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Funding Update and Feedback Request

Museums are facing significant financial challenges associated with inflation. This is creating uncertainty around budgets both this year and next.

In this context we have taken the decision to pause our grants programme. This will allow us to review the needs of the sector and how our grants programme can provide optimum support to museums by helping them navigate these challenging circumstances. We need to consider whether the published programme of Small Grants and Museum Development funding is still the most effective way to do this.

This means that the published deadline for the Small Grants Fund on 30 September will now not go ahead. We will also review whether the Museum Development Fund deadline on 31 October should go ahead.

We recognise that this creates uncertainty for those of you who were planning applications. We will announce revised plans for distributing our grant funding across the remainder of the financial year as soon as possible.

If you have any questions or concerns at all, please email the MGS Grants Team at grants@museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk.

Understanding the challenges

We are keen to understand the scale of the challenges being faced by the sector. Please tell us about how you are being affected by the current financial context and what your priorities are. This information will enable us to present an accurate picture to the Scottish Government and help us to understand how best to support the sector through advice, resources and funding.

Some points we would like you to consider in your response:

  • How are your buildings and operational costs being affected?
  • How is your workforce being affected?
  • How is your ability to engage with the public and serve the needs of your local community being affected?
  • Is your organisation experiencing any impacts as a result of the energy crisis and if so, what are they?

Please email your response to Sai Ragunath, our Senior Advocacy and Public Affairs Manager, at SaiR@museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk.

Providing evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Culture Committee

Having a strong picture of the sector’s situation and needs will be valuable ahead of our CEO, Lucy Casot, giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Culture Committee on Thursday 29th September as part of its pre-budget scrutiny on funding for the culture sector. We will share the panel with National Museums Scotland (NMS), Historic Environment Scotland (HES) and National Galleries of Scotland, so fully intend to have our messaging aligned on the day to maximise the impact of evidence at the session.