CASH Boost For Museum Aims To Involve A Wider Range Of People In Heritage

INVERCLYDE Council has been awarded £230,000 for a project which will “re-interpret and decolonise” its museum collections.

The money is coming from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) which invited the council to apply for a grant to support a project developing “strongly inclusive engagement” and outreach heritage activities in the district, using the Watt Institution as a key asset.

A report updating councillors explains: “NLHF further requested that the project have a heritage focus associated with Inverclyde, particularly the colonial history of the area; that it would achieve the mandatory outcome that a wider range of people will be involved in heritage; and finally that the project should be delivered over a three-year period.

“Unusually, there was no match funding element for this project required from Inverclyde Council.”

The report continues: “Officers responded by developing a project proposal which would seek to re-interpret the museum collections, and in particular ‘decolonise’ same; fit out an unused office space…to be used for creativity, discovery and learning; improve the Watt’s digital offer; and engage with people and groups who do not traditionally visit the Watt Institution.”

The project — Watt Voices — will examine Inverclyde’s links to the transatlantic slave trade, focusing on the untold stories in the collections, rethinking the collections in relation to their origins and addressing historic omissions through the decolonisation of the collections.

Staff will work with various partners to take a collaborative approach in developing project activities. The project will begin in January 2021.

The Watt Institution in Kelly Street/Union Street, Greenock, comprises the McLean Museum and Art Gallery, the Watt Library and the Watt Hall