Ten Years of Milestones
Highlights from Scotland's museum sector, 2012 to 2022
Going Further, the first National Strategy for Scotland’s Museums and Galleries, is published.
Museums Galleries Scotland becomes the sector’s first National Development Body.
MGS becomes the first UK organisation to be accredited as an expert NGO advisor to UNESCO on the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The Riverside Museum in Glasgow becomes the first Scottish recipient of European Museum of the Year award.
From Strategy to Action 2013-15, the first delivery plan for the National Strategy, is published.
Scotland's first Kids in Museums Takeover Day is held, enabling children and young people to take charge of museums and galleries.
Glasgow Women's Library wins Arts and Business Scotland's annual Enterprising Museum Award.
MGS partners with Social Enterprise Academy to deliver the SMART Sustainability Symposium, an event which encouraged participants to take an entrepreneurial approach to running a museum.
Glasgow hosts the Commonwealth Games, offering an opportunity for Scotlands' museums to showcase their work to international audiences.
Glasgow Museums staff and volunteers support the Commonwealth Games by co-producing Our Games, an exhibition to raise awareness of the benefits of volunteering.
The MGS Interns Programme concludes, having offered work-based training experience to 40 young graduates over four years.
The Digital Transformation Network is set up to explore how digitisation is changing roles, remits, and expectations in the museum sector.
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One, £132,000 in funding is secured from the Scottish Government to support 13 projects exploring the impact of the war on local communities.
MGS works in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland and Creative Scotland to organise an international symposium on the role of Intangible Cultural Heritage in identities and sustainable community development.
Surgeons’ Hall in Edinburgh completes phase one of a £4.4 million revamp.
Realising the Vision, the second delivery plan for the National Strategy, is published.
MGS organises a year-long Wikimedian in Residence project to improve digital access to collections throughout the Scottish museum sector.
MGS sponsors the European Museum of the Year Awards in 2015, raising the profile of Scotland’s museums with an international audience.
The Heritage Horizons traineeship programme launches. Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, this scheme aims to encourage diversity across the museum workforce by providing high quality training and qualifications.
Glasgow Life, the University of Glasgow and the National Library of Scotland work in partnership to relaunch Kelvin Hall as a centre of cultural excellence. The revamped venue offers access to a range of collections, education, and fitness facilities.
The Character Matters report is commissioned by Arts Council England, the Museums Association, MGS, and the Association of Independent Museums to provide a comprehensive snapshot of the UK museum workforce.
Museum nan Eilean opens in the redeveloped Lews Castle in Stornoway.
National Galleries of Scotland launches a successful campaign to buy Landseer’s Monarch of the Glen for £4 million.
Museums and galleries hold events to celebrate Scotland's Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology.
MGS partners with National Museums Scotland to deliver the 2017 Sharing Collections Symposium, an event focused on lending, borrowing, and touring exhibitions.
The MGS conference Inequalities: Bridging the Gap focuses on addressing inequalities in education, health and wellbeing.
National Museums Scotland raises £1.98 million to secure the purchase of the Galloway Hoard.
Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries reopens following a £12.4 million redevelopment. It wins the Best Building in Scotland award for 2017.
Tourism continues to fuel audience growth, with six museums and galleries included in the top ten most visited attractions in Scotland.
The award-winning MGS Skills for Success Programme is launched, providing non-graduates with an opportunity to gain an SVQ Level 3 in Museums and Galleries Practice.
Resourcing Scotland’s Heritage, a three-year programme to upskill Scotland’s heritage sector, comes to an end. Made possible thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, this programme was a successful partnership between Arts & Business Scotland, MGS, Archaeology Scotland, Built Environment Forum Scotland and greenspace scotland.
The Scottish Maritime Museum Men’s Shed is set up, providing a regular meeting space for hard-to-reach audiences.
MGS holds a Leadership Symposium which leads to the launch of an annual Leadership Programme in partnership with Social Enterprise Academy.
The new Accreditation 2018 Standard is launched.
Glasgow Women’s Library sets an important benchmark for the cultural sector in Scotland by introducing their Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Plan.
The V&A Dundee, Scotland’s first design museum, opens to the public.
Over 150 events are held for Scotland's eighth and final Festival of Museums.
MGS hosts a Scottish Parliamentary reception to mark International Museums Day and highlight how museums and galleries deliver across the National Performance Framework. This results in the Scottish Parliament debating a motion recognising the role of museums in communities.
The University of Aberdeen becomes the first museum in the United Kingdom to announce its commitment to repatriate a Benin bronze depicting the head of an Oba of Benin.
The Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum wins the Kids in Museums Family Friendly Museum award.
The Scottish museum sector welcomes its first Digital Marketing Modern Apprentices. This training offers key digital skills, work experience, and a qualification in Digital Marketing.
The Jim Clark Motorsport Museum opens in Duns, Berwickshire.
National Museum of Scotland completes a 15-year restoration project with the re-opening of the Ceramics, Egypt, and East Asia galleries.
The COVID-19 pandemic leads to the temporary closure of every museum and gallery in Scotland. Museums adapt by focusing on digital engagement to reach new audiences.
The Scottish Government responds to the COVID-19 pandemic by releasing over £7 million in emergency funding for museums and galleries.
The Scottish Government launches A Cultural Strategy for Scotland, setting out a vision of Scotland as a place where culture is valued, protected, and nurtured.
The third Delivery Plan for the National Strategy is published, highlighting new areas of strategic focus.
MGS holds Decolonising Your Museum, its first peer-to-peer Knowledge Exchange event, at St Cecilia's Hall in Edinburgh. The event includes speakers from the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Brussels, the David Livingstone Birthplace Museum, and the University of Aberdeen.
Art Fund awards the title of Museum of the Year to Gairloch Museum and Aberdeen Art Gallery.
MGS establishes Forum Connections, a 4-year project investing in Scotland's museum forums.
Make Your Mark, a campaign to increase the number and diversity of heritage volunteers in Scotland, is launched.
Recognising the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scottish Government provides an additional £3 million in funding for MGS to distribute to museums and galleries.
The David Livingstone Birthplace reopens to the public following a £9.1 million transformation.
Scottish museums and galleries participate in Kickstart, a UK Government scheme to provide work placements to young people on Universal Credit.
39 heritage organisations from across Scotland take part in Surviving to Thriving, a comprehensive resilience and leadership training programme funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
MGS provides marketing support to museums with the launch of the #MuseumsAreGo re-opening campaign.
The newly refurbished Trimontium Museum in Melrose reopens, housing one of the finest collections of Roman military objects on display anywhere in the UK.
With support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, VisitScotland and MGS partner to deliver the Year of Stories 2022 Community Stories Fund.
University Museums in Scotland holds its Creating Wellbeing conference online.
COP26 is held in Glasgow, highlighting the urgent need for museums and galleries to take climate action. MGS collaborates with Historic Environment Scotland, the Climate Heritage Network and global partners to launch Culture at COP, a website enabling climate emergency activists to engage with wider audiences.
The Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s Museums Steering Group makes recommendations to the Scottish Government on how Scotland’s involvement in empire, colonialism, and historic slavery can be addressed using museum collections and spaces.
The Burrell Collection reopens in Glasgow following a £68.25m redevelopment that has seen the museum become a greener and more accessible building.
The first National Survey for the sector in 20 years is sent out by MGS to one named contact in every museum and gallery across Scotland.
MGS launches its first-ever Modern Apprenticeships in Museums Galleries Practice.
South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture's Sir Harry Lauder Collection becomes Scotland’s 51st Recognised Collection.
MGS, Historic Environment Scotland, and National Galleries of Scotland present the Scottish Parliament’s Culture Committee with evidence of the financial challenges facing the museum sector.
Make Change Happen, the 2022 Museums Association conference, is held in Edinburgh.
The second National Strategy for Scotland’s museums and galleries is developed in close consultation with the sector.
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