Highland Gallery and Museum ~ A Vision for the Future

The public is being asked for their views on the suitability of five sites as the possible location for a new Highland Gallery and Museum ~ an inspirational 21st century cultural facility for Inverness and the Highlands.

Sites at Castle Street, Midmills and the Riverside or Stand Sections of the Northern Meeting Park were included in an initial public engagement exercise, and two further sites at Bridge Street and the Royal Mail Sorting Office have been added.

Details of the options can be found via the home page of the Council's web site: www.highland.gov.uk

A public workshop will be held at the Town House, Inverness, at 6.30 pm on Wednesday 25 June to consider the concept and the five sites in more detail.

People have until 5 pm on Friday 27 June to make their views known.

The Highland Council's Inverness City Committee will then consider the options and recommend a preferred site to the Council's Education, Culture and Sport Committee, which will then consider and approve a course of action.

Provost Bob Wynd, Chairman of The Highland Council's Inverness City Committee, said the ambitious project aimed to create a new building, which would showcase the best of Scotland's art, artefacts and specimens in the Highlands.

The engagement with the public will be one of the factors in determining the choice of location. At this stage, the public was being asked to consider the pros and cons of the proposed sites ~ not any specific design. Once a preferred site was recommended, work would then begin on budget, business, design and marketing planning in order to make a Stage 1 Lottery application. It was anticipated that this might be possible in October 2009. Following approval at Stage 1, a Stage 2 Lottery application, with final business plan and design, would be prepared and submitted, ideally by December 2010, with approvals and tendering decisions by mid-2011 and project completion by 2013.

The new Highland Gallery and Museum will aim to be:

• A key component of the cultural provision in Inverness, the City in the Highlands ~ a gathering place, a social centre, a place to belong and be entertained.
• A merging of Gallery and Museum traditions to provide a showcase for the people and the stories of the Highlands.
• A model of design excellence.
• An orientation point, and a resource, for the natural and built environments, the records and collections, and the distinct culture of the Highlands including Gaelic.
• A dedicated focus for the visual arts and crafts, and a generator of activity throughout the Highlands.
• A home in the Highlands for the very best artistic and historic artefacts, national and international, of past and present.
• A resource for learning ~ formal and informal, from schools to the University of the Highlands and Islands faculties, local history societies to art clubs and individuals and families.
• A stimulus to economic and community growth in Inverness and the Highlands.
• A symbol of Inverness' achievements and aspirations, and of Highland regeneration.
• A reinforcer of community identity for an increasingly culturally diverse and transient Highland population.
• A major contributor to the realisation of the Inverness City Vision, contributing to the cultural, cosmopolitan and creative characteristics of the city region and attracting creative human capital.
• A legacy to Highland 2007.