RAF Museum Midlands Development Programme

The RAF Museum Midlands Development Programme is being made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we are able to progress our plans for this project.Made possible with the National Lottery Heritage Fund

 
We are excited to share that the RAF Museum is planning its next stages of development.

Our Strategy 2030 priorities include the launch of a twenty-five-year Development Programme for our Cosford site. This programme of engagement activities and capital investment will continue our focus on immersive RAF storytelling and support our ambition to encourage reflection and debate across our spaces and programmes.

The RAF has shaped the modern world and touched the lives of millions. These achievements demand a fitting environment through which to share them with the public.

The development will transform our Museum and our impact though a series of phased projects – engaging audiences who may not obviously identify with the RAF story by finding common interests and histories which link them.

We will continue to develop and nurture meaningful partnerships, invest our funding responsibly, and recognise the importance of museums and culture to the economic prosperity and social wellbeing of our communities.

The developing programme considers the sites unique heritage, with plans drawing on investment in learning, wellbeing, the Midlands, and sharing and preserving the extraordinary stories of the RAF, past present and future.

Through our programme:
  • We will become a valuable resource for our Midlands community
  • We will work with partners to involve people in their local and RAF heritage, improving their wellbeing and developing their skills
  • We will work with our audiences to share RAF stories that are relevant to their lives and lived experiences inspiring them to fulfil their own potential
  • Our collection will be better understood, cared for and more widely shared
  • We will move towards our target of being a Carbon Net Zero organisation by 2030
  • We will be more resilient and able to support our community in the future.
Engagement programme

A multi-strand engagement programme will connect with diverse communities offsite and online, supported by and through a welcoming onsite transformation of our collection and story sharing, galleries and landscape:

Button containing text explaining the development of Cosford's Collection Hub Button containing text outlining the RAF Museum Midland's proposed exhibition - Falklands to today
Button explaining the development of our RAF Museum Midland's new Outdoor Spaces Button outlining the details of the new Learning Centre proposed as part of the RAF Museum Midlands Programme

We are consulting with Midlands communities to shape an engagement programme which supports their needs taking full advantage of our unique collection and the facilities we create.

These ambitious changes will create a vital, resilient community resource in a 21st-century Museum that is inclusive, reflective and exciting. As a result, an expanded, more diverse audience will enjoy richer engagement with RAF heritage and contemporary stories, delivering our vision to ‘Inspire everyone with the RAF story.

Want to know more?

To request a copy of the digital RAF Midlands Development Programme brochure please contact: development@rafmuseum.org

Join Us

We can achieve none of these ambitious plans in isolation. We invite you to join us and help shape our programme to become fully inclusive, unlocking and supporting the limitless potential in our local Midlands communities and beyond.

We are looking for partners to support our re-development, organisations whose work we can complement and amplify, ambassadors to advocate for us and volunteers willing to get hands-on with our activities.

Our team would be delighted to discuss bespoke partnership opportunities with you, please contact: development@rafmuseum.org