Working Together

We work closely with several key organisations on an an ongoing basis:

Sheffield City Council
We continue to collaborate closely with Sheffield City Council, working towards aligned goals and objectives. 

Sheffield City Council recognises the importance of culture in a thriving, successful city. With this in mind, a fresh vision has been developed for creativity, arts, and culture in Sheffield. This vision aims to ensure that everyone who lives, works, or visits here has the opportunity to participate, collaborate, and benefit from arts and culture in the city.

Find out more about the Culture Strategy here

The Guild of St George
The Guild of St George’s Ruskin Collection celebrates the visionary ideas of the Victorian artist and writer, John Ruskin. Sheffield Museums works closely with the Guild through its stewardship of the collection.

The Ken Hawley Collection Trust
The Ken Hawley Tool Collection is stored and displayed at Kelham Island Museum. The trust is working with the Hawley Trust to maximise opportunities to collect, display and engage with this aspect of the city’s heritage.

The V&A
The city has had a strategic partnership with the Victoria & Albert Museum since 1999. It has enabled the people of Sheffield to enjoy high quality collections and exhibitions and the trust has benefitted from curatorial advice and professional expertise through talks, secondments, trustee involvement and training.

From 2018-2021 we partnered with the V&A on Phase 1 of their national secondary school programme, DesignLab Nation which saw young people from across Sheffield using the collections to explore a range of design challenges as part of their development.

The 2022-23 DesignLab Sheffield programme was generously supported by Charles Turner of Durham Duplex, with support from the V&A.

We work with lots of organisations, communities and individuals on a wide range of projects each year. Recent projects include:

National Portrait Gallery
Our strong ongoing relationship with the National Portrait Gallery continued in 2026 with the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 25. This prestigious contemporary photography showcase went on display at the Millennium Gallery, the only UK venue outside London. 

ArtWorks
ArtWorks challenge people’s perceptions of learning disabilities and autism through celebrating the creativity and ambition of the artists they work with. In 2026, the Millennium Gallery welcomed the Artworks Together International Festival, which offered adult artists who have a learning disability, are autistic, or both, the opportunity to showcase their talents. The festival exhibition featured shortlisted works by 70 artists from 21 countries, highlighting the breadth and depth of artistic practice by artists who have a learning disability and autistic artists working internationally today.

Sheffield Assay Office
In 2022 we celebrated 20 years of the joint commissioning programme Precious Little Gems with a new display in collaboration with Sheffield Assay Office. This was followed in 2023 with a new display developed to mark the 250th anniversary of the company.

South Yorkshire Integrated Care Strategy
The power of creativity and culture to improve health and wellbeing is well-documented – but could it do more? We’re working with Sheffield City Council on a collaboration between cultural and health professional, politicians and policy-makers that would see the arts and health sectors working more closely together to support wellbeing in the region. Find out more here

Sheffield Culture Consortium
Our membership of the Sheffield Culture Consortium continues to be of strategic importance as we seek to position culture as a key component in the city’s recovery and development. We work alongside colleagues at Sheffield Theatres, Site Gallery, The Showroom, Doc/Fest, Yorkshire Artspace, Music in the Round and the Universities, to develop the Consortium’s role and deliver on its strategic objectives. The Consortium was key to the delivery of Covid recovery funding for the city’s freelance creative practitioners. The Trust continues to administer the Sheffield Culture Consortium Visual Art Newsletter.

Sheffield Culture Collective
We are a founding member of the Sheffield Culture Collective. The Collective works together to develop a strategy that will place culture at the heart of a strong, vibrant and inclusive city and as a key component in city centre development, the visitor economy, the Local Industrial Strategy and the Strategic Economic Plan for the city region – including Covid-19 recovery strategies.

South Yorkshire Museums
We meet regularly with our regional peers in Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham and discusses opportunities to share learning and resources as well as connecting planning.

Sheffield Museums is part of the English Civic Museums Network, a collective made up of museums from across the country working to make our places better. 

The ECMN recognise that civic museums are a critical part of England’s cultural, creative and social fabric. They provide a unique perspective and cultural offer for local audiences and communities who are not served by other parts of the museum sector.

Read the Vision for English Civic Museums here