£4 million Recovery and Resilience Fund to open for independent museums in Scotland

Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) is delighted to announce details of the £4 Million Recovery and Resilience fund, made available by the Scottish Government.  The fund will open to applications on 17 August 2020.

This fund will support Accredited and non-Accredited independent museums in Scotland that have been put at risk by the Covid-19 pandemic. It can help organisations that are struggling to cover costs between now and 31 March 2021 but it is also there to support organisations to plan and implement measures that will make them more financially sustainable beyond March 2021. Full fund details are available on the MGS website.

The fund aims to get money to communities right across Scotland through supporting the valuable work of museums and galleries, who play key social and economic roles in their local areas. MGS strongly encourages all Accredited and non-Accredited independent museums to consider how the fund might support them at this time. The MGS team are currently contacting all eligible museums but also encourage museums to get in touch with any questions or to discuss application ideas.

Lucy Casot, CEO of Museums Galleries Scotland said:

“We are delighted to open the Recovery and Resilience Fund to deliver much needed support to museums and galleries who have faced continuous financial uncertainty during the pandemic. The sector quickly responded to the needs of their communities during the lockdown through providing fun, imaginative, and vital remote engagement that helped to alleviate loneliness, continue dementia groups, and gave bored kids and tired parents hours of activities. Now our museums and galleries need the support of this fund to weather the next period of financial uncertainty and continue their key work in communities.”

MGS’s Urgent Response Fund, which has been supporting Independent Accredited Museums with urgent operational costs will now close to applications on 14 August 2020. The COVID-19 Adaptation Fund which is open to all museums to support with purchases and training for reopening up to £7,500 (£10,000 for partnerships) remains open.

MGS has created new tools and resources to support museums to reopen. This includes a slack channel where the sector can ask questions and get peer support and an advice section on our website. To help promote this phase of reopening to the public MGS is running a campaign to encourage people to visit those museums and galleries that will be open.