ANGUSalive Museums have been awarded £52,646 in funding from Museums Galleries Scotland for their upcoming World Cultures Project.
The two-year project aims to appropriately catalogue, research and safely store Angus Council’s large and historic ethnography collection.
It will culminate in a co-curated exhibition, scheduled to take place in autumn 2025, and educational resource for schools produced in collaboration with local minority and advocacy groups.
The funding will cover conservation and exhibition costs as well as facilitating the appointment of a Curatorial Assistant who will work on the project four days a week.
As part of the project there will be discussions relating to colonialism and the British Empire in museum collections and the potential repatriation of objects.
“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 conversations about repatriation and identify ethical issues relating to the provenance of these objects,” said Emma Gilliland, Museums & Galleries Collections Lead.
“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 1830s, so it is appropriate that it will host our World Cultures Exhibition.”