Community Board

Community engagement at Maidstone Museum is taking on a new meaning, and we want YOU to be apart of it.

We are setting up a Community Board to shape how we collaborate with our local community, incorporating Maidstone voices to make our organisation more engaging, inclusive and impactful in the work we do.

Role Overview

The launch of our Community Board is aimed at those ages 14+ who will help shape the Museums activities, events, exhibitions and opportunities. The purpose of the Board is to become a sounding board for the museum and to ensure the museum remains aligned with its commitments. The Community Board is not there to become involved in the day-to-day management of the museum, nor is it a space to advertise your business, sell products or seek new clients.

More Information

How much time do you need to participate?

We encourage all members to commit to attending bi-monthly evening meetings, lasting no more than 2 hours. We are open to different lengths of participation, but as a guide would encourage board members to stay on for a minimum of one year.

The role

You will have the opportunity to collaborate with a wide variety of Maidstone Museum staff as they develop new and exciting projects. All activities that you take part in will shape our offer to the public, so your ideas and advice will be directly implemented. We hope this role gives you an insight into a career in museums, and demonstrates the importance of Arts & Culture within Maidstone. We hope to provide you with transferable skills, and we look forward to sharing skills, knowledge and best practice.

We are looking for someone who is:

• Aged 14+ (an adult may attend with you)
• Living, working or studying in Maidstone
• Able to commit to one two-hour meeting every 2 months
• Happy to work as part of a team
• Interested in sharing their skills, and learning new ones
• Keen to share ideas and listen to others
• Able to challenge the museum on our assumptions

What you’ll gain from being a part of our Community Board:

• Contribute to Maidstone’s art and cultural offer
• First access to exhibitions and gallery launches, alongside Maidstone Museum Friends’ Members and our Volunteers.
• Support from the experienced staff including the Community Events Manager, Learning Officer and Collections Manager.
• Gain insight into the policies and processes of running a Museum
• Network with the community to build your understanding of Maidstone
• Build transferable skills like project management, researching, teamwork, event management, CV writing, and interviewing.
• Training – this will include a welcome day training session and may also include project specific training

How to apply

To apply please fill out the application form and equalities monitoring form and email it to museumevents@maidstone.gov.uk

We welcome applicants from all areas of Maidstone Borough, and from all different walks of life. We strongly encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds of the community, as we want to reflect the diverse demographics of Maidstone residents. You don’t need to have volunteered before or have visited a museum before, including Maidstone Museum.

Please submit the application form by 30^th September 2025. We plan to organise informal interviews with you in person or via Zoom or Microsoft Teams for the first week of October. We won’t be able to offer informal discussions to everyone who applies but we will provide feedback on applications if it is requested. Those who are successful will then be able to attend our first meeting.