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About

What's it all about!

Future Museum is a partnership between East Ayrshire Council, Dumfries and Galloway Council, North Ayrshire Council, South Ayrshire Council and the independent museums of the south-west of Scotland. The project has been funded by the Regional Development Challenge Fund which is funded by the Scottish Executive and administered by the Scottish Museums Council on its behalf.

The main focus of the project is to provide free access to the museum collections through the dynamic future museum.co.uk website. Each year a touring exhibition will also be developed, which will support a key theme of the site and travel across the region.

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What we want to do

The Future Museum project aims to maximise access to museum and gallery collections and deepen people's understanding of the history of the region through the website.

We also aim to enhance productivity and collaboration between the museum partners via increasing the number of joint exhibitions and events in the region. This will result in a series of new touring exhibitions being developed each year that focuses on a key theme from the website.

Future Museum targets the needs of lifelong learners and all those interested in exploring the history and heritage of the area. The project team actively seek comment, opinions, memories and information about the region that can inform the future development of the site.

Each year we aim to digitise approximately 3,000 objects, which will then be added to the site and add to our rich digital resource.

And finally, we hope that after having seen the website, you'll want to visit the museums of the south-west. Have a look at the partner museum section to see where we are!

A quick history of the region

The south-west of Scotland is defined both by its geography - it is defined by the coast, the English border and the M74 - and the diverse spectrum of historical themes. The meeting point of Scots, Gaels, Angles, Vikings and Britons has meant an eventful chronology and an intriguing amalgamation of language, customs and place names.

In later years, the south-west has produced a number of pioneers in various fields, as well as several national heroes. Many aspects of industry and craft are represented, including mining, engineering and textiles and some are unique to the south-west: Ayrshire white work; Mauchline Ware; Cumnock pottery; and Dumfries silverware to name a few.

The south-west of Scotland is also well known for its contribution to artistic endeavour, with many influential artists having their roots in the region as well as several areas being home to artistic communities such as Kirkcudbright.

The vast possibilities of topics for the south west has meant that only information on key subjects can be produced at present, but as the project progresses these will be both developed and added to.