MGS distributes £1.3 million through latest Museum Futures awards

The funding will help create improved services for many communities and ensure effective long-term use of public investment through shared skills and resources. In total, £3.5m has been distributed to 58 organisations through the first year of Museum Futures.

Culture Secretary Màiri McAllan said:   

“Scotland’s museums are vital to preserving our nation’s stories and ensuring access to our cultural heritage. I am pleased that this Scottish Government funding is offering a much needed boost to museums across Scotland to help them on their transformational journey towards greater sustainability. The Museum Futures programme recognises the challenges many museums face and offers a positive way to help each museum address those challenges.”

In this latest round of awards, Museums and Heritage Highland (MHH) has secured £255,800 for a two-year pilot project that will launch a shared-services model for rural museums. The project, Pathways to the Future, is designed to strengthen the long-term sustainability of small museums across the Highlands. Through a collaborative partnership, eight museums will share expertise, systems, and staff support to reduce administrative pressures, strengthen income generation, improve governance, and build a more connected and sustainable future for rural museums across the region.

The Whithorn Trust has been awarded £152,519 to develop a heritage skills hub which will offer training programmes for local community members and visitors in archaeology, traditional building and conservation skills, sustainable architecture, and low-impact travel. The courses will be delivered at varying levels, ranging from short courses to schools’ engagement and progression pathways for heritage and construction professionals. The project seeks to address the decline in traditional heritage skills while increasing public engagement opportunities and enhancing the visitor experience.

Leisure and Culture Dundee has secured £50,000 to support the research phase for a proposed shared regional collections store which will serve museums in Dundee, Angus, and Perth & Kinross. The project aims to increase public access to thousands of objects currently held in inaccessible storage, ensuring they are cared for to professional standards and made available for research, learning, and community engagement. A shared regional facility will also provide a more economically sustainable solution than individual museums developing and maintaining separate storage facilities.

Many museums face significant challenges in securing sufficient, environmentally controlled storage space to properly care for their collections. By taking a collaborative approach, this initiative will bring together expertise, improve efficiency and environmental sustainability, and strengthen collaboration and resilience across the Tayside museums.

Gairloch Museum has received £81,086 to reconstruct an Iron Age roundhouse as part of its outdoor museum. The roundhouse will connect visitors directly with the archaeology of the excavated roundhouse sites behind the museum and with the traditional building skills used to construct them. The roundhouse will become a centre for learning, community activity, and cultural engagement, supporting education programmes, traditional skills training, Gaelic language activities, and public events.

Corinna Annetts, Curator at Gairloch Museum said:

“This is a huge milestone for the museum, especially as we look ahead to our 50th anniversary.

Accredited craftspeople will work alongside local people to construct the roundhouse using traditional skills, including heather thatching and turf building – skills which are increasingly rare and endangered, but of great local relevance. This funding allows us to protect traditional skills, bring years of community archaeology into public view, and create a landmark learning space that connects people directly with Iron Age life in Wester Ross.”

The awarded organisations are:

• Stromness Museum (£22,200)
• Museum Heritage Highlands (£255,800)
• Kinloch Historical Society (£80,000)
• Gairloch Museum (£81,086)
• Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (£70,000)
• Leisure and Culture Dundee (£50,000)
• Falkirk Council (£131,410)
• Art in Healthcare (£13,300)
• David Livingstone Birthplace Museum (£194,500)
• The Tall Ship Glenlee (£60,000)
• Kilmartin Museum (£60,000)
• Summerlee Museum (£68,313)
• The Whithorn Trust (£152,519)
• The Abbotsford Trust (£143,924)

The next round of Museum Futures funding is open for applications. Applications to the Unlocking Potential Fund and Innovation Fund are assessed on a rolling basis with the final deadline for applications on the 27^th January 2027.