Head of Glasgow Life Museums announces retirement

Duncan Dornan has announced his retirement as the head of museums and collections at Glasgow Life Museums after nine years in the role.

Glasgow Life is the charitable trust responsible for running the city’s cultural offer on behalf of the council.

Duncan has been at the organisation for more than a decade, initially as senior museums manager, before becoming the head of Glasgow Life Museums in 2015.

He will step down on 23 August 2024.

Duncan has been responsible for the planning and delivery of many of the city’s major museum projects and initiatives.

Highlights of his tenure include the £68.25m refurbishment of the Burrell Collection, which was named Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2023, the ongoing £35.9m refurbishment of the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens, which was recently awarded funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF), and the £1.6m refurbishment of Provand’s Lordship, Glasgow’s oldest building, which reopened in March 2024.

Dornan’s time at the helm also saw Banksy’s first exhibition for more than a decade at the Gallery of Modern Art. The show attracted over 180,000 visitors across its 10-week run from June to August 2023, boosting the city’s economy by £13.5m.

Under Dornan, the trust transformed its approach to repatriation and addressing legacies of slavery and empire.

Glasgow Life Museums became the first museum service in the UK to repatriate objects to India, and is continuing to negotiate the return of other city-held museum objects to their owners or communities of origin.

Dornan also oversaw the creation of a dedicated curator role to explore legacies of slavery and empire in Glasgow’s collections, as well as new exhibitions and displays aimed at providing a better understanding of the city’s role in transatlantic slavery and colonialism.

Glasgow Life Museums recorded almost four million visits in 2023/24, with more than half of all visits (55%) coming from people outside the UK.

Glasgow Life Museums has also been able to diversify its local audience, with 50% of visitors living in parts of the city that face some of the highest levels of deprivation in Scotland.

Dornan said: “The people of Glasgow have a real sense of pride in their ownership of the city’s museums. It has been an enormous privilege to lead Glasgow Life Museums and I would like to thank my incredible team whose passion and care for the city’s collections has driven record numbers of local and international visitors. One in every three visits to a local authority museum in Scotland today is to a museum in Glasgow.

“Glasgow Life Museums bring audiences to Scotland because of their exceptional quality, breadth and diversity. Our offer is both unique and world leading, and our role as an innovator in museums practice is recognised globally, which is something I am very proud of.”

Bailie Annette Christie, the chair of Glasgow Life, said: “Glasgow’s museums have always belonged to the people of Glasgow. They are cherished by local people because they show who we were, who we are and who we want to be. Anyone who has ever visited one of Glasgow’s great museums has reason to be grateful for Duncan’s exceptional contributions.

“Duncan has taken Glasgow Life Museums to even greater heights, and this is reflected in the awards and interest we receive from around the world. On behalf of everyone at Glasgow Life, I wish him the very best for the future and a long and fulfilling retirement.”

The search for Dornan’s replacement is already underway, with recruitment being led by Saxton Bampfylde.

Glasgow Life Museums manages 12 sites across the city, including: Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum; Riverside Museum; the Burrell Collection; Gallery of Modern Art; People’s Palace; St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art; Provand’s Lordship; Glasgow Museums Resource Centre; Kelvin Hall; Scotland Street School Museum; the Open Museum; and Glasgow Museums Biological Records Centre.