MGS awards £300,000 to nine projects
Nine projects benefit from strategic investment fund
Nine museum projects will benefit from a share of Museums Galleries Scotland’s (MGS) £300,000 strategic investment fund, including two marking the Homecoming 2014 celebrations.
The fund, which makes individual grants of between £5,000 and £40,000, aims to support projects that increase the impact of Scottish museums in line with MGS’s national strategy.
Among the beneficiaries of the first round are Caithness Horizons, which received £22,654 to develop an early medieval sculpture exhibition, and the Highland Council, which received £40,000 to pioneer a new collaborative approach to developing region-wide events.
Both projects are part of the Scotland-wide Homecoming 2014 celebrations, which showcases the country’s sporting, cultural and ancestral heritage.
As well as the Highland Council, three other projects received the maximum award of £40,000: the People’s Palace in Glasgow for a redisplay; Biggar Museum Trust to create a new exhibition space; and the City of Edinburgh Council to provide marketing support for members of the East of Scotland museum partnership.
Elsewhere, the National Trust for Scotland received £39,350 for a contemporary arts programme at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum and Glasgow Women's Library received £38,205 to implement a new strategic plan.
The Old Haa Trust received £30,848 for a new roof while the Scottish Railway Preservation Society received £17,318 to secure its collections from the threat of metal theft.
MGS formally launched as the national development body in May, with a remit to support the museums and galleries sector in Scotland.
“With this first round of the strategic investment fund we see the sector really getting its teeth into delivering the national strategy aims,” said Douglas Connell, chairman of MGS.
“We have excellent examples of cross-sector collaboration, explorations into new ways of working and pursuing increased sustainability through additional revenue sources. This is just the start of us seeing the national strategy in practice.”
The fund, which makes individual grants of between £5,000 and £40,000, aims to support projects that increase the impact of Scottish museums in line with MGS’s national strategy.
Among the beneficiaries of the first round are Caithness Horizons, which received £22,654 to develop an early medieval sculpture exhibition, and the Highland Council, which received £40,000 to pioneer a new collaborative approach to developing region-wide events.
Both projects are part of the Scotland-wide Homecoming 2014 celebrations, which showcases the country’s sporting, cultural and ancestral heritage.
As well as the Highland Council, three other projects received the maximum award of £40,000: the People’s Palace in Glasgow for a redisplay; Biggar Museum Trust to create a new exhibition space; and the City of Edinburgh Council to provide marketing support for members of the East of Scotland museum partnership.
Elsewhere, the National Trust for Scotland received £39,350 for a contemporary arts programme at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum and Glasgow Women's Library received £38,205 to implement a new strategic plan.
The Old Haa Trust received £30,848 for a new roof while the Scottish Railway Preservation Society received £17,318 to secure its collections from the threat of metal theft.
MGS formally launched as the national development body in May, with a remit to support the museums and galleries sector in Scotland.
“With this first round of the strategic investment fund we see the sector really getting its teeth into delivering the national strategy aims,” said Douglas Connell, chairman of MGS.
“We have excellent examples of cross-sector collaboration, explorations into new ways of working and pursuing increased sustainability through additional revenue sources. This is just the start of us seeing the national strategy in practice.”