The challenge
Most small rural museums operate without core funding, relying on seasonal and project-based income that limits their ability to build long-term resilience.
Senior staff at these museums spend disproportionate time on administrative and compliance tasks, leaving little capacity for collections care, community development, income development, or strategic planning.
Pathfinder pilot
Museums and Heritage Highland (MHH), the geographic museum forum for the Highlands, is seeking to address the structural capacity gap facing small rural museums across the region.
MHH has worked with an advisory group of member museums to co-design ‘Pathways to the Future’, a two-year pilot that involves hiring staff who provide dedicated administrative, operational, and commercial support across eight Highland museums. MHH has recruited two Museum Support Coordinators that each work across four museums, and a Commercial and Sustainable Development Manager who will support all eight participating museums to grow their income and build their sustainability.
The ambition of the project is to reduce operational burdens while strengthening earned income, financial planning, and governance. By testing collaborative income-generation strategies and shared systems, it aims to create a scalable, evidence-based framework for sustainable rural museum development.
A strategic leadership group, made up of senior staff from each partner museum, meets regularly to shape delivery, review performance, and refine the model. The group also provides vital peer support and leadership development for its members.
Impact
Pathways to the Future aims to increase earned income, reduce administrative burden, improve governance and compliance, support shared marketing and commercial initiatives, reduce isolation, and provide peer support.
The long-term ambition for the project is to move museums from reactive ‘survival mode’ towards more confident, strategic growth.
Follow the progress of Pathways to the Future with these blog articles from project staff:
Pathways to the Future is an active Pathfinder pilot funded through the Museum Futures programme. This page will be updated periodically to reflect the progress of the pilot and its outcomes.
