ANGUSalive Museums Awarded £52,646 for ambitious ‘World Cultures’ Project

ANGUSalive Museums are delighted to announce they have been awarded £52,646 from Museums Galleries Scotland for their upcoming World Cultures Project.

The World Cultures project aims to appropriately catalogue, research, and safely store Angus Council’s large and historic ethnography collection. This two-year project will culminate in a co-curated exhibition and educational resource for schools produced with relevant local minority and advocacy groups.

This will see ANGUSalive join the discussion relating to colonialism and the British Empire in museum collections and open dialogue for the potential repatriation of objects.

This funding will also cover conservation and exhibition costs, as well as the appointment of a Curatorial Assistant who will work 4 days a week on the project.

The award comes very timely given the current conversations around repatriation and ANGUSalive’s museum service will act as an ideal location to kick off these discussions, whilst responsibly following guidance from other museums already involved in this project to ensure practice.

Emma Gilliland, Museums & Galleries Collections Lead with ANGUSalive said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this funding as not only will it allow us to research an under-documented area of our collection, but we will also be able to join global museum conservations about repatriation and identify ethical issues relating to the provenance of these objects.

“We’re looking forward to developing a number of community partnerships to explore this work further. Montrose Museum was one of the first purpose-built museums in Scotland and began collecting this type of material from the 1830’s, so it is appropriate that it will host our World Cultures Exhibition.”

The World Cultures Exhibition is scheduled to take place in Autumn 2025.

For more information about ANGUSalive’s Museum and Galleries service, please visit https://angusalive.scot/museums-galleries/.