Museums Matter

Across Scotland, museums are quietly changing lives. From the smallest volunteer run local museum to our nationally renowned institutions, museums are places of belonging, curiosity, and connection. They are trusted civic spaces where people of all backgrounds come together to explore the past, understand the present, and imagine a better future. 

Yet for many years, Scotland’s museums have been operating at the margins. While some parts of the culture sector have seen growing budgets, funding for museums has been at a standstill, resources are stretched thin, and expectations continue to grow. Museums have responded by adapting, innovating, and collaborating, finding new ways to do more with less. However, passion and commitment can only stretch so far. 
 
That is why we have worked closely with our sector to create Museum Futures; a pioneering programme developed in partnership with the Scottish Government and The National Lottery Heritage Fund. It is tailored to help museums meet their challenges through funding, expert guidance and peer learning to support innovation and long-term sustainability. Early research shows that Museum Futures is beginning to meet the needs of the sector, enabling museums to adapt and thrive.  The continued funding of this programme on a multiyear basis is critical in achieving our shared ambitions. 
 
As we look to the upcoming election, we’re keen to have a serious national conversation about the value we place on our museums and what kind of cultural future we want for Scotland. 
Museums deliver extraordinary public and economic benefit. They inspire learning beyond the classroom, igniting curiosity in children and lifelong learning in adults. They support mental health and wellbeing, offering welcoming spaces for reflection and creativity. They tackle isolation and loneliness. They strengthen local economies, anchor high streets, support jobs, and attract visitors. Through the collections they hold, they preserve and interpret Scotland’s diverse histories, ensuring our national story is honest, inclusive, and shared. 

In short, museums are not luxuries. They are essential civic infrastructure. 

Politicians often speak about the importance of culture, community, and opportunity. To see these values in action they should visit a museum.  People visit for the fascinating objects and compelling stories. However, alongside the collections care and interpretation museums are exemplars of collaboration, innovation, inclusion, and local leadership. A visit to a museum is not simply a cultural experience; it is a lesson in how inclusive growth, social impact, and civic pride can be achieved. 
Yet their contribution is too often overlooked in public debate. Cultural investment is frequently framed as discretionary; we see it as being foundational. 

Our national advocacy campaign, Museums: Scotland’s Stories, Scotland’s Future, is both a celebration of what museums achieve and a challenge to those seeking to lead our country. It calls for continued multi-year investment in Museum Futures along with recognition for museums as forces for social good, the championing of inclusion across the sector and capital funding to help tackle the climate crisis. 
 
Our campaign demonstrates how, across the country, museums connect communities, build pride, and belonging. They create spaces for dialogue around identity, climate change, migration, and social justice and empower communities to tell their own stories, in their own voices. This work is transformative and it cannot be sustained on goodwill alone. 
 
What museums need now is not short-term fixes, but long-term commitment. Sustainable funding, multi-year investment, and meaningful capital support would unlock innovation, deepen partnerships, and ensure museums remain responsive to Scotland’s changing needs. 
 
Our museums stand ready to play their part in shaping a fairer, healthier, more connected nation. What we now need is the political will to recognise their worth and to act on it.   

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This article is sponsored by Museums Galleries Scotland.

www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk