About Us
Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) is the National Development Body for Scotland’s museum sector. We support 448 museums and galleries through strategic investment, advice, workforce development and advocacy.
We are the lead body for the delivery of Scotland’s Museums and Galleries Strategy 2023-2030. Written with, and for, all of Scotland’s museums and galleries, the creation of the strategy has been a joint endeavour. This shared ownership will continue into the delivery of the strategy.
As an independent charity we receive core funding from Scottish Government, which also provides funding to be distributed via grants directly to the museums and galleries sector. Our impact is enhanced by project-based funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and People’s Postcode Trust.
We are governed by a Board of Trustees.
MGS is a values-led organisation, committed to the ongoing development of a positive culture for its people. Success for MGS is not only dependent on outcomes but the brave choices we feel enabled to make. The commitment of our team is directly attributable to the impact we can deliver, in our supporting role of the museum sector.
Find out more about ‘How we work’.
Our core activity
Following the publication in February 2023 of Scotland’s Museums and Galleries Strategy, we’ve developed our next business plan for the period 2023 – 2026. This business plan outlines how we will deliver the MGS actions against the three strategy strands of Connection, Workforce, and Resilience, as well as other core activity on behalf of the sector.
We are completing delivery of our 2020-2023 business plan and our commitment to supporting the museums and galleries sector through the following core activity:
- Funding - undertake focused investment in the sector in response to sector needs to make an impact and deliver change.
- Impact and advocacy - develop a robust evidence base for the sector and its social and economic impact on Scotland’s communities. We advocate on behalf of the sector to raise its profile and visibility among stakeholders and funders.
- Partnerships – collaboration is at the heart of how we work, and MGS actively seeks partnership approaches to delivering public value – sharing skills, experience, and resources with the sector.
- Advising and Knowledge sharing – we facilitate skills development and capacity building, signpost to information, advice and resources and share best practice. We maintain and develop standards, including via the Accreditation Scheme and Recognition Scheme.
Find out more about MGS by reading Our Impact.