This issue of the magazine is centred around collections and their impact on the communities in which they reside � a theme which will be carried through to our AGM and Annual Report. This follows on from the Scotland�s Culture document, published by the Scottish Executive in January this year, which very much put collections at the heart of cultural policy. Collections development at the heart of communities will be the focus of SMC�s delivery over the next five years.

Earlier this year, SMC carried out further research with its membership to identify a formal link between museums and their impact on local communities. Many of our members provided examples of some of the fantastic projects and activities they have been running, a small selection of which can be seen in this issue of MG:Q. The findings of our research are, at the time of going to print, being produced as a leaflet for distribution to key policy makers and other decision makers, and highlight the need for increased investment in this country�s rich and diverse heritage.

In addition, SMC�s final strategy in our suite of four A National Collections Development Strategy for Scotland�s Museums was published in October, and builds on the strengths of the museum and gallery sector by suggesting a way forward for engaging more people with Scotland�s collections.

This issue also covers the long-awaited launch of the �Significance Scheme�, which was promised as part of Scotland�s Culture and which will recognise collections of national significance in non-national museums, making sure they are cared for and promoted to a wider audience. We have been pleased to welcome Mike Taylor as the Significance Scheme Manager at SMC, and Douglas Connell as the Significance Chair.

Our cover story reports on the involvement of well-known broadcaster and columnist Muriel Gray in our Treasure Seekers campaign. Muriel chose to be photographed at the Glasgow School of Art, where she was formerly a student. Keep your eyes peeled in the coming months for other celebrities taking part in the campaign.

Finally, we have included a piece outlining some of the evaluation results from Show Scotland 06. The weekend surpassed our expectations, with fantastic visitor numbers and great feedback from many of those involved. We are now getting ready for Show Scotland 07 which we hope will be even bigger and better!

As always, we would love to hear from you with any story ideas or feedback on the magazine.

Editor

Earlier this year SMC established the need for further research to be undertaken into identifying a formal link between museums and the impact they have on their local communities. During summer 2006, a number of visits were undertaken to museums throughout Scotland to collect data and case studies to demonstrate this link using the following key priority areas:

Education and Lifelong Learning
Health and Wellbeing
Diversity
Community Confidence
Tourism

Local MSPs were invited to attend these visits and to learn more about the work being done in their constituency museums.

There are more than 360 museums and galleries in Scotland acting as custodians to over 12 million objects. Each one of these museums contributes to the wider social and economic agenda in Scotland and the majority undertake community based activities often with very limited resources.

The Scottish Executive�s report Scotland�s Culture, commends museums for the �major contribution� they make to achieving cultural priorities and determines an even greater future role for collections in national life. SMC�s A National Collections Development Strategy for Scotland�s Museums further highlights the many ways that communities can engage with Scotland�s rich collections.

The integral role museum collections play in the lives of our local communities must continue to inspire future generations. However, further investment in the sector is necessary to ensure that this is realised.

There is the assumption that collections will always be there as a resource, but in reality these collections need continual management and development. As their guardians, Scotland�s museums hold a privileged position but also bear a great responsibility.

In the following articles there are four case studies from museums around Scotland, highlighting just some of the activities that demonstrate the important link between communities and museum collections.

Our hosting of �Ten Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci: An Exhibition to Celebrate the 80th Birthday of Her Majesty the Queen� fell during the summer holidays this year so we felt it was appropriate to make it the focus of our summer activities. We worked with a number of local partners to bring together a varied range of events and activities.

We have found that taking part in national initiatives provides opportunities to increase the awareness and accessibility of our collections and have also devised exhibitions to illustrate themes relating to anniversaries such as The Battle of Trafalgar and the related �SeaBritain� enterprise in 2005. We are fortunate that, although we are an independent museum, we can manoeuvre ourselves into general maritime or industrial themed initiatives and events.

Our resources (photographs and archive material) include those on family history, which we have ensured are flagged on VisitScotland�s Ancestral Tourism website, and we are a member of the Fife Ancestral Tourism Forum. We are now working with other industrial museums to contribute as extensively as possible to this growing sector of Scotland�s economy.

Fife�s Museums Forum coordinates joint exhibition projects, marketing and advertising campaigns for the museums in the region, and runs sessions for teachers to introduce them to the resources available in the forum�s collections.

By contributing to online initiatives, such as Scottish Textile Heritage Online, and NIDS (The National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United Kingdom and Ireland) we can also ensurethat the more complex issue of access to our reserve collections can be tackled and can be accessed via the web, CD-Rom or microfiche.

Finally, we have developed our corporate hospitality programme and increased the use of our Education Centre and galleries as a venue for a diverse range of events. Each summer our restored Fifie herring drifter �Reaper� attends numerous events around the British coast. Visitors to the �Reaper� number around 20,000 a year and we couldn�t wish for a more unique, beautiful or fascinating vehicle with which to spread the word of the museum and its mission.

The exhibition uses displays that recreate a series of period hearths including a �hunter-gatherer� camp, a Roman kitchen, a medieval market place, a Victorian dining room and a 1960s kitchen. These portray typical food and cooking techniques and examples of period cooking utensils and equipment taken from museum archaeology and social history collections.

In addition to the exhibition, a number of related workshops, activities and events in community venues are being run throughout the Borders region.

The project is also aimed at addressing healthy eating issues, reinforcing the �Hungry for Success� programme currently being run by the Scottish Borders Council Healthy Living Coordinators and NHS Borders Health Education Teams. Funded by the Scottish Executive, this project has a strong identity in Scottish Borders schools and the project managers were therefore delighted to be involved in the early stages of researching and developing the �Guid Scots Diet?� exhibition and learning programme.

Overall we have had excellent feedback from visitors including thank you letters from school children and their teachers. Diet as a curriculum topic can be a bit dry to teach, but the exhibition really encouraged the children to think about what they eat and what is in their own lunch boxes.

The strategy identifies that, as well as being guardians to in excess of 12 million items in collections throughout Scotland, museums are duty-bound to develop these collections to ensure people continue to find them inspiring and relevant. In order to achieve this, and taking into account the differing levels of resources available to museums, it offers a new and practical framework for those who work in Scotland�s museum and gallery sector.

� to promote Scotland�s diverse museum collections and their potential as community and cultural resources at local and national level

� to support museum staff to develop and sustain collections confidently, openly and effectively

� to encourage museums to provide increased and innovative opportunities for users to truly engage with collections.

Turas will be based around a number of core themes closely related to island life and culture and will offer a range of resources to suit the needs of the host venue or organisation. In order to involve a range of partners in developing Turas, the Access Matters group was established in March 2006. Access Matters is made up of local representatives from healthcare, social work, arts development, archaeology, education and Museum nan Eilean and meets monthly to discuss the content of Turas and share ideas for the new outreach programme.

The next phase of Turas will be to identify venues and organisations willing to pilot the resource. Local primary schools in the Uists and Benbecula and residential care homes in North Uist and Stornoway have been invited to host Turas early in 2007.

There are two topics that have been selected forthe first phase of the project � Island Energy and The Home Front � each with four sub divisions � land, sea, people and culture.

The �Writing With Light� project was developed to help increase access to the photographic archive in North Ayrshire Museum. Pupils from Garnock Academy in Kilbirnie, North Ayrshire participated in the project which involved exploring local and regional archive resources.

Initially, pupils worked with the class teacher, museum staff, a writer and a photographer to discuss and explore the archive. The aim was to create new images and writing inspired by the archive and by the people and places in their local area.

In order to provide a context for the local and regional focus of archives, the pupils visited two facilities in the area:

At North Ayrshire Museum in Saltcoats the museum�s manager gave an introduction to the museum and to the archive processes, after which the pupils delved into the extensive photographic archive. The group then visited the Ayrshire Archive Centre in Ayr where a range of materials were put on display in advance of the visit. The pupils were especially interested in maps, books and records which had relevance to their local area.

Pupils participated in further workshops during the course of the project, which ran from January � March 2006.

�Yes, it shows us how far we have evolved in life and it gave me a sense of well being, it is really interesting.�
- Participating student

In July this year, a ceremony was held at Doon Valley Museum in Dalmellington, Ayrshire, to launch the RDCF project Future Museum South West. Attended by Patricia Ferguson, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, the opening ceremony was accompanied by a launch exhibition entitled �El Dorado� based on the theme of mining.

Like many museums professionals, I have been wondering about the best way of providing online access to collections. The great advantage of digital information is the ease with which it can be copied and the ability to deliver the same content through a variety of different media and in a range of differing contexts.

Couple this with the fact that the World Wide Web allows content to be drawn in from anywhere; the growth in �sociable technologies�1 such as blogs2; and the fact that creating online content is now easy and requires little technical knowledge; and we can see that there is already shared content out there being used, re-used and re-shaped.

The Anne Redpath and The Edinburgh School exhibition explored the colourful works of Anne Redpath and her contemporaries such as Gillies, Maxwell, McTaggart and Crozier. 30 works, many with a local connection, were displayed; some from the City�s own collection and others on loan from The Fleming Collection, McManus Galleries, Royal Scottish Academy and private collections.

Managed by SMC, the scheme, backed over the next two years by �1 million from the Scottish Executive, will make sure that nationally-important collections are identified, cared for, protected and promoted to a wider audience.

The scheme has two strands � �Recognised Collections of National Significance�, which will serve to recognise those nationally important collections, and the �Recognised Collections Fund� which will serve to provide funding for these collections.

Speaking at the launch, the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, Patricia Ferguson, said:

�Scotland�s museums and galleries house collections that celebrate our proud and distinguished history, providing a fascinating and educational experience for all those who visit.

�This new Significance Scheme will, for the first time, allow us to fully recognise many of these collections for their national contribution to our identity, learning and tourism.�

The minister also announced the appointment of Douglas Connell as the Chair of the Significance Committee � a group which will oversee the recognition of collections of national significance and advise on the dispersal of the fund.

For further information on the Scheme, please call Mike on 0131 550 4137 or email [email protected]

Held at the Netherbow Storytelling Centre on Edinburgh�s Royal Mile, the workshop was well attended, with members travelling from as far a field as the Western Isles and Highlands.

All categories of SMC membership were represented at the event, with staff from independent, university, local authority and regimental museums attending. The participants all had very different levels of experience in applying for grants with some having never applied, while others were veterans of the application process.

The first part of the morning was spent explaining the process of application and how SMC has developed the grant forms and guidelines to make things easier for applicants. There were plenty of opportunities for members to ask questions and the morning�s discussions proved a successful exercise in clarification for both members and SMC staff.

Later in the morning representatives from two of SMC�s member museums, Jacky McBeath from the University of Edinburgh and Alice Pearson from Kirkcaldy Museum, presented case studies on successful applications they had worked on and the processes they had used. These presentations inspired further questions from the participants and there was a flurry of development ideas and exchanges between attendees.

A full, external evaluation of the weekend has now been completed, and the findings suggest the event exceeded expectations, successfully achieving the planned objectives.

The evaluation data was collected throughout the event using both an online survey for the participating museums and galleries, and a simple questionnaire given to visitors to gauge their perceptions of the events and activities.

Some of the key findings of this evaluation are:

All of the museums that took part indicated they would like to attract new audiences, with 70% saying their target would be a specific audience.

Over 50 museums delivered over 120 new, innovative and creative events. In excess of 52,500 visits were made over the Show Scotland weekend � a 30% increase on the same time last year. Timed performances attracted over 16,000 attendees.

83% of those who took part felt that Show Scotland had had a positive impact on the profile of their museum or gallery, with increased media coverage, a rise in general awareness of the museum and the benefits of joint promotion as part of the weekend.

An important outcome identified early on was to increase partnership working throughout the museums taking part, both within and outwith the sector. 60% of the museums that took part did so in partnership with one or more organisation. Of these, 76% formed new partnerships and 57% worked with existing partners. An important legacy is that some have already planned future events working with these partners.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has produced a booklet outlining the history of slavery and extending to cover modern day issues such as race, injustice and discrimination. The Heritage Lottery Fund is actively encouraging community-based organisations to apply for funding for projects inspired by the abolition of slavery. Applicants can apply under any of the established HLF funding programmes for funding for a heritage project that celebrates, raises awareness, conserves, educates or opens up access to material relating to the slave trade. To discuss a project or idea, potential applicants should contact the HLF Scotland Office Development Team (contact details at the end of this article).

The Scottish Executive has formed a cultural steering group to co-ordinate and record the commemoration in Scotland. This group is chaired by the Executive�s Equality Unit and includes representatives from: Scottish local authorities; Learning and Teaching Scotland and other educational bodies; the National Museums, Archives and Libraries; the National Trust; SMC; various churches; and religious and community groups. The focus of this group is to share information on plans to commemorate the bicentenary, in order to highlight opportunities for collaborative working and to draft an action plan for taking development work forward.

After being greeted by Lord Provost Liz Cameron, the Queen was shown round the galleries on the first floor by Glasgow City Council�s Director of Cultural and Leisure Services, Bridget McConnell. Her Majesty spent three hours exploring the new exhibits, including the famous Salvador Dali painting �Christ of St. John on the Cross� and a portrait of Mary Queen of Scots, while Prince Philip was shown around Kelvingrove�s ground floor.

The Treasure Seekers campaign, launched in 2004 by First Minister Jack McConnell, kicked off once more in October when Muriel Gray, renowned author, broadcaster and columnist, was photographed at the Glasgow School of Art.

Muriel was photographed at the Glasgow School of Art, in both the library and the Mackintosh room, and here is pictured with a Mackintosh chair (front cover image).

Explaining her choice of venue, Muriel said:

�I studied at Glasgow School of Art between 1975 and 1979 and feel that, as an art student, the staggering beauty of the building was rather taken for granted. At the same time though, the beauty and inspirational nature of the work space was absorbed, by a process of osmosis, and became and sort of minute-by-minute inspiration.�