Pathfinder Pilot Fund
The Museum Futures programme provides a much-needed opportunity to explore solutions to sector wide challenges in a collaborative way. This fund will allow us to pilot ideas that could be transformative for the sector.
MGS is looking for ideas for place based or thematic collaborations that explore new ways of working. They should have potential to be scaled up or adopted elsewhere if they prove to be successful. The interest will be in the lasting change that they could bring, so exploring how the activity, or the benefits of the funded activity, can be made sustainable will be key.
What ideas could be funded?
We’re interested in pilots that could address the following:
- Skills or expertise gaps through partnership working and networks
- How to effectively share resources
- Exploring new business models through shared services
- Developing new income streams through collaborative working
- Coming together to tackle a local challenge
- Teaming up to avoid the inefficiency of several museums trying to solve the same problem individually
- Creating partnerships outside of the sector to support any of the above
What scale of pilot can be considered?
Grants of up to £350,000 will be available, for spending over a three-year period.
However, we can also offer much smaller grants for preparatory and exploratory work to scope out collaborative working and initial research phases that may be carried out quite quickly.
Do you have an idea?
We want to hear from you! We are running this fund a little differently to our normal funding rounds.
Ultimately, applications will be by invitation only. There will be some ideas that are fully formed and a clear fit for the fund straight away, but we anticipate that in many cases, the idea will be refined through a series of conversations between MGS and those bringing the ideas forward.
We are therefore happy to hear from those who just have the idea at this point and perhaps haven’t yet figured out all aspects of the pilot or identified all collaborators. MGS may be able to support with brokering relationships with potential partners.
Get in touch with the Museum Futures team to explore your idea further, by emailing museumfutures@museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk . It will help us prepare for a conversation with you if you send us a brief outline of your idea using our EOI form
Who can make the application?
We will work with you to identify who is the most appropriate organisation within your partnership to submit the application. The applicant must be applying on behalf of a partnership, and the proposal must be museum led. We expect that in most cases, the primary applicant will be a museum (Accredited or non-Accredited) or a formally constituted group of museums (e.g. geographic forums).
Museums set to benefit from the project should complete an Organisational Health Checker.
To access MGS funding, organisations should be able to demonstrate compliance with the Scottish Government’s Fair Work First policy, in line with Scottish Government requirements. This requires workers to receive payment of the Real Living Wage and to have access to appropriate channels for effective voice. Further information can be found in Fair Work First – Guidance for funding applicants.
The application process
Once a proposal has reached a viable stage and there is mutual agreement that it meets the purpose of the fund, we will invite an application. The application process itself will then primarily be about establishing the parameters of the funded activity, the support that is needed and ensuring that the plan is as robust as possible, as well as evidencing that it meets the purposes set out for the pilots.