South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth has welcomed the news that funding has been secured for the Kirkcudbright Art Gallery to put on display a nationally significant collection of works.

Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) has announced that £60,000 will go to the Kirkcudbright project. It is one of 15 schemes across Scotland to receive funding from a £600,000 pot announced today by MGS.

The funding will allow the Kirkcudbright artists collection to go on display, which includes 300 works of fine art and 80 works of decorative art and craftwork connected with the development of the town as an artists’ centre.

Colin Smyth said:

“This is a great boost on the exciting journey towards the new art gallery in Kirkcudbright and is national recognition for the vision shown by the council and others in developing the gallery. It also recognises the success of the national campaigning that has taken place in recent months to make sure our national museums and gallery organisations understand just how important this new gallery will be to Dumfries and Galloway and Scotland as a whole. Some of the collection that will be on display at the gallery is truly superb and once opened it will add another key visitor attraction to the growing number across our region. Obviously there is still a lot of work to be done to add the Viking hoard to the list of exhibits, but this is a very welcomed step forward for the Gallery”.