LONDON.- Last week the Tate Modern hosted over 100 women leaders in the Museums and Heritage sector as part of the Confidence – Choice – Connections programme to share their experiences and visions with each other and industry stakeholders across the country.

Confidence – Choice – Connections aims to create a climate in which more women will realise their potential and increase their impact as leaders. Today’s speakers include Sue Owen, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), who will share how the core themes of Confidence, Choice and Connections have had an impact on her own journey through Whitehall.

In the past few months, and with support from the DCMS, the National Museums Directors Conference (NMDC) and the Arts Council England (ACE), the Women Leaders in Museums Network (WLMN) has rolled out its Confidence – Choice – Connections programme to build momentum and expand its impact and reach.

Founded in 2007, the WLMN has supported the career progression and leadership development for women leaders in the sector, including many now in senior roles leading the nation’s top institutions. Confidence – Choice – Connections builds on this successful approach and has established a further eight regional networks, enabling a focus on localised approaches and issues in order to drive a sustainable leadership development agenda.

Confidence - Choice – Connections has been led by Virginia Tandy OBE (the founder member of the WLMN), working with consultants Anne Murch and Hilary Carty who have been commissioned by the WLMN.

Virginia Tandy OBE: “Having established the WMLM in 2007 it is richly rewarding to see how the practice of networking - low key, bespoke and sustained support – has continued to help women in the sector achieve their potential. I am delighted to now be steering this second phase; broadening out the opportunity and creating mechanisms that will allow these new networks to really take root at regional level and have a sustainable impact.”

Sue Owen, Permanent Secretary at the DCMS “The Department for Culture Media and Sport is proud to champion the progression of women in UK Museums, Galleries and Heritage, and welcomes today’s gathering of over 100 women in key leadership roles as a bold step forward for the sector as a whole.”

Di Lees, the Chair of NMDC added: ‘Having been involved with WLMN from its inception, I have witnessed how valuable both the WLMN, and other networks, have been, both for the sector as a whole and in supporting individuals during a time of unprecedented change. It is a joy to see this benefit broadening its reach to inspire more women to achieve their potential. “

John Orna-Ornstein Arts Council England, Director of Museums: “I believe the single most important investment Arts Council England makes is in the quality of our sector’s leaders. I know many of the women on the Confidence Choice Connections programmes personally, and I’m confident that museums will prosper, despite the challenging times, in their hands.”