Tender Opportunity: Activity Plan

Introduction

The Robert Burns Ellisland Trust (RBET) is seeking an experienced and creative consultant to develop a comprehensive Activity Plan to support our Delivery Stage submission to The National Lottery Heritage Fund. This work is essential to realising our transformative vision for Ellisland Museum and Farm, the only home built by Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns. The closing date for this opportunity has been extended to 30 September 2025

The Robert Burns Ellisland Trust Vision Statement

Ellisland is the place to fall in love with Burns. We will increase awareness of Ellisland as central to the artistic development of Robert Burns in poetry and romantic song. We will enhance understanding of the site as the best place to see the natural world through the poet’s eyes. We will create a world class visitor experience and a vibrant centre for creative learning to ensure the unique collection, buildings and landscape are accessible to a diverse range of modern audiences.

Saving the Home of Auld Lang Syne

Our project, Saving the Home of Auld Lang Syne, received a development stage award of £489,207 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund in October 2024. We received permission to start in February 2025 after securing substantial match funding from South of Scotland Enterprise, Museums Galleries Scotland and The Holywood Trust.

Ellisland was built by Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns in 1788 for his young wife, Jean Armour, and their family. It remains the most authentic of his homes and was the site where he wrote Auld Lang Syne, Tam o Shanter, and around a third of his creative output. The site includes farmland, woodland, and historic paths, some dating from Burns’s tenancy. A museum was later established on site, housing original manuscripts and other items belonging to Burns and his family.

The Robert Burns Ellisland Trust (RBET), established in 2020, is committed to conserving, interpreting, and enhancing the site for public engagement in a sensitive and sustainable way. The Trust is also dedicated to growing and diversifying audiences, particularly engaging young people, and addressing urgent conservation needs for both buildings and collections. The site achieved Accredited Museum status in 2023.

With a Development Stage grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, RBET is now advancing plans to renovate and adapt the site as a sustainable and internationally significant visitor attraction. This phase will work towards submitting a Delivery Stage application to the Heritage Fund in 2026.

The development stage project includes:

A conservation architect-led design team to develop plans to RIBA Stage 3 (Developed Design), to support the Delivery Stage Application
An Interpretation Plan (IP) to inform both the project’s visitor experience and its Delivery Stage funding application.
A business plan refresh and an Activity Plan to inform both the project’s visitor experience and its Delivery Stage funding application.
A major Fundraising campaign.
A Governance Review.

The teams working on these different elements of the development stage will collaborate closely.

Purpose of the Activity Plan

The Activity Plan will:

Embed Burns’s values of love, kindness and equality through accessible and inclusive programming.
Enable deeper public engagement with the tangible, intangible and natural heritage of Ellisland.
Demonstrate strategic fit with Heritage Fund investment principles: Saving Heritage, Inclusion, access and participation Environmental responsibility, Organisational resilience and legacy
Identify target audiences, including those currently underrepresented (e.g. SIMD communities, rural youth).
Set out a coherent, costed programme of activity for the delivery and legacy phases.
Support the Delivery Stage application in September 2026 by integrating with interpretation, business, operational and architecture plans.
Support other fundraising work.
Ensure the activity plan reflects the trust’s vision around the significance of Ellisland as a place of creativity, especially poetry and song, and the importance of the natural world.

Activity Plan Requirements and Approach

The appointed consultant will be expected to produce an Activity Plan that follows the structure and guidance set out by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. This will involve a clear and iterative approach across three key planning steps:

Step 1: Where We Are Now

Review RBET’s existing policies, plans and procedures related to learning volunteering, safeguarding, interpretation, and community engagement.
Assess current activities, user data, and audience engagement practices.
Identify organisational strengths and gaps, including skills, capacity, governance and infrastructure needed to deliver activity.
Map existing and potential audiences – who engages currently, who does not, and why – and identify relevant access barriers (e.g. physical, cultural, economic, intellectual).
Incorporate findings from public consultation and baseline research already completed.
Reflect on good practice from peer organisations to inform planning.

Step 2: Where We Want to Get To

Use insight from Step 1 to define strategic aims for engaging people with Ellisland’s
tangible, intangible and natural heritage.
Set out the kinds of activities to be delivered and the outcomes they are intended to achieve.
Define how the project aligns with RBET’s wider purpose and the Heritage Fund’s investment principles.
Identify how community voices and partners will shape activities, including opportunities for co-creation.
Develop clear audience outcomes and realistic measures of success.
Set out how activities will be managed, resourced, and sustained beyond the life of the project.

Step 3: How We Will Get There (Action Plan)

Provide detailed mini-project plans for each strand of the activity programme, including:
- Ensure consistency with the Heritage Fund activity plan template and Delivery Stage submission budget and application.
- Advise on staff, volunteer and freelance roles needed for implementation, and recommend any training or skills development required.
- Ensure the Action Plan is deliverable, sustainable and fully integrated with other aspects of the delivery stage submission.

The appointed consultant will:

Collaborate closely with RBET staff, trustees and the wider design and curatorial team. This includes complementing the work being completed as part of our Saving The Home of Auld Lang Syne development project team and the work of consultants including the following pieces of externally commissioned work:
- 2025 RIBA3 Architectural Plans
- 2025 Interpretation Plan
- 2025 Draft Business Plan

The appointed consultant will also review existing audience data and earlier work on audience development, and engagement work undertaken in previous audience reviews.
They will then develop an inclusive programme of activities that reflects:

The heritage of Burns, including songs, stories and Scots language
The needs of families, schools and young people
Participation from SIMD areas (e.g. Upper Nithsdale, NW Dumfries)
Outdoor and environmental learning
Volunteering, training and employment pathways
Artist residencies and creative interpretation
Immersive residential visitor experiences
Digital engagement
Recommend legacy strategies for sustaining engagement post-project, including community partnerships, co-creation and funding models.

Outputs

The consultant will deliver:

A final Heritage Fund compliant Activity Plan March 2026, including:
- Executive Summary
- Consultation and evidence base
- Audience analysis and segmentation
- Barriers to engagement and strategies to overcome them
- Full activity programme with costs and timetable
- Evaluation and impact measures
- Legacy and sustainability considerations
A draft version for internal review February 2026
Summary report of any additional consultation
A participation and interpretation matrix aligned to the capital project

Success Criteria

The final Activity Plan must demonstrate that:

RBET understands its current audience engagement position and has identified key areas for improvement.
The proposed activities are evidence-based, proportionate, inclusive, and deliver value for money.
The plan meets The National Lottery Heritage Fund expectations, aligns with RBET’s vision, and reflects the creative legacy of Burns in ways that are accessible and relevant today.
There is a realistic pathway for delivery and long-term sustainability of engagement outcome

Consultant Skills and Experience

The successful consultant (or team) will have:

Experience delivering Activity Plans for Heritage Fund projects (especially at Delivery Stage (formally known as Round Two)
Expertise in inclusive audience engagement
Understanding of cultural, rural and literary heritage
Knowledge of wellbeing, placemaking or creative sector outcomes
Familiarity with Burns or similar interpretive narratives (desirable)

Budget and Timetable

Budget: up to £30,000 inclusive of VAT and expenses
Appointment: October 2025
Completion: Feb/March2026

Submission Requirements

Please include:

CV and evidence of relevant past work
A proposal (max 6 pages) outlining your methodology, timeline and approach
Fee breakdown
Two references

Contact

Tenders and questions should be submitted to:
Joan McAlpine
Project Director
Robert Burns Ellisland Trust
ellislandbusinessmanager@gmail.com
Tel 01387 740426

Deadline for submission: 30 September 2025

This page is available to download as a PDF here.