Image: Kirkcudbright Gallery Collections (VisitScotland)
MGS’s Small Grants Fund now open to non-Accredited museums as part of £2.4m investment programme, which includes a new Repair and Adaptation Fund offering capital grants of up to £100,000
Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS), the National Development Body for Scotland’s museums sector, has opened its Small Grants Fund Non-Accredited Museums for the first time.
The organisation announced the news as part of a new grants programme representing £2.4m of investment for the coming year, which will also see a new capital fund created thanks to increased investment from the Scottish Government.
The Small Grants Fund supports museums to develop their work and “deliver against the priority areas of Scotland’s Museums and Galleries Strategy”, it isa.d The funding is hoped to enable non-Accredited museums to “strengthen and expand the important work they currently do for their collections and communities’. Non-Accredited museums can apply for up to £10,000, while Accredited museums will still be able to apply for grants of up to £15,000.
Its Repair and Adaptation Fund has also been introduced to address the need for capital funding in the sector. This fund has been made possible by a significant increase in capital investment from the Scottish Government.
This fund will support capital costs that “directly increase the resilience or accessibility of museums through projects that address capital repair issues or adaptations that go beyond the limitations of a museum’s core maintenance budget”. Accredited museums will be able to apply for grants of up to £100,000.
MGS’s Museum Development Fund and Creative Minds Fund will also continue.
Lucy Casot, CEO of Museums Galleries Scotland, said: “By giving notice of the funds that will be available this year we hope colleagues across the sector will have time to make enquiries, consider their needs, and submit bids.
“We hope that by offering a new source of funding for capital repairs and introducing support for non-accredited museums, we are helping our sector build greater resilience.”
MGS is currently developing a separate new capacity-focused fund as part of a wider programme that will seek to help museums become more sustainable and resilient.
Further information about the Small Grants Fund, Museum Development Fund, and Creative Minds Fund can be found here.
