The Heritage Council’s Museum Standards Programme for Ireland (MSPI) acknowledges excellence in the governance and management of museums. It takes three to five years to achieve full accreditation on this programme. The MSPI Awards Ceremony took place on Tuesday 27 July, 2021 via Zoom. Galway City Museum was awarded the Maintenance of Accreditation Certificate following full accreditation status achieved in 2017. Among the other museums also receiving this prestigious award was Dublin Castle State Apartments, OPW; Farmleigh, OPW; GAA Museum; Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda and Rathfarnham Castle.
This is what the assessors had to say about Galway City Museum:
“The success of Galway City Museum is a result of the support of the City Council and the enthusiasm and dedication of its staff. The Museum demonstrates high standards of collections management which underpins their activities of education and public engagement. At the time of the assessment, the Museum was preparing to start a major redevelopment project which will provide new opportunities for exhibition and improved environmental control. The application was very well-presented.
Like all other cultural institutions, the Museum has had a prolonged closure during the pandemic but, at the time of the assessment, the Museum had reopened its ground floor exhibitions to visitors, mainly by appointment, with mitigation measures in place.
The Museum has continued to develop since the last assessment. Galway won the European Capital of Culture designation for 2020, and although was badly affected by the coronavirus outbreak, the Museum produced a major multi-disciplinary exhibition, entitled ‘Monument’. This celebrates the cultural landscapes of the islands in Europe and focuses on the Aran Islands in Galway Bay.
Since achieving Full Accreditation in 2017, the Museum has continued to maintain the Interim and Full Standards required by the Museum Standards Programme for Ireland.” (MSPI Assessors’ report)
To mark the awards ceremony the Heritage Council have produced a montage of all the museums receiving their certificates and a new MSPI infographic about the programme, available for download HERE. As Museum Director, Eithne Verling, represents Galway City Museum in this montage. “Staff at Galway City Museum are thrilled with the award and thankful to our visitors for the support and feedback we have received over the past four years. This has enabled us to consistently improve the museum service and maintain the highest possible standards of collections care” (Eithne Verling, Museum Director).
