Edinburgh’s Museum on the Mound will remain open, it was announced last month, marking a dramatic reversal in fortune that caps an eventful year for cultural projects in the city.
Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) announced that the institution would remain open after it had revealed plans to close the museum the month before. The reversal reflected “views received by the group following the announcement,” says Philip Grant, the chair of LBG’s Scottish executive committee, which “made clear the value of the museum”.
In May, the St Cecilia’s Hall concert venue reopened following a £3.2m redevelopment that included an extension and conservation work.
But in July, it emerged that designs for the Scottish National Gallery’s proposed extension were being scaled back because of costs. The £16.8m scheme is to be completed in 2020.
The City Observatory complex on Calton Hill, which has been closed to the public since 2009, is being redeveloped into a visual arts space. Work started on site in October.
The City Observatory will be run by contemporary arts organisation Collective, which has collaborated with the city council, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Edinburgh World Heritage.
Kate Gray, the director of Collective, which was founded in 1984 as an artist-led organisation, says: “In a way, it’s quite a big change for Edinburgh to have an organisation like ours in that location. Nothing changes very quickly in Edinburgh, so this is a marked difference.
“I don’t think it impacts on those much larger organisations [in the city]. We would like to think of ourselves as a different way of making something interesting happen in a context that people wouldn’t necessarily expect to find it.”
Gray adds that it is difficult to find spaces for creating contemporary culture. “Our mission is to make new work and to try to create an experience for the visitor that will give them greater insight into our contemporary world,” she says. “And we’ll be doing that in the context of a historical site. All the work will have a dialogue with the building’s history.”
Strength in depth
National Museums Scotland director Gordon Rintoul says: “I don’t think there’s any obvious gap in the museum and gallery world here. We’re getting more strength in depth than was previously the case and I think that’s having quite an impact on Edinburgh as a visitor destination. People don’t just come for the festival, they are coming for the whole visitor experience.”
He adds that Edinburgh’s cultural offer, including its museums, can now compete with the world’s other significant cities.
“The past 10 to 15 years has been a period of growth and expansion in facilities and the number of people visiting the city’s museums and galleries,” says Rintoul.
In October, National Museums Scotland announced that the Heritage Lottery Fund had confirmed that it was awarding a £1m grant for the final stage of its masterplan, in this case to create two galleries displaying ancient Egyptian and east Asian material.
Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) announced that the institution would remain open after it had revealed plans to close the museum the month before. The reversal reflected “views received by the group following the announcement,” says Philip Grant, the chair of LBG’s Scottish executive committee, which “made clear the value of the museum”.
In May, the St Cecilia’s Hall concert venue reopened following a £3.2m redevelopment that included an extension and conservation work.
But in July, it emerged that designs for the Scottish National Gallery’s proposed extension were being scaled back because of costs. The £16.8m scheme is to be completed in 2020.
The City Observatory complex on Calton Hill, which has been closed to the public since 2009, is being redeveloped into a visual arts space. Work started on site in October.
The City Observatory will be run by contemporary arts organisation Collective, which has collaborated with the city council, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Edinburgh World Heritage.
Kate Gray, the director of Collective, which was founded in 1984 as an artist-led organisation, says: “In a way, it’s quite a big change for Edinburgh to have an organisation like ours in that location. Nothing changes very quickly in Edinburgh, so this is a marked difference.
“I don’t think it impacts on those much larger organisations [in the city]. We would like to think of ourselves as a different way of making something interesting happen in a context that people wouldn’t necessarily expect to find it.”
Gray adds that it is difficult to find spaces for creating contemporary culture. “Our mission is to make new work and to try to create an experience for the visitor that will give them greater insight into our contemporary world,” she says. “And we’ll be doing that in the context of a historical site. All the work will have a dialogue with the building’s history.”
Strength in depth
National Museums Scotland director Gordon Rintoul says: “I don’t think there’s any obvious gap in the museum and gallery world here. We’re getting more strength in depth than was previously the case and I think that’s having quite an impact on Edinburgh as a visitor destination. People don’t just come for the festival, they are coming for the whole visitor experience.”
He adds that Edinburgh’s cultural offer, including its museums, can now compete with the world’s other significant cities.
“The past 10 to 15 years has been a period of growth and expansion in facilities and the number of people visiting the city’s museums and galleries,” says Rintoul.
In October, National Museums Scotland announced that the Heritage Lottery Fund had confirmed that it was awarding a £1m grant for the final stage of its masterplan, in this case to create two galleries displaying ancient Egyptian and east Asian material.