Latest news with #MuseumsGalleriesScotland
Scotsman
a day ago
- Business
- Scotsman
Behind the scenes we're making sure our museums have a future
Museums offer the diversity of the natural world, world cultures, art and design, science and technology and Scottish history Museums play a central role right across Scotland in education, community engagement and heritage preservation. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Whether in cities, towns or rural settings, they support learning, tourism and local identity. With over 400 museums of all types and sizes, the strength of the sector lies in its diversity and connection to place. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The last few years have presented real challenges. The pandemic disrupted operations, caused a drop in visitor numbers and introduced new financial pressures. Rising energy costs and staffing difficulties have made the situation harder still, especially for smaller museums or those relying on volunteers. Ensuring long-term sustainability is now a clear priority. The new Museum Futures programme, developed by Museums Galleries Scotland and supported with £4 million in funding from the Scottish Government, has been designed in response to this context. Its aim is to help the museum sector across Scotland become more resilient and better prepared to adapt to change. The approach is practical and focused on the sector's own priorities. The programme is structured around three key themes: workforce development, leadership support and sector collaboration. Investment in these areas reflects ongoing conversations with museums about what is most urgently needed to secure the future of collections, expertise and public engagement. Workforce challenges remain significant. Many organisations have struggled to recruit and retain skilled staff. Others rely heavily on volunteers with limited access to training. The Museum Futures programme will fund staff development, create entry routes into museum work and support a more inclusive and skilled sector workforce. This will benefit organisations of all sizes, including those with limited internal capacity. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Leadership support is another area of focus. Small museums often have a small number of staff covering multiple roles, which can make forward planning difficult. Through mentoring, peer learning and access to expertise, the programme will help leaders build confidence, improve decision-making and manage change effectively. The third strand supports collaboration. Many museums face similar issues but work in isolation. By encouraging resource-sharing and joint projects, the programme creates space for practical innovation. Museums can learn from one another, trial new approaches and strengthen local partnerships. This kind of cooperation is especially valuable for organisations operating outside the central belt. Geographic reach is an important part of the programme. Support will be offered across Scotland, with attention to areas where funding and capacity have been harder to access. Rural and island museums, as well as those in disadvantaged communities, will be able to apply for targeted assistance. Similar strategies have been used successfully elsewhere. In Ireland and Scandinavia, investment in regional museum networks has helped secure long-term sustainability. The Scottish approach draws on that international thinking while staying grounded in local need. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Museums contribute to more than cultural life. They support local economies, provide lifelong learning opportunities and act as civic hubs. Through the Museum Futures programme, Scotland is taking steps to ensure they remain relevant and resilient. The result will be a stronger, more connected sector that continues to serve the public in the years ahead. As the Culture Secretary and MSP for Edinburgh Central, I'll take this opportunity to remind everyone, that while many come to Edinburgh in summer for the festivals, the city's museums remain open and are always worth a visit. From major exhibitions to unique local collections, there is a huge amount to see.
Scotsman
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
New programme offers hope for museums stuck in short-term funding cycle
A major new initiative announced by Museums Galleries Scotland is being welcomed by museum professionals across the country, including those who've long called for deeper investment in the people behind the exhibitions. Sign up to our Scotsman Money newsletter, covering all you need to know to help manage your money. Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The Museum Futures Programme aims to support a new generation of skilled staff and tackle the long-standing challenges of workforce shortages and short-term contracts. At the recent Scottish Museums Federation conference, one of the biggest questions raised was: How can we move beyond survival mode and start building lasting, sustainable success for Scotland's museums? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The answer, many agreed, lies in people — and how we support them to shape the future of the sector. Grenadian artist Billy Gerard Frank exhibits at Paxton House in the Scottish Borders Sallie Bale, Founder of heritage marketing consultancy Monument Marketing and a board member of the Scottish Museums Federation, says the announcement is a step in the right direction: 'This programme tackles one of the biggest challenges facing Scottish museums: the cycle of short-term funding and short-term thinking. If we want thriving museums, we need to invest in both innovating the visitor experience and telling people about it.' Sallie works with museums and heritage organisations across the UK, helping them find their voice, grow their audience, and create marketing that feels as purposeful as their collections. She believes this kind of support will help museums strengthen not just their exhibitions, but their connection with communities: 'Marketing, engagement, and audience development aren't 'nice-to-haves' they're vital parts of building a museum people know about, care about, and come back to.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The Museum Futures Programme is being delivered using funds from the Scottish Government and National Lottery Heritage Fund, and will include practical training, peer learning, and funding support. It is part of a wider shift toward embedding resilience and long-term thinking across the heritage sector.
The National
02-07-2025
- Business
- The National
New £4.4m fund to help Scottish museums ‘stand the test of time'
The new Museum Futures programme will offer funding and support to help transform how museums and galleries operate. With Swinney hailing Scotland's museums as being the 'stewards of our cultural heritage' the fund is aimed at encouraging more collaboration across the sector to develop new ways of working. It has been developed by the Scottish Government in partnership with Museums Galleries Scotland and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. READ MORE: The simple polling change that could be significant for independence support Details of the scheme were announced by the First Minister ahead of a visit to the Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh on Wednesday. Museums will be able to apply for cash either via an open fund – which will be focused on helping them improve leadership and deliver organisational change – or a targeted fund that will be more focused on the needs of communities. An organisational health check as part of the scheme, which has been developed by Museums Galleries Scotland, will also help individual museums to pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses, helping them make more informed decisions about their priorities and funding. (Image: Jane Barlow/PA Wire) The First Minister said: 'Museums are the stewards of our cultural heritage, preserving the objects and artworks that have shaped Scotland, from its earliest beginnings to the latest trends. 'Local museums in particular are responsible for bringing the stories behind their communities to life, and the Museum Futures programme aims to give them a solid foundation to build on by helping organisations innovate, collaborate and adapt.' He said that some museums were 'already early adopters of new ways of working' adding that the new programme would 'encourage more of that through the sharing of ideas, practical advice and funding'. Swinney stressed: 'This programme and the £4 million funding behind it reflects the Scottish Government's commitment to ensure our museums flourish.' He said he had heard 'loud and clear' from the sector on the 'challenges they are currently facing'. And he added: 'I would strongly encourage anyone who might be eligible to consider how they could secure their part of Scotland's story with this funding and support.' Lucy Casot, chief executive of Museums Galleries Scotland, hailed the fund as a 'momentous opportunity for Scotland's museums'. Casot said the scheme 'takes a progressive new approach to sector investment and development, allowing us to imagine and test what a strong museum sector could look like'. She added: 'It provides capacity to explore how the sector can adapt to meet current and future challenges while removing some of the risks of trying something new. 'It gives museums a chance to plan for long-term sustainability instead of just getting through another year. 'Museum Futures recognises the hard journey that our sector has had and seeks to offer a positive way to address barriers and support change.' Meanwhile Caroline Clark, National Lottery Heritage Fund director for Scotland, said: 'Since the launch of the Heritage Fund some 30 years ago we have worked closely with Scotland's museum sector and thanks to National Lottery players we have supported museums of every size and style in every part of the country. 'As the largest funder for the UK's heritage our knowledge and experience has helped shape the Museum Futures programme. 'We now look forward to supporting it in delivery and continuing to be a key funder, project partner and supporter for a resilient, creative and collaborative museum sector in Scotland.'
Daily Record
28-04-2025
- Science
- Daily Record
Ancient cloth which lay at bottom of Perthshire loch for thousands of years goes on display
A rare piece of fabric that lay buried under silt at the bottom of a Perthshire loch for nearly 2500 years has gone on display. It was found in 1979 when an Iron Age loch dwelling house, the Oakbank Crannog, was excavated on Loch Tay. The woven piece of cloth is believed to be one of the oldest of its kind in Britain and dates back to the early to middle part of the Iron Age. It is now on show for the first time - within a climate controlled cabinet – at The Scottish Crannog Centre's Iron Age village, visitor centre and museum, near Kenmore. The textile had previously been thought too fragile to display, but it will be a permanent exhibit at the centre following a painstaking stabilisation and conservation process, funded by Museums Galleries Scotland. Experimental archaeologist and volunteer at the centre Maureen Kerr said: 'The exciting thing is that there's nowhere else in Scotland, and very few places in the rest of the UK, that has a textile of this size and age. 'The weave on this fine textile is called a 2/1 twill which is really unusual for the time in southern Britain and northern Europe as most twill weaves were 2/2. 'This sheds considerable light on the technologies society had in the Iron Age. 'Twill weaves, which this textile is part of, is a dense, flexible fabric, very similar in appearance to our modern denim weave. It has been made, we think, on a two-beam loom, or a warp-weighted loom. 'This, combined with the fact that there are the remnants of a possible hem indicating that it could have been part of a piece of clothing, makes it a rare and special discovery.' Crannogs – dwelling houses built on stilts or stone over water – usually had a bridge connecting them to the shore. Very few exist outside of Scotland and Ireland. The first crannogs in Scotland were built on lochs from Neolithic times. The Scottish Crannog Centre director Mike Benson commented: 'We are absolutely thrilled to be able to invite the public to come and see this amazing find. 'This piece would have been made by a whole community, from the shearing of the sheep, to the processing and dyeing of the wool to the weaving of the textile. 'Our Centre today is very much about community and the one thing that unites all of us is our common humanity through the ages.' The 'Oakbank Textile,' has been analysed by University of Glasgow archaeologists who have radiocarbon dated the material to between 480 - 390 BC. University of Glasgow senior lecturer in archaeology Dr Susanna Harris said: 'There are very few early textiles of this date and we think this is the first one of this type, of 2/1 twill, in Scotland. Wool was such an important material in Scotland it's been exciting to analyse this piece. 'It's great that the Scottish Crannog Centre has taken this step. It's really important finds like this go on display. It may be a small piece of textile but it tells us a lot about the heritage of Scottish textiles.'
Daily Record
23-04-2025
- Science
- Daily Record
Ancient Scottish textile hidden under a loch for 2,500 years to go on display
Discovered in 1979 at the Oakbank Crannog, the textile is thought to be one of Britain's oldest surviving woven fabrics A remarkably well-preserved Iron Age textile is going on public display for the very first time after being hidden beneath Loch Tay for nearly 2,500 years. The ancient fabric remnant was found back in 1979 after lying undiscovered for millenia. Believed to be one of the oldest surviving pieces of woven fabric in Britain, the textile was discovered during excavations at the Oakbank Crannog, a reconstructed Iron Age dwelling that was perched on stilts above the loch in Perthshire. Natural preservation by silt at the bottom of the loch kept the rare find intact over the centuries, but until now, it was considered too delicate to exhibit. Thanks to a meticulous conservation and stabilisation process, funded by Museums Galleries Scotland, the textile can now be safely viewed by the public. It is being showcased from Wednesday at the Scottish Crannog Centre, where it has taken pride of place in the Iron Age village, visitor centre and museum on the shores of Loch Tay. The precious relic is housed in a climate-controlled cabinet to ensure its protection for future generations. Mike Benson, director of the Scottish Crannog Centre, said: 'We are absolutely thrilled to be able to invite the public to come and see this amazing find. 'This piece would have been made by a whole community, from the shearing of the sheep, to the processing and dyeing of the wool, to the weaving of the textile. 'Our centre today is very much about community and the one thing that unites all of us is our common humanity through the ages. 'We're really looking forward to finding out what people make of this rare textile, which is part of our past but also a hugely important part of our present and future. We hope people will be drawn to see this exhibit, and the rest of our extensive collection, for years to come.' Archaeologists at the University of Glasgow have dated the Oakbank Textile to between 480 and 390BC using radiocarbon analysis. Dr Susanna Harris, senior lecturer in archaeology at the university, said: 'There are very few early textiles of this date and we think this is the first one of this type, of 2/1 twill, in Scotland. 'Wool was such an important material in Scotland, it's been exciting to analyse this piece. It's great that the Scottish Crannog Centre has taken this step. "It's really important finds like this go on display. It may be a small piece of textile but it tells us a lot about the heritage of Scottish textiles.' Crannogs, ancient homes built on stilts or stone over water, were once a common sight across Scotland, typically linked to the shore by a wooden bridge. These unique dwellings date back to Neolithic times, with very few examples found outside Scotland and Ireland. The Scottish Crannog Centre's own reconstructed crannog was tragically lost to a fire in 2021. But in a major step forward, the centre reopened last year on a larger site near Kenmore. The team is now well underway with building a new crannog, using traditional and sustainable construction techniques to honour the site's historical roots.
