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  • Last updated: March 23rd 2026
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14 organisations share £130,947 through the Small Grants Fund

A large sandstone building with a domed copper roof.

We’re pleased to announce that £130,946 has been awarded to 14 museum organisations across the country through the latest round of our Small Grants Fund. The awarded projects focus on improving collections care, collaboration and co-production, and audience engagement. The fund is supported thanks to the Scottish Government.

Renfrewshire Leisure will use its £12,500 award to carry out essential conservation and repairs at Coats Observatory, restoring its 19th-century telescopes, original observer’s chair, and manually operated dome. This work will improve safety and functionality and enable the reopening of the observatory for public stargazing and educational activities.

Meanwhile, Shetland Amenity Trust has received £14,440 to deliver a collaborative project with the Bressay History Group to co-curate an exhibition on early Christianity, centred on the Bressay Stone. The project will secure a temporary loan of the stone for a three-month exhibition, reconnecting it with its place of origin while engaging local communities and increasing awareness of Shetland’s rich heritage.

Also focusing on co-curation, Museums & Galleries Edinburgh will work with the city’s Kinship team and young people in care to create an exhibition at the Museum of Edinburgh. Through a 12-week programme of filmmaking, photography, and arts workshops, participants will develop creative skills and produce work for display, amplifying the voices of young people in kinship care and raising awareness of their experiences.

Other funded organisations including Dunollie Museum, Castle and Grounds and The Withorn Trust will focus on audience engagement and improving the visitor experience. Dunollie Museum will use its grant to create three new audio tours to provide visitors with a richer and more engaging interpretation of Dunollie’s long history and bring the museum’s stories up to date.

The Whithorn Trust will use its award to support the initial stages of a development project which will involve a full-scale rebuilding of a timber church, sited in the area around 700CE. The Trust will also develop a reconstruction of an authentic early medieval workshop with an in-house specialist timber-framer. The workshop build will provide hands-on learning opportunities for young people and equip them with practical skills and experience while supporting their progress towards joinery qualifications.

The awarded organisations are:

Find out more about the Small Grants Fund

Small Grants Fund
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