Scottish charitable trust Culture Perth and Kinross, which oversees the development of libraries, museums and archives across the area, has secured funding to develop a new ‘green museum’ experience inside Alyth Museum.
The experience will also act as an orientation base for the existing Cateran Ecomuseum in Alyth, a 1,000 sq km ‘outdoor museum’ situated on the 500-million-year-old Highland Boundary Fault in the landscapes of Cateran Country.
The £60,000 Museum Development Fund from Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) will be used to add interactive information on how to explore the region and its archaeology and biodiversity.
It will highlight local green issues and how these are being addressed. The aim is to deepen visitors’ understanding of the climate and biodiversity crisis at a local level, and encourage participation in change through social activism.
To do this, displays will be developed with sustainability in mind, using content created by curators from Culture Perth and Kinross in partnership with the Cateran Ecomuseum.
Clare Cooper, co-founder and co-director of the Cateran Ecomuseum, said the new museums will provide a service to both local people and visitors interested in experiencing the 1,000 square kilometers of natural and cultural heritage that its ‘Museum Without Walls’ promotes.
“It will also be a transformative project for the Alyth Museum, raising its profile and enabling it to promote the key role that heritage has in the climate and biodiversity crises we face,” said Cooper.
Russell Willis Taylor, Secretary, Alyth Development Trust, added that “having a ‘portal’ into the work of this ‘museum without walls’ was important for both museums and those in the area.
“The Alyth Development Trust is delighted to support the Ecomuseum and to see the revitalisation of the Alyth Museum in our town square as part of the rebuilding and recovery after Covid”, he said.
