Supporting Scotland's Museums and Galleries

Discover the wide range of opportunities and support available to the sector to help deliver the strategy for Scotland’s museums and galleries.

Explore the strategy

Meet our team

An adult with medium-dark skin, braided brown hair, and a blue cardigan holds headphones to their ears while standing in front of a bright blue painting.

A group of adults in hard hats and hi-vis vests posing for a photo on a wooden walkway that leads to a wood roundhouse.

A crowd of people wearing bright colours and waving flags marches past a large stone building which features a sign reading 'Art Gallery'.

An adult and two young people with light skin stand in front of a display of brass instruments.

An adult with light skin and brown hair tied into a bun views a portrait by Maud Sulter, a Scottish artist of Ghanaian heritage, at Edinburgh’s City Art Centre. The portrait depicts an adult with medium-dark skin wearing a white wig and formal dress in the style of 18th century Western fashion.

Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) is the national development body for Scotland’s museum sector. We support 450 museums and galleries through strategic investment, advice, workforce development, and advocacy.

Museum Futures

Museum Futures is a pioneering programme of funding and support which seeks to accelerate collaboration and innovation and embed organisational sustainability across the museum sector.

This programme, which is backed by £4 million of Scottish Government funding, was developed in partnership with the Scottish Government, Museums Galleries Scotland, and The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

A group of seven adults are standing aboard a ship. A large mast is standing tall behind them with a purple flag attached that reads 'Museum Futures'. A large grey building with an angular roof is also in the background.

448

Museums and Galleries

supported by us in Scotland

249

Accredited Museums

across Scotland meet the UK Museum Accreditation Standard

£6.5 million

In MGS Grants Funding

awarded to museums and galleries in 2025-26

51

MGS Learning Opportunities

provided to the sector in 2025-26

Four adults stand together in a gallery and look out of a large floor-to-ceiling window.

Resilience and ambition: MGS publishes 2025-26 Annual Review and Climate Report

We have published our Annual Review and Climate Report for 2025-26, highlighting our diverse responsibilities as the national development body for Scotland’s museum sector and our continued delivery against the aims of Scotland’s Museums and Galleries Strategy. 

A group of children sit on colourful mats, watching as a seated adult with light skin and long curly grey hair gestures to them with their hands.

MGS calls on politicians to back a positive vision of effective public sector reform

Museums Galleries Scotland is calling on the Scottish Parliament to recognise the role museums can play in delivering public service reform, with the Museum Futures programme providing a model for innovation, collaboration and long-term sustainability.

28 September, 2026

Getting to grips with Heat Pumps

Hear from sector colleagues about their years of experience in the world of heat pumps from the well-known air and ground source to experimental river heat exchange systems and even how heat pumps can work on a historic ship.

Price: Free
Organiser: Museums Galleries Scotland
Location: Online