Museums Galleries Scotland’s (MGS) national strategy delivery plan for 2015-19, entitled Realising the Vision: Delivering Public Value Through Scotland’s Museums and Galleries, has been broadly welcomed by the sector.
The plan, which was published in July, sets out six key aims (see box), outlining a series of activities and priorities to achieve them. The emphasis is on museums’ social impact, which ties in with the Scottish government’s stated priorities on fairness, equality and prosperity, and the Museums Association’s Museums Change Lives campaign.
Ross Irving, the president of the Scottish Museums Federation, says that while the delivery plan focuses on the key priorities for the sector, the federation would like to see more detail on MGS’s activities and the projects it prioritises over the next four years.
The stated priorities are correct, says Nat Edwards, the assistant director at National Trust for Scotland, but he agrees some of the aims are a little vague and it would be good to clarify the lead partners for the delivery of some of the areas of work identified in the strategy, such as wellbeing, healthcare and higher education.
An MGS spokeswoman says those strategic alliances will be an objective in the organisation’s business plan, which will be finalised in October. Edwards is concerned that some of the plan’s “civil service policy language” may make it difficult for smaller museums to interpret and translate aims into actions.
But Cait McCullagh, the curator (collections engagement) at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, who was involved in an MGS consultation session held in the Highlands, thinks they have engaged the sector positively. The plan reflects matters raised at the session around resilience, advocacy and maintaining collections and access to them.
The real challenge for the strategy, says Duncan Dornan, the head of museums and collections at Glasgow Life, is not the direction of progress but the pace at which it can be delivered, given the economic pressures the sector faces over the next two to three years.
MGS itself is looking to diversify its income in the face of grant-in-aid cuts and the decision in 2014 to scrap its subscription model, worth £90,000 a year.
To that end, it has created a business development manager post and changed the focus of another role to look at strategic marketing. Its business plan is likely to include paid-for services such as consultancy, mediation and facilitation that could result in it working with museums outside Scotland to generate income.
MGS chief executive, Joanne Orr, emphasises that any such services would have to be relevant to museums in Scotland and be balanced with MGS’s core purpose. It is early days, she says, but the key is seeking out partnerships and building on them.
The plan, which was published in July, sets out six key aims (see box), outlining a series of activities and priorities to achieve them. The emphasis is on museums’ social impact, which ties in with the Scottish government’s stated priorities on fairness, equality and prosperity, and the Museums Association’s Museums Change Lives campaign.
Ross Irving, the president of the Scottish Museums Federation, says that while the delivery plan focuses on the key priorities for the sector, the federation would like to see more detail on MGS’s activities and the projects it prioritises over the next four years.
The stated priorities are correct, says Nat Edwards, the assistant director at National Trust for Scotland, but he agrees some of the aims are a little vague and it would be good to clarify the lead partners for the delivery of some of the areas of work identified in the strategy, such as wellbeing, healthcare and higher education.
An MGS spokeswoman says those strategic alliances will be an objective in the organisation’s business plan, which will be finalised in October. Edwards is concerned that some of the plan’s “civil service policy language” may make it difficult for smaller museums to interpret and translate aims into actions.
But Cait McCullagh, the curator (collections engagement) at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, who was involved in an MGS consultation session held in the Highlands, thinks they have engaged the sector positively. The plan reflects matters raised at the session around resilience, advocacy and maintaining collections and access to them.
The real challenge for the strategy, says Duncan Dornan, the head of museums and collections at Glasgow Life, is not the direction of progress but the pace at which it can be delivered, given the economic pressures the sector faces over the next two to three years.
MGS itself is looking to diversify its income in the face of grant-in-aid cuts and the decision in 2014 to scrap its subscription model, worth £90,000 a year.
To that end, it has created a business development manager post and changed the focus of another role to look at strategic marketing. Its business plan is likely to include paid-for services such as consultancy, mediation and facilitation that could result in it working with museums outside Scotland to generate income.
MGS chief executive, Joanne Orr, emphasises that any such services would have to be relevant to museums in Scotland and be balanced with MGS’s core purpose. It is early days, she says, but the key is seeking out partnerships and building on them.
National strategy delivery plan
- Maximise the potential of collections and culture for future generations.
- Strengthen connections between museums, people and places to inspire greater public participation, learning and wellbeing.
- Empower a diverse workforce to increase its potential for the benefit of the sector and society.
- Forge a sustainable future for sector organisations, encouraging a culture of enterprise.
- Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation and ambition.
- Develop a global perspective using Scotland’s collections and culture.
