Fourteen cultural organisations across Scotland have been awarded the total sum of £130,947 via Museums Galleries Scotland’s (MGS) Small Grants Fund.

The fund exists to support museums to develop their work and deliver against the priority areas of Scotland’s museums and galleries strategy.

Any organisation that runs an Accredited museum in Scotland can apply for up to £15,000 from the Small Grants Fund.

The awarded projects focus on improving collections care, collaboration and co-production, and audience engagement. The fund is supported by the Scottish Government.

Renfrewshire Leisure will use its £12,500 award to carry out essential conservation and repairs at Coats Observatory, restoring its 19th-century telescopes, original observer’s chair and manually operated dome. This work will improve safety and functionality and enable the reopening of the observatory for public stargazing and educational activities.

Shetland Amenity Trust has received £14,440 to deliver a collaborative project with the Bressay History Group to co-curate an exhibition on early Christianity, centred on the Bressay Stone. The project will secure a temporary loan of the stone for a three-month exhibition, reconnecting it with its place of origin while engaging local communities and increasing awareness of Shetland’s heritage.

Advertisement

Museums & Galleries Edinburgh will work with the city’s kinship team and young people in care to create an exhibition at the Museum of Edinburgh. Through a 12-week programme of filmmaking, photography and arts workshops, participants will develop creative skills and produce work for display, amplifying the voices of young people in kinship care and raising awareness of their experiences.

Other funded organisations, including Dunollie Museum, Castle and Grounds and the Whithorn Trust, will focus on audience engagement and improving the visitor experience. Dunollie Museum will use its grant to create three new audio tours to provide visitors with a richer and more engaging interpretation of Dunollie’s long history and bring the museum’s stories up to date.

The Whithorn Trust will use its award to support the initial stages of a development project which will involve a full-scale rebuilding of a timber church, sited in the area around 700CE.

The trust will also develop a reconstruction of an authentic early medieval workshop with an in-house specialist timber-framer. The workshop build will provide hands-on learning opportunities for young people and equip them with practical skills and experience while supporting their progress towards joinery qualifications.

The Small Grants Fund is accepting expressions of interest for next year’s round from 1-29 April, with an application deadline of 13 May. Accredited museums can apply for up to £15,000, while non-accredited museums can apply for up to £10,000.

Museums that have official “Working Towards Accreditation” status can apply for up to £3,000 from the fund for activity directly linked to achieving accreditation.

The fund can support activities such as small scale project work, acquisition of equipment and other resources to address time-specific needs, and preparation and scoping work to plan and inform future strategic development.

Small Grants recipients

Fourteen museum organisations across Scotland have benefitted through the latest round of MGS’s Small Grants Fund. The awarded organisations are:

  • Fife Folk Museum Trust
  • Inverclyde Council
  • East Dunbartonshire Leisure & Culture Trust
  • Renfrewshire Leisure
  • The Tall Ship Glenlee Trust
  • City of Edinburgh Council
  • Dundee Heritage Trust
  • Helmsdale Heritage Society
  • Musselburgh Museum and Heritage Group
  • Ferryhill Railway Heritage Trust
  • Battle of Prestonpans [1745] Heritage Trust
  • The Whithorn Trust
  • MacDougall of Dunollie Preservation Trust
  • Shetland Amenity Trust