Alistair Hardaker
Image: Dundee McManus Exterior (VisitScotland and Kenny Lam)
Final £56k awards see community groups lead museum collaborations on migration and systemic exclusion, completing Delivering Change funding strand.
Museums Galleries Scotland has awarded the final two Community Catalysts grants, giving £28,333 each to projects in Shetland and Dundee.
The funding completes the Community Catalysts strand of Delivering Change, MGS’s programme supporting museums and community groups to restructure around anti-oppression principles. The grants support community groups to lead collaborative projects with museums, with participants developing the direction of projects themselves.
ZYA Community will collaborate with Shetland Museum and Archives on Centring the Heritage and Experience of Creatives of Colour. The project will showcase four artists in an exhibition scheduled for October 2026, focusing on systemic exclusion. ZYA Community will also co-design a resource with Inlet Leith for artists of colour working with museums.
Dundee International Women’s Centre will work with the McManus Art Gallery and Museum to showcase stories of women from migrant communities. The project will result in n exhibition at the McManus and a separate celebration event at the women’s centre.
Sheila Asante, programme manager for Delivering Change, said the projects “are directly supporting our community partners to build lasting relationships with our Delivering Change Museum Transformers. These two projects in Dundee and Shetland are great examples of how community groups can work with museums to tell their stories in their own way.”
Nikki Kilburn, director of ZYA Community, said the funding will enable it to “ reimagine how collections can inspire” and “support artists to lead that process, ensuring creativity and community voices are at the heart of systemic chang”
Delivering Change is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, People’s Postcode Lottery, and the Scottish Government.
