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Groam House Museum scoops £60K boost to breathe fresh life into nationally significant Celtic art collection


By Hector MacKenzie

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Groam House Museum in Rosemarkie has benefited from cash to breathe new life into a nationally significant collection of Celtic art. Picture: Gary Anthony. Image No. 036530.
Groam House Museum in Rosemarkie has benefited from cash to breathe new life into a nationally significant collection of Celtic art. Picture: Gary Anthony. Image No. 036530.

A BLACK Isle museum's bid to increase public access to a nationally significant collection and bring it to life in a new way has secured a £60,000 boost.

Groam House in Rosemarkie is benefitting from fresh investment from the national development body for Scotland's museums in what has been described as a "highly significant boost".

Its George Bain collection of Celtic art is considered to be on national significance, helping the village museum become one of 12 facilities to development from a share of the Museums Galleries Scotland cash.

The investment will enable some museums to re-envisage their collections through a 21st century lens, launch reminiscence sessions, and work on audience development.

Some museums will be looking afresh at how they tell the stories behind their items.

Groam House Museum wants to increase access to its George Bain collection with a project that involves digitisation via an interactive website, where users can comment on content and upload their own creative output in response to the items they see.

Alongside this, it will run animation and dance workshops inspired by the collection, which will be delivered by Platform and dancers from Plan B Creative. These workshops will aim to raise awareness of the collection and the possibilities it presents to spark creativity.

Groam House Museum, Rosemarkie. Shortlisted for Tesco cash award to improve outdoor space.The area they are hoping to improve.Picture: Gary Anthony. Image No. 036530.
Groam House Museum, Rosemarkie. Shortlisted for Tesco cash award to improve outdoor space.The area they are hoping to improve.Picture: Gary Anthony. Image No. 036530.

Jill Harden, of Groam House Museum, said: "This grant is a highly significant boost for Groam House Museum and the George Bain Collection. Our display space is extremely limited, so creating a web-based collection will be a fantastic step forward, enabling people from all walks of life to find out more about Celtic design and the Collection. There will be modern works online too - including moving images based on community engagement projects exploring Celtic knotwork and interlace, creating dance and animation that will bring Celtic art alive and enthuse others to explore creative media.”

The George Bain collection at Groam House Museum is a recognised collection of national importance. Ian Begg is pictured making an earlier donation of his own work for the collection. Picture: Gary Anthony. Image No. 023994.
The George Bain collection at Groam House Museum is a recognised collection of national importance. Ian Begg is pictured making an earlier donation of his own work for the collection. Picture: Gary Anthony. Image No. 023994.

Lucy Casot, chief executive officer at Museums Galleries Scotland, said: "We are delighted to support Scotland’s museums in achieving their ambitions through these twelve projects. Museums are safe spaces that reflect the world we live in, so it is entirely appropriate that we should invest in ensuring they remain relevant in today’s diverse society and we particularly welcome the projects that are revisiting their collections to explore different perspectives and stories.

"Lots of the projects involve elements of digitisation which will enable the museums to improve their accessibility, and we are also keen to support the creation of new jobs in the museums sector, which many of these projects will deliver.”


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