2024 Survey of Scotland's Museums and Galleries

The 2024 Survey of Scotland’s Museums and Galleries was commissioned by Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) and conducted by DC Research in mid-2024 and focused on updating specific aspects from the 2022 National Survey of Scotland’s Museums and Galleries.

The survey gathered information on a specific range of subjects including finance, paid staff, volunteers, freelancers, visits and visitor type, climate, social impact, and education. The survey received a total of 114 valid and usable replies from different museum organisations which equates to a 39% response rate.

• Despite high inflation, most organisations report no change to their income. This means it is likely that most have faced a real terms decrease.
• In terms of recent changes to total expenditure levels, almost two-thirds of respondents reported that they have seen an increase. This means we have a sector that has lost income but faced increased outgoings.
• The proportion of museum organisations reporting more than 12 months reserves has fallen from 43% to 36%, while the proportion reporting reserves of less than 4 months has risen from 24% to 28%.
• 11% of respondents report that they feel their organisation is at risk of closure in the next 12 months. In 2022 it was 10%.
• Progress has been made around fundraising strategies, with 63% reporting that they do have a fundraising plan/strategy for their museum, compared to 42% in 2022.
• There has been a shift in roles, with front of house roles remaining the highest proportion, up from 34% to 41%, while curatorial roles have fallen from 10% to 8%. Education, learning and participation roles, which deliver vital audience engagement, are down to just 4% of the museum workforce. This means we are losing the ability to care for and share the stories of the collections we hold for the people of Scotland.
• Visits to museums numbered 15.4 million, higher than the 5.2 million reported in 2021-22 and higher than the 12.8 million reported in the pre-Covid period of 2019-20.
• There has also been a shift in types of visitors, with a drop in local visitors (21%, down from 28%) and a rise in international visitors (42%, up from 34%).
• Encouragingly, 64% of organisations report that they actively engage with the health and wellbeing agenda, the same proportion as in 2022.