The Scottish Museums Think Tank is to propose an independent national development body (NDB) that would represent the sector with a unified voice.
According to Jim Tildesley, director of the Scottish Maritime Museum and a member of the thinktank, the new body is a “major area” of the thinktank’s report, which was due to be delivered to the Scottish government over the summer, and will now be given to the culture minister this month.
The minutes of a meeting of the thinktank earlier this year said: “The NDB should speak with a unified voice for the sector as a whole. It was crucial that the NDB represented the entire range of accredited museums and galleries, including the national collections.
“The group proposed that the NDB should not be a membership organisation. Decisions about the future of the government remit for Museums Galleries Scotland would be taken by the Scottish government.”
A government spokesman said: “We are waiting on the thinktank to finish the report. It is running behind, but we are expecting something within the next few weeks.
“Once the minister has it, he will make a response, we would hope, before the end of the year.”
Tildesley said: “The strategy group reflects the disparate nature of Scottish museums. Whether or not it is effective, only time will tell.”
The minutes also suggested that Museums Galleries Scotland could undertake consultation on a new framework, and could reform to become a non-membership organisation.
Mark Taylor, director of the Museums Association, said: “Whether a new body is established or old ones have to reform, it is important that non-nationals in Scotland get the support that they are so badly going to need in the next couple of years.”
