MGS reports growth in grantmaking, sector reach and climate action

Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) has reported significant increases in grant-making, sector engagement and climate action in its latest annual review.

According to the 2025-26 Annual Review and Climate Report, MGS awarded 190 grants across 13 funding streams during the year, distributing a total of £6.5m to 111 organisations.

This was a substantial increase in grants compared to the previous year, when the national development body awarded just under £1.75m. It follows a significant uplift in funding for the sector from the Scottish Government via the £4m Museum Futures programme, which launched in July 2025 in collaboration with the National Lottery Heritage Fund to accelerate innovation and improve organisational sustainability across Scotland’s museums.

MGS increased staff numbers last year to manage the new scheme, which saw the development body more-than triple the funding it made available to Scotland’s non-national museums and galleries in 2025-26.

The Museum Futures programme accounted for £3.5m worth of the total grants awarded that year, distributed through 94 grants to 58 organisations.

The scheme also helped MGS to increase its reach across the sector, engaging more than 100 museum organisations across every region of Scotland.

The annual review also highlighted the body’s ongoing work to deliver Scotland’s Museums and Galleries Strategy 2023-30. As the strategy approaches its half-way point, MGS has begun moving away from establishing new programmes towards assessing their longer-term impact. It plans to work with sector partners to undertake a midpoint review of the strategy.

Another strand of MGS's work in 2025-26 was Protection Through Connection, a £250,000 two-year programme launched in July last year to safeguard intangible cultural heritage in Scotland. The fund, which is currently open to expressions of interest, supports communities to record, showcase and safeguard their own cultural traditions.

The review also highlighted the second year of Delivering Change, MGS's anti-racism and anti-oppression programme, which saw Museum Transformer and Museum Activist participants complete anti-racism training during 2025-26. MGS itself introduced an anti-racism action plan and piloted training for new staff.

Workforce development was another significant area of activity. MGS delivered 17 modern apprenticeships, 51 learning opportunities involving 112 organisations, and 30 one-to-one employability surgeries.

Its staff visited 82 museums to provide advice and support, while 242 delegates attended its annual Strategy Symposium.

The organisation also stepped up its advocacy work ahead of the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections, which were held in May this year.

“These achievements are the result of a genuinely collaborative effort among MGS staff, board members, stakeholders and the sector workforce,” said Lucy Casot, the CEO of MGS.

“We continue to listen, engage, and learn this year through the midpoint review of Scotland’s Museums and Galleries Strategy, and work with partners to realise our shared ambition for an inclusive, innovative, and resilient museum sector.”

Climate action

Alongside the annual review, MGS published its second Climate Report, which looks at the organisation’s own environmental impact as well as its work supporting museums to respond to climate change and biodiversity loss.

MGS’s climate work is part of the resilience strand of the Scotland's Museums and Galleries Strategy.

A key development in 2025-26 was the launch of the MGS Climate and Nature Planning Course, designed to help museums understand climate and nature as issues of organisational resilience rather than treating environmental action solely as a carbon-reduction exercise.

Museums participating in the first year included The Tall Ship Glenlee in Glasgow and Tarbat Discovery Centre in Portmahomack.

The course builds on MGS's wider climate work, including the Scottish Museums Climate Network, which grew to more than 100 members during its second year. MGS also provided tailored climate and nature advice to museums and continued to develop training, partnerships and knowledge-sharing around environmental sustainability.

Due to organisational changes, MGS reported a significant increase on its total carbon emissions for 2025-26. “This is due to the growth of our staff numbers over the past year, which has pushed up our homeworking, commuting, and office energy usage emissions,” said the report.

MGS has continued to advocate for the role of museums in tackling the climate crisis, according to the report. In 2025-26 it contributed to Scottish Government consultations on Climate Change Duties and Plans and Biodiversity Duties and Plan, and attended a Scottish Government summit on the need for climate adaptation and crisis-facing infrastructure.

MGS’s advocacy campaign for the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections also featured an ask for political parties to guarantee funding for climate mitigation and adaptation.