The Scottish Government’s draft budget for 2026/27 has confirmed funding for the Museum Futures sector sustainability programme and The Art Works project, an ongoing scheme to expand Scotland’s national collections hub in north Edinburgh.
The finance secretary Shona Robison announced this week that the arts and culture sectors would receive a total uplift of more than £70m compared to the previous year, taking its investment to £266.3m.
This is on track to honour the government’s previously stated commitment to a £100m-a-year increase for those sectors by 2028/29, she said.
The funding boost includes an additional £20m for the multi-year funding programme at Creative Scotland, the arm’s-length arts funding body that had warned last year it was on the brink of crisis over funding uncertainty.
The government will invest a further £4m in Museum Futures in the coming year, as well as supporting its other community-led arts programmes, Culture Collective and Creative Communities.
Run by Museum Galleries Scotland (MGS), the national development body for museums, the Museum Futures scheme was launched last year to support the long-term sustainability of Scotland’s museums and galleries after museum leaders warned the sector was facing significant financial challenges. It aims to “create new pathways to support the innovation needed to transition to a more sustainable way of working across the sector”.
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Sharon Heal, director of the Museums Association (MA), welcomed the news, saying: “We are delighted that the Scottish Government has announced a further £4m for the continuation of the Museum Futures Programme into its second year.
“The MA has been advocating for the Museum Futures Programme to be continued to support the challenges being faced by museums and so the impact of the programme can be understood through evaluation.
“The extension of this programme will strengthen the financial sustainability of museums by supporting them to collaborate, innovate and create positive change.”
MGS said: “We warmly welcome the Scottish Government's commitment of £4 million to continue the pioneering Museum Futures Programme in today's draft budget. This investment recognises the vital role museums play in communities across Scotland and the importance of supporting innovation, collaboration and long-term sustainability.”
The Art Works, which received £11.65m in the budget for the coming year, will see a new community space, conservation, research and art storage facility created in Granton, Edinburgh, expanding the existing National Museum Collections Centre.
It will offer an additional 11,000²m of quality space and house the 130,000-strong art collections of the National Galleries of Scotland, of which around 97% is kept in storage.
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The Scottish Government has committed £56m in funding for the project over the next three years.
Anne Lyden, director-general of National Galleries Scotland, said:
“We’re so excited to be able to deliver our commitment to build a new, free-to-visit home for Scotland’s art collection. The Art Works will give greater access to art not just for people in Edinburgh but by enabling us to lend more art across Scotland.”
Overall, funding for the national cultural collections – which encompass Scotland’s national museums and galleries, the national library, and non-national and industrial museums – will rise from £89.8m in 2025/26 to £111.3m in the coming year.
However other parts of the culture, heritage and arts portfolio missed out on a budget boost, with funding for Historic Environment Scotland dropping from £72m to £70.7m. The public body, which cares for around 300 historic sites, has had a difficult few months after facing serious criticisms, and several staff suspensions, over its governance and working culture.
The budget statement said: “We have honoured our commitment to the culture sector with an increase of over £70m compared to 2023-24, progressing well towards our commitment of a £100m per year increase by 2028-29… We will continue to celebrate cultural, educational, and ancestral connections, and ensure Scotland remains a valued and well-connected nation.”
Call for new culture legislation
Culture Counts, a network of network of arts, heritage and creative industries organisations in Scotland, welcomed the uplift but said the “current state of funding is unsustainable”.
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The network said: “If our collective ambition for a thriving cultural sector extends to individual artists and grassroots organisations and collectives, greater Scottish Government resource needs to be allocated to the open funds, in order to avoid a growing gap in opportunity across the sector.
“While the renewed commitment we’ve seen from Scottish Government in investing in culture is extremely welcome, these yearly spending decisions are only one part of the picture.
“With the next Holyrood election fast approaching, Culture Counts is clear that this upward trajectory needs to be built upon to secure the sector’s position for the longer-term.”
The network is proposing a new Culture Act for Scotland, which it says could “futureproof and integrate culture into all areas of public life”.
“This is not about safeguarding the status quo. Legislation could establish a surer footing for culture in all its forms and enable the sector to grow and thrive, acting as a key driver of Scotland’s economy, society and global reputation.”
“Development of a Scottish Culture Act over the course of the next parliament is the route to ensuring security, long term growth, and crucially, that the sector doesn’t ever find itself in a position of campaigning for funding to secure its immediate survival.”
The Scottish Parliament will vote on the budget on 25 February. It is the current administration’s final spending year before this year’s General Election on 7 May.
Scottish budget (£m)
| 2025/26 | 2026/27 | |
| Total arts and culture | 192.6 | 266.3 |
| Historic environment and architecture | 73.9 | 72.3 |
| National Records of Scotland | 33.2 | 42.7 |
| National Cultural Collections | 89.8 | 111.3 |
