Our Impact

Our latest Annual Review looks back on some of the work we have undertaken in the first year of Scotland’s Museums and Galleries Strategy 2023-30. 

It includes:

• An introduction from Lucy Casot, CEO of Museums Galleries Scotland
• Our organisation – our work and our people
• Grant-making
• Strategy delivery
• Core activity
• Our finances
• Partners and supporters.

Our actions have been made possible with the support of the Scottish Government, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the People’s Postcode Lottery and Art Fund.

You can access our online annual review by clicking on the link below, or you can download a Word version.

We award targeted grants that aim to build the resilience of Scotland’s museum sector and respond to its needs.

We receive funding from the Scottish Government for distribution to museums. This supports project activity that helps museums to develop their work and deliver against the priority areas of Scotland’s Museums and Galleries Strategy.

We sometimes also distribute funding from other sources (eg. The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund) for specific activity. This is often in connection with a project or programme that we are running (eg. Forum Connections, Delivering Change).

In 2023/24 we awarded 84 grants, through 5 funding streams, to a value of £2,121,430. These grants supported 62 museum organisations across Scotland.

We maximise our impact on Scotland’s museum sector by investing in the development of the workforce.

We provided 39 learning opportunities to the sector in 2023/24.  94% of learners agreed and strongly agreed their confidence has increased in the topic area.

We launched Delivering Change in 2024, a 3-year programme of learning, leadership and funding, to enable museums and galleries to put anti-oppression at the heart of their work.

Our Developing My Leadership course, Modern Apprenticeship programme, lunch and learn sessions, and one-to-one marketing support surgeries have all offered museum workers further opportunities to gain new skills and expertise.

We also run skills-sharing sessions and Knowledge Exchange events for the museum sector workforce. Our staff write and commission advice guides on a wide range of topics, and collate case studies of best practice by museums and galleries across Scotland.

We use our role as a national development body to amplify the voice of Scotland’s museum sector.

We work closely with the Scottish Government to advocate for the strategic priorities of the museum sector, ensuring that the perspectives of museums and galleries are represented in relevant consultations, in Parliamentary Committee panels and inquiries on Scotland’s culture and tourism, and across the Scottish Government’s Culture Strategy.

We regularly meet with museum services and museum sector leaders to ensure that we’re able to advocate effectively on their behalf. We work closely with UK-wide organisations to strengthen our advocacy and key messaging and find shared solutions and opportunities.

We have recently established the Scottish Museums & Galleries Advocacy Group to support collaboration and hnowledge sharing.

By working in partnership with stakeholders within the museum sector and beyond, we’re able to make the most of our knowledge, skills, and resources.

Our work on the delivery of Scotland’s museums and galleries strategy continues to involve close collaboration and consultation with a wide range of organisations and individuals.

We work closely with VisitScotland on joint marketing campaigns and other supported activity to help raise the profile of  museums and galleries to a public audience.

We have an ongoing partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, and Creative Scotland to support the safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Scotland.

Our Skills Development team has partnered with schools to deliver Workforce for the Future, a programme which aims to inspire the next generation of museum sector workers.

We have also launched the Scottish Museums Climate Network to bring museums together to share challenges, guidance, and training opportunities.