Strategic Evaluation of the Museum Futures Programme

Tender description

MGS is looking to appoint a contractor to support the evaluation of its Museum Futures Programme (the “Programme”). This Programme, which launched in July 2025 and is due to complete in January 2027, is designed to provide essential support for Scotland’s museums and galleries in direct response to the significant and ongoing financial and capacity challenges faced by the sector. The Programme features innovative and essential support which will be rolled out to the sector with the aim of transitioning the sector from its current fragile state to a more sustainable position. See more about the Programme at https://www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/museum-futures/ Lot 1: FURTHER DETAILS ARE AVAILABLE IN THE INVITATION TO TENDER - SEE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS SECTION MGS is looking to appoint a contractor to support the evaluation of its Museum Futures Programme (the “Programme”). This Programme, which launched in July 2025 and is due to complete in January 2027, is designed to provide essential support for Scotland’s museums and galleries in direct response to the significant and ongoing financial and capacity challenges faced by the sector. The Programme features innovative and essential support which will be rolled out to the sector with the aim of transitioning the sector from its current fragile state to a more sustainable position. The evaluation will assess how successful the Programme has been in achieving the aims set out above. It will also assess how effective the Programme has been in reaching a diverse range of museums, and in developing and delivering a relevant offer that is effective in supporting museums organisations to become more sustainable and resilient. This independent evaluation will be a strategic programme- and portfolio-level evaluation. It will incorporate elements of both Process and Impact evaluation. The evaluation process will not only provide evidence of impact of this investment and examine how effective this model of investment is but will also identify barriers and opportunities, and crystallise valuable lessons learnt – all of which can fuel ongoing adaptive management, inform future programme design and help to leverage further support and funding.