Innovative Museums Project Brings Local Authorities Together for the First Time

An exciting new training project for museums and galleries in the Highlands and Islands will see Local Authorities across the region working together on a cultural project for the first time.

The project, which is pioneering partnership working not just between Local Authority bodies in the region but also between them and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, will fill vital gaps in the museums and galleries staff skills base. The training provided will be free to the participants, and of a high quality. In a sector where over 50% of the staff are voluntary, this project is being viewed as fundamental to continuing the region�s superb legacy of exemplary museum provision.

Steve Callaghan, who is leading the project on behalf on Orkney Islands Council, said:  �Transport costs and distances make getting to centralised training difficult for small organisations with low budgets in the Highlands & Islands, and can also preclude training from being delivered locally.  We are all really looking forward to boosting the range of local skills, and to helping to ensure our sustainability into the future.�

This project is being funded by the Regional Development Challenge Fund, which is administered on behalf of the Scottish Executive by the Scottish Museums Council.

Patricia Ferguson, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, said: "I am very pleased that the Regional Development Challenge Fund is proving so successful in helping to establish meaningful partnerships.  Our aim was for a range of partnerships spread across the whole of Scotland. But what is developing is much more that merely geographical cover in the way the partnerships encompass so many of the Executive's cultural, educational and social priorities."

This project was launched today alongside two other RDCF projects. These projects all focus on new and innovative partnership working between the museums and galleries sector and a variety of relevant bodies. By working in partnership with social work organisations, community groups, criminal justice organisations, Local Authorities and Education Services, they demonstrate the willingness of the Scottish museums and galleries sector to move forward and embrace the communities in which they find themselves.

Joanne Orr, Director of the Scottish Museums Council, said: 'SMC is delighted to be launching this latest round of RDCF funded projects, which highlight the creativity with which the Scottish museums and galleries sector approaches partnership working. These projects will work across a range of Ministerial portfolios, from Education to Community Care, demonstrating the integral role museums play in the lives of our local communities.'

Notes for Editors

• The Regional Development Challenge Fund replaces the Strategic Change Fund and is administered on behalf of the Scottish Executive by the Scottish Museums Council. It awards grants of up to �100,000 annually for three years. There has already been one round of awards in September this year, which saw a further five museums & galleries projects throughout Scotland receive funding.
• The Scottish Museums Council (SMC) is the main channel for the Scottish Executive support to, and the member organisation for, non-national museums and galleries in Scotland. SMC provides strategic leadership and a range of service including grant aid, strategic and operational advice, information and training. SMC has 207 members, which manage 340 museums all over Scotland, including 164 Independent, 142 local authority, 7 regimental and 27 university museums.
• Museum Resources for Social Integration
  Led by North Lanarkshire Council Museums, this programme will create partnerships between museums and social work organisations and community groups. Developing a more effective relationship between museums and social work staff will assist museums in making a more sustainable contribution to the local community.
• North East Scotland Museums Partnership
  Working closely with the Education Services of both local authorities (Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire) and the University�s School of Education, the key priority of this project will be to model, test and deliver across the North East the concept of a cultural right of access to exceptional collections held by museums in this part of Scotland and to the stories that they tell.
• Skills Building for the Future
  Led by Orkney Islands Council, the aim of this project is to raise the level of skills in all areas of museum and heritage operations across Highlands and Island, to strengthen and build capacity within the museums and heritage voluntary sector, and to build lasting links with other relevant agencies across the Highlands and Islands.

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