Another far-sighted capital investment by Fife Council is the state-of-the-art Collections Centre at Bankhead, Glenrothes – a commitment which is allowing us to build national partnerships while opening our doors to more researchers and visits by the public – this year we hosted tours of Fife’s collections by 10 different groups including museum professionals.
There are many other ways in which we contribute to economic regeneration; not only as a lead partner in fundraising and attracting national inward investment to Fife but also by bringing people into our town centres to visit our theatres, libraries, museums and galleries. Our work in growing Fife’s cultural tourism saw international visitors at St Andrews Museum, five-star visitor attraction status for Dunfermline Carnegie Library & Galleries and a busy exhibitions programme at Kirkcaldy Galleries.
During this year, our new vision of libraries as busy venues at the heart of communities was created. In amongst the bookshelves were pop-up contemporary dance duets, live music and Weekends With The Family, a new series of events which encourage families to spend time together in our venues. But we’re not stopping with our libraries – research is already under way to pursue a new vision for our Museums & Galleries.
No one is more passionate about ONFife’s role in our communities than our staff. From the children’s team, which run British Sign Language Bookbug sessions for families with deaf children, to the Creative Development group providing hands-on experience of the music business for secondary school pupils at risk of exclusion. None of this would have been possible without the passion and commitment of our staff, so I’d like to close with a big thank you to them; I hope that you enjoy reading about their achievements in this Review of 2018/19.