Funding gives museum leaders in Scotland more time for future planning

Leaders at 17 museum organisations will have more time for future planning as a result of Museums Galleries Scotland’s (MGS) new Leadership Capacity Fund.

The national development body has awarded a total of £600,000 via the fund, which offers museum leaders a chance to create additional capacity in order to to free up more of their time for strategic and business development.

The fund is one element of the Museum Futures programme announced by the Scottish Government earlier this year in response to the significant and ongoing challenges faced by the sector.

The £4m programme aims to “drive positive and strategic change within the sector by accelerating collaboration, innovation, and organisational sustainability through a suite of funding and support opportunities”.

It has been developed in partnership by the Scottish Government, Museums Galleries Scotland, and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The awarded museums include The Tall Ship Glenlee, which will use its funding to recruit an office administrator, enabling the leadership team to divert time to business planning and developing fundraising relationships.

The David Livingstone Birthplace Museum in Blantyre will use its funding to recruit new members of support staff to help fulfil the day-to-day functions of the site, freeing up the director’s time to develop a business plan that will identify sustainable income generation opportunities.

Stirling Smith Art Gallery & Museum will promote two current team members to more senior roles, allowing the director to step back from day-to-day operations and focus on strategic development.

Linda Fitzpatrick, head curator at the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther, another funding recipient, said: “We are excited to begin the work made possible by the Leadership Capacity Fund and to use this opportunity to drill into the core purposes of the museum, investigate possibilities afforded by new technologies and/or collaborations, and link these to create new ways of serving and enhancing our collections and communities.

“We are confident that the Scottish Fisheries Museum will emerge from the programme as a more focused organisation, with a clearer idea of its future direction.”

“I am delighted to announce these Leadership Capacity Fund awards,” said MGS chief executive Lucy Casot. “We have long been aware of the pressures on museum leaders juggling competing demands, which reduce their capacity to explore opportunities for growth and development of the attractions they manage.

“Instead, this new fund gives leaders vital headspace to plan and undertake their ambitions, and I look forward to seeing their next steps as part of the Museum Futures programme.”

Culture secretary Angus Robertson said: “These funding awards highlight the very real but often hidden work that goes on behind the exhibits of our museums and the difference that additional funding can make to ensure that they flourish.

“The Museum Futures programme and the £4 million of Scottish Government funding behind it reflects our commitment to Scotland’s museum sector and I’m delighted to see that organisations across the country are set to benefit, from Orkney Islands Council to the Robert Burns Ellisland Trust in Dumfries.”

The 17 awarded organisations are:

• Paxton House
• The Scottish Fisheries Museum
• Ullapool Museum
• Chapter House Museum
• Kilmartin Museum
• Live Borders
• The Scottish Crannog Centre
• The Tall Ship Glenlee
• Cromarty Courthouse Trust
• Groam House Museum
• Robert Burns Ellisland Trust
• Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum
• The Abbotsford Trust
• The Whithorn Trust
• David Livingstone Trust
• MacDougall of Dunollie Preservation Trust
• Orkney Islands Council