Culture Committee hears of progress on Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s Museums

Representatives from Museums Galleries Scotland and the Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s Museums Steering Group (ESSM) recently gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Culture Committee.

The committee had asked for an update on the issue of empire, slavery and Scotland’s museums in light of the announcement earlier this year that the Scottish Government had accepted the recommendations of the ESSM Steering Group.

The six ESSM recommendations were:

• Scotland should create a dedicated space to address our role in empire, colonialism, and historic slavery. A new organisation should be created to lead this work.
• Museums should ensure anti-racism is embedded in workplaces and public spaces.
• Museums should involve the people of Scotland in shaping their work through co-production, to promote cultural democracy and participation for all.
• Museums should commit to research, interpret, and share the histories of Scotland’s links to empire, colonialism, and historic slavery.
• Museums should support efforts to promote and embed race equality and anti-racism in the curricula in a meaningful, effective, and sustainable way.
• Scottish Government should demonstrate their support for restitution and repatriation of looted or unethically acquired items in Scottish collections.

At the committee, MSPs asked about issues including the barriers to progress such as funding, how recruitment to museums could impact the work, how much resistance there has been to the work, and guidance around repatriation.

Speaking to the committee were our Chief Executive Lucy Casot, our Delivering Change Programme Manager Sheila Asante, and Jatin Haria and Zandra Yeaman from the ESSM Steering Group.

The panelists highlighted the appetite across the sector to deliver change, the power of museums to spark curiosity and enable difficult conversations. They also gave examples of museums leading the way in repatriation and reinterpretation.

Our colleagues also took the opportunity to draw the committee’s attention to the fragile financial state of the sector, emphasising that the delivery of work to address legacies of empire and colonialism will require employment of skilled museum staff.

A written update was also submitted to the Committee ahead of the in-person evidence session.

We look forward to the next steps, which will involve the committee seeking a response from the Scottish Government.

Meantime we will continue to progress our work on Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s Museums, including the current Delivering Change project. Which supports museums and galleries across Scotland to make changes to help all people to access culture.