About the NMDC

The National Museum Directors' Conference represents the leaders of the UK's national collections and major regional museums. These comprise the national museums in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the British Library, National Library of Scotland, and the National Archives, and four leading regional museums. Our members operate in over a 100 locations around the UK. While our members are funded by government, the NMDC is an independent and non-governmental organisation.

To download the NMDC briefing prepared for new ministers in June 2007, which outlines the achievements and challenges for the UK's national collections and NMDC's current priorities, click here.

The NMDC was founded in 1929, in anticipation of a Royal Commission recommendation that the national collections should 'coordinate their work and discuss matters of mutual concern'. Today the NMDC provides its membership with a valuable forum for discussion and debate and an opportunity to share information and work collaboratively. For details of current activity click here.

The purpose of the NMDC is to:

• Represent the interests of national museums to government and other stakeholders

• To play a key role in the development of the work of its members and their contribution to society and the economy

• To discuss and present views on other matters of common interest to its members

The NMDC is funded by the membership institutions. The directors of these institutions give their time voluntarily to the organisation. The Chairman and the Executive Committee are elected on a three-year basis by the membership. The current chair is Mark Jones, Director of the Victoria & Albert Museum. There is a secretariat with two staff who handle the day-to-day business.

NMDC also produces a monthly newsletter which gives more information about our work and current issues affecting the museums, libraries and archives sector.

Facts and Figures

Visits to national museums have increased by around 50% since 1998/9 due to new facilities, new programmes and the removal of admission charges. There were over 35.1m visits in 2005/6, up from 24 million visits in 1998-9.
Visits to formerly charging museums are up by 87%2. Natural History Museum’s visit numbers nearly doubled since 1996-7 (1.7m to 3.3m). V&A visit numbers rose by 175% from 937,000 in 2001/2 (prior to free admission) to 2.6m in 2006-7.
An extra 16.5 million children have visited museums since they were granted free entry in 1998.
Between 2002/03 and 2004/05 alone, the number of people from lower socio-economic groups visiting government-sponsored museums increased by almost 30%.
There were over 10.7 million visits from overseas residents to UK national museums in 2005/065.
Seven of the top ten visitor attractions in the UK are national museums.