13 museums were celebrated at a ceremony in Kilkenny Castle yesterday having achieved official accreditation under the Heritage Council’s Museum Standards Programme for Ireland (MSPI). Established to promote professional standards in museums, selection under the MSPI is a major accolade with accredited museums considered to have attained excellence across a range of areas.
Factors taken into account during the assessment process include how museums care for their collections and visitors, as well as governance and management standards, and their education and exhibition programmes. Since its inception in 2006, the Irish museum sector has continued to embrace the programme with participation growing from 12 museum sites to 73 in 2023.
*(Full list of accredited museums is available below)
Among the museums completing its journey to full accreditation was Cork Public Museum, located at Fitzgerald’s Park in Cork city. The assessors were impressed by the museum’s educational work, exhibition programme and public engagement activities. Its work with excluded communities was also noted as a key strength, as were the improvements made to the environmental conditions for both the collections on display and for those in storage.
Meanwhile, the Glucksman at University College Cork received a ‘maintenance of full accreditation’ award. The Glucksman is a not-for-profit cultural and educational gallery that promotes the research, creation and exploration of the visual arts. The assessor praised in particular a new initiative entitled ‘the Art Library’ which features a dedicated group of items from the UCC art collection, and which can be sent to such venues as schools, healthcare centres and community hubs.
Finally, Nano Nagle Place in Cork city was awarded ‘Interim Accreditation’ at the ceremony. The museum, which celebrates the life of Nano Nagle, impressed the assessors who noted the improvements to collections care. Insect traps were introduced throughout the museum and are regularly checked and monitored. In addition, environmental monitoring greatly improved and new Testo data loggers are in the process of being installed. It was clear that members of staff are vigilant and deeply engaged in caring for the collections.
Commenting at the ceremony, Chief Executive of the Heritage Council Virginia Teehan said:
“As Ireland’s only accreditation programme for museums, MSPI has become an integral part of the sector. Seeing the variety of museums represented at the ceremony, along with the increase in participants year on year, further underline its importance. I am happy to say that the Heritage Council has committed in its new five-year strategy to making further improvements to the MSPI through increased funding, and through new training and professional development opportunities for the volunteers and the professionals who run our museums.”Presenting the awards today, Council Member for the Heritage Council, Sheila Pratschke said: “It was a real privilege for me to be in Kilkenny Castle, another MSPI-accredited site, and to be able to personally congratulate all of this year’s award winners. I know how hard these museums have worked for their accreditation and are richly deserving of this recognition.”
