Museums and galleries have reacted cautiously to first minister Alex Salmond's call for national collections to "work more closely together to strengthen their impact in their national role and in presenting Scotland abroad".
The announcement came during his speech in January on the need to simplify the country's public services. The aim is to reduce duplication and bureaucracy by cutting Scotland's 199 national public service organisations by at least 25 per cent.
But while Scotland's national collections are happy to work together, they seem less keen on formally combining their organisations.
James Holloway, director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, said the National Galleries of Scotland is already a combination of the portrait gallery, national gallery complex and two modern art galleries.
"My feeling is that we already have economies of scale, and were we to be any bigger, it would be too bureaucratic," said Holloway.
"We are small enough to be flexible, and it gives each constituent part its own platform. But if we were much bigger, it would be unwieldy and a bit of a drag. Lumping the National Galleries of Scotland and the national museums together would be pretty destructive."
Holloway said the National Galleries of Scotland already works closely with the national library and national museums on joint exhibitions, sharing artefacts and advising on acquisitions.
A statement from National Museums Scotland, which has five museums and a collections centre, said: "A key issue for us and the other national collections is establishing what the government wants us to do differently in the future. It wants us to strengthen our presence nationally and internationally, and to work more closely with other national organisations such as National Galleries of Scotland.
"This is an approach we have been working on over the past few years, and we look forward to strengthening our impact with the support of the Scottish government."
The announcement came during his speech in January on the need to simplify the country's public services. The aim is to reduce duplication and bureaucracy by cutting Scotland's 199 national public service organisations by at least 25 per cent.
But while Scotland's national collections are happy to work together, they seem less keen on formally combining their organisations.
James Holloway, director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, said the National Galleries of Scotland is already a combination of the portrait gallery, national gallery complex and two modern art galleries.
"My feeling is that we already have economies of scale, and were we to be any bigger, it would be too bureaucratic," said Holloway.
"We are small enough to be flexible, and it gives each constituent part its own platform. But if we were much bigger, it would be unwieldy and a bit of a drag. Lumping the National Galleries of Scotland and the national museums together would be pretty destructive."
Holloway said the National Galleries of Scotland already works closely with the national library and national museums on joint exhibitions, sharing artefacts and advising on acquisitions.
A statement from National Museums Scotland, which has five museums and a collections centre, said: "A key issue for us and the other national collections is establishing what the government wants us to do differently in the future. It wants us to strengthen our presence nationally and internationally, and to work more closely with other national organisations such as National Galleries of Scotland.
"This is an approach we have been working on over the past few years, and we look forward to strengthening our impact with the support of the Scottish government."
