New museums chief appointed

Culture Perth and Kinross has announced its new head of museums and collections.

Gillian Findlay, who will head up three four-star venues – Perth Museum and Art Gallery, Fergusson Gallery and Alyth Museum – arrives with a strong pedigree. Most recently she was curatorial and engagement manager with Museums and Galleries Edinburgh, responsible for staff and collections across the Royal Mile Museums, at Lauriston Castle, and at Queensferry Museum.

She began her career as a volunteer at Edinburgh’s Museum of Childhood. Her first museum role was as project officer for the HLF Millennium funded “Making History” community collecting project at Tyne and Wear Museums, where she realised her passion for “intangible heritage” – oral traditions, performing arts and rituals which go beyond museum collections and monuments.

A member of the HLF committee for Scotland and the board of the Museums Association, she will continue to serve on the MA board while she is in post at Culture Perth and Kinross. Her role is initially for a two-year period.

The former head of Museums and Collections at Culture Perth and Kinross, Jenny Kinnear, has taken a role as school support lead at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design.

Ms Findlay said she was absolutely thrilled to join the team this summer.