sustainable building improvements. The idea for our Project was born out of unease with growing social inequalities which have been exacerbated by the pandemic. A powerful new Vision for the use of our heritage emerged; to use it to inspire people to seek a fairer society.

RMT wishes to appoint an experienced consultant team or individual consultant who can design and deliver inclusive, co-produced evaluation strategies reaching diverse audiences. Such an approach will model and progress the Trust’s ‘Fairer Society’ Vision, make a step change in community participation with our heritage and themes, develop a strong and coherent sense of place across our three museums and meet National Lottery Heritage Fund requirements. The Evaluation process should involve our large volunteer community from the very start as an integral and sustainable part of conducting evaluation generally. The consultancy will give RMT the tools to collect and present excellent qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the impact of our project and which we can use going forwards to measure whether our Vision is being realised. The consultant will be required to propose and implement an Evaluation Framework and Reporting Programme in respect of the Development and Delivery phases of our Fairer Futures project that meets National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Logic Model in respect of all proposed project outcomes (whether people, communities or heritage), including the other consultancy assignments. All plans must be designed and delivered
within the overall capital and revenue budget set for Fairer Futures project.

There is a budget up to £5,000 (excl of VAT) for the development stage of work and £20,000 (excl of VAT) in the Delivery Phase. The fee is inclusive of all travel/subsistence.

Interested contractors can download the project brief here. 23 01 13 RMT Fairer Futures Evaluation Consultant Tender Brief

Please contact our appointed project manager Elanor Hazlehurst on 01543 414 777 or via email at elanor.hazlehurst@greenwoodprojects for all enquiries or site visits requests.

Please return all submissions to Elanor Hazlehurst via elanor.hazlehurst@greenwoodprojects.com

Deadline for the receipt of completed proposals: 13 February, 2023, midday

Contact:
Helen Thornton, Director
Ripon Museum Trust
75 Allhallowgate
Ripon, North Yorkshire HG4 1LE

helen.thornton@riponmuseums.co.uk

Image: Ripon Museum Trust