Our Impact

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

In 2022/23 we awarded 264 grants, through 9 funding streams, to a value of £6,718,506. These grants supported 199 organisations across Scotland.

Our partnership funding enabled us to extend our reach beyond the museum sector. We awarded grants to libraries, heritage, arts, and other community organisations as part of our partnership with VisitScotland for the Year of Stories 2022 Communities Stories Fund.

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

Our Business Support Programme encourages museums and galleries to build their financial resilience, while our Forum Connections project aims to develop stronger geographic partnerships for museum organisations. Both of these projects were made possible thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF).

We secured funding from NLHF and the Scottish Government to develop Delivering Change, a project which aims to support museums to improve access to culture. An application has been made to NLHF to fund the delivery of this project over three years.

Our Developing My Leadership and Digital Literacy for Leadership courses, Carbon Literacy training, and one-to-one marketing 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, and work closely with UK-wide organisations to strengthen our advocacy and key messaging and find shared solutions and opportunities.

In 2022, we supported the Empire, Slavery, and Scotland’s Museums steering group with the delivery of their six recommendations to the Scottish Government.

Throughout 2022 and 2023, we conducted several surveys to improve our understanding of Scotland’s museum sector. We issued surveys on climate and finances, and organised the first large-scale survey of Scotland’s museums and galleries in over two decades.

We’re in the steering group for ongoing research into admission pricing in museums. This project, led by the Association of Independent Museums, involves several UK partners.

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 development of Scotland’s museums and galleries strategy involved close collaboration and consultation with a wide range of organisations and individuals.

We work with VisitScotland on joint marketing campaigns that promote Scotland’s museums and galleries, and collaborated on the delivery of the Year of Stories 2022 Community Stories Fund.

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.