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Funding for museums and galleries
04/10/2007
Six museum and galleries have been awarded funding of £234,185 under the Recognition Scheme to increase access to the collections and raise standards of collections management and care.
Funded by the Scottish Government and managed by the Scottish Museums Council, the Recognition Scheme ensures important collections are identified, cared for, protected and promoted to a wider audience. Grants of up to £40,000 are available.
Minister for Culture Linda Fabiani said:
"In June, I announced the first awards to ten collections across Scotland giving them Recognised status. Today I am delighted to confirm that six of these collections will now receive funding to attract audiences and promote their wonderful collections of national significance.
"These collections should be shared with as many people as possible and through the Recognition Scheme I look forward to seeing direct benefits for our local museums and galleries around the country."
Custodians of the Recognised Collections are using the grant as an opportunity to develop new ways to attract audiences such as providing interactive online access to the collections.
Douglas Connell, Chair of the Recognition Committee, said:
"To achieve Recognition status, the applicants had to demonstrate the uniqueness, authenticity, comprehensiveness, and national value of their collection. It is wonderful to be able to now fund their aspirations to undertake projects such as increasing accessibility to their collections and improving how they are cared for."
Joanne Orr, chief executive of the Scottish Museums Council said:
"Scotland's museums and galleries house collections that celebrate our valued and distinguished identity. With two further rounds of the Recognition Scheme to come over the next year we can look forward to seeing more museums and galleries benefiting from the £1 million earmarked for the scheme."
The projects being undertaken by carers of six Recognised Collections of National Significance are:
- The Archaeology Collection cared for by Dumfries and Galloway Museum Service- £40,000 for an interactive website providing information on important archaeological objects in in the area including geographical and archaeological details on where the object was found
- The Collection of Historic Musical Instruments at University of Edinburgh - £34,310 to develop a high quality sound guides featuring samples of instruments on display in the collection to enrich the visitor experience
- The Core Collection cared for by Scottish Railway Preservation Society, Bo'ness - £40,000 to employ a curator to improve the capacity of the Trust to care for and use the collections.
- The Entire Collection cared for by Burns Monument Trust, Alloway - £40,000 to document part of the collection which is the largest in the world, comprising some 4085 artefacts including manuscripts, rare books, and pieces of art
- The Entire Collection cared for by Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, Glasgow - £39,875 for a database of digitised images of the Roman Imperial coin collection and the development of multimedia systems on the Romans in Scotland both online and through information kiosks
- The Entire Collection cared for by Surgeons' Hall Museum, Edinburgh - £40,000 to produce an illustrated printed and online guide to the collections to enhance the visitor experience