Programme: Scotland's Museums and Galleries Strategy Symposium 2026 - Online

Duncan Dornan, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Museums Galleries Scotland, will welcome you to the Strategy Symposium. He will then introduce a pre-recorded opening address from Angus Robertson MSP, Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture.

Museum Futures participants will share candid stories and early reflections from their involvement so far with the programme. Themes will touch on leadership, capacity, innovation, fundraising, and income generation. It will be an opportunity to learn more about the changes and opportunities that the programme is delivering.

Speakers :

• Duncan Dornan, Chair, Museums Galleries Scotland (session chair)
• Anna Day, Head of Cultural Services and Libraries, Leisure and Culture Dundee
• Fiona Greer, Development Director at The Tall Ship Glenlee
• Sandra Lowson, Director of Operations and Engagement, David Livingstone Birthplace Museum

There will be a short (15 minutes) break between sessions.

Kathryn Samson, Channel 4 News’ Scotland Correspondent, will chair a panel session with senior politicians from Holyrood’s main political parties, who will set out their plans and take questions from the audience.

Speakers:

• Clare Adamson, MSP, Scottish National Party
• Neil Bibby, MSP, Scottish Labour
• Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP, Scottish Conservatives
• Patrick Harvie, MSP, Scottish Greens

This panel discussion will explore the ways in which museums can collaborate with their local communities and climate networks for collective action, audience engagement and funding. We will hear from museums, community climate action networks, and there will be time for a Q & A session.

Speakers:

• Lucy Neville, Museum Development Manager – Climate & Nature, Museums Galleries Scotland (session chair)
• Katy Firth, Museum Climate Change Exhibitions and Outreach Officer, Stromness Museum
• Jo Moulin, Museums Officer Promotions, East Lothian Council
• Keith Dunmall, Community development Lead NESCAN Hub

You will have a 30 minute break between sessions.

Collections rationalisation is a fundamental part of healthy collections management. However, this important aspect of collections work can be all-to-often fraught with challenges around public perception, workforce isolation, ethical decision making, and practical hurdles.

This session brings together people actively involved in collections rationalisation to explore key challenges, barriers, and hurdles in their rationalisation, and identify practical approaches to how they have been overcome.

Speakers:

• Jacob O’Sullivan: Museum Development Manager, Museums Galleries Scotland (session chair)
• Emma Gilliland: Museums & Galleries Collections Lead, Angus Alive
• Sophie Lenihan: Museum Curator, The Royal Scots Regimental Museum
• Thomas Megaw: Lead Curator, Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museum

15 minute break between sessions.

A brief update on MGS’s work to achieve the LGBT+ Charter Mark and how the sector might also get involved.

Speaker:

Ellie Muniandy, Senior Museum Development Manager, Museums Galleries Scotland

This panel session will explore the ongoing collaborative work between colleagues from the Caribbean and Scotland. This includes creating inventories of Caribbean and African collections through projects such as Reveal & Connect (funded by Museums Galleries Scotland and the John Ellerman Foundation). The collaboration includes the 2024 return of a specimen of an extinct Jamaican lizard, the giant galliwasp, to Jamaica from The Hunterian. The session will also update on the development of guidance on repatriation and restitution for Scottish museums.

Speakers:

• Steph Scholten, Director, The Hunterian (session chair)
• Neil Curtis, Head of University Collections, University of Aberdeen
• Tasmin Evans, Project Curator, National Museums Scotland
• Elizabeth Morrison, Zoologist, Natural History Museum of Jamaica, Institute of Jamaica
• Shani Roper, Curator, UWI Museum, The University of the West Indies

Forward Focus: Lucy Casot, CEO, Museums Galleries Scotland, brings the event to a close with a look ahead to MGS’s work as the sector’s national development body.