Museums Galleries Scotland announces new funding plans

Following its recent decision to pause its grant programmes because of financial uncertainty in the sector, Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) has revealed its new funding approach.

MGS will not reopen its Museum Development and Small Grant funds this year, and instead is offering a Resilience Fund to Accredited museums. There will be two rounds of this and the fund will be open for applications from 24 October. 

This fund will support projects that enable Accredited museums to implement measures that will do one or more of three things: reduce costs; increase income; and support their communities. MGS is particularly keen to support museums with steps to reduce their energy bills. 

Museums will be able to apply for grants of between £1,500 and £50,000. This fund will not distribute any new or additional funding, but will be the means by which the organisation will distribute the remains of its regular grant from the Scottish Government, following the first rounds of the Small Grants and Museum Development fund distributed earlier in the year. 

In addition to the new fund, MGS will contact Accredited independent museums that received Museum Recovery Fund and all museums that received Capital Resilience grants in 2022 to understand whether rising costs are affecting the projections made at the time of awards or ability to undertake projects as planned. There will be some scope for grant increases, but with limited funds available, MGS said it will need to direct support to where it will make the most difference. 

An MGS statement said: “Museums, and the communities they serve are facing significant financial challenges. Towards the end of summer, we began to hear concerns from the sector about the coming months and how they were going to manage. 

“We felt compelled to review whether the planned grants programme was the best way to support museums and whether a different approach was needed in the rapidly changing and uncertain context that was emerging.  

“We paused our grants programme and asked museums to tell us more about their concerns and priorities to inform our thinking and our conversations with the Scottish Government. We are very grateful to all who responded to our call for information. This was hugely valuable in helping us to convey the challenges facing the sector, when giving evidence to the Culture Committee on 29 September, as part of its pre-budget scrutiny on funding for the culture sector.”