A Perthshire tourist attraction is celebrating after being presented with a prestigious prize.
The Scottish Crannog Centre on Loch Tay has been awarded Best Small Museum Project at the Museums Change Lives Awards.
Announced at the Museums Association Conference on Monday, the Kenmore -based attraction came out on top among stiff competition.
Judges were impressed by their nationally-recognised apprenticeship scheme ‘They Might be Giants’.
This involved five young people from the local area training for Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQ’s) in customer service and museums and galleries practice (2022), as well as training five inhouse assessors.
The apprenticeships have introduced a new way of working that has been implemented museum wide and created a new, inclusive shared attitude, values and language for the whole team.
The museum said it has enabled them “to maximise their impact on a more diverse audience by having a diverse staff” and added “it is a central pillar of how they work, and will work in the future at the new museum development at Dalerb.”
The Best Small Museum Project recognises the best project at museums with an annual turnover of less than £320,000.
It is one of four awards presented annually across the UK, celebrating the achievements of museums that are making a difference to the lives of their audiences and communities.
The Scottish Crannog Centre edged out The Peace Museum project ‘Peace OUT’ and The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum project ‘20 Great Paintings’.
Managing director of the Scottish Crannog Centre Mike Benson was thrilled with the award and thanked all those involved in the success. He said: “We’ve had brilliant support from partners to make this happen so a big thank you to all and a big well done to everyone within the Crannog community. These quite brilliant young people - they might be giants indeed.”
Community archaeologist and MA assessor Rachel Backshall added: “We are so proud to have won this award, our team and the apprentices have worked incredibly hard on this project.
“We have a real opportunity to offer a qualification that will keep young people invested in the area and their own career.
“It also benefits the heritage sector; encouraging it to be activist and uphold social justice, diverse and inclusive, and challenge the status quo for who can access, work at, and change museums.”
Rachel added praise for the apprentices: "Their new ideas and young voices have enlivened museum engagement and ensured the centre is working within the community and we look forward to continuing to work with them, and more apprentices, over the next year."
Since announcing the award, the Crannog Centre has also started a new foundation apprentice from Perth, and will have two new customer service apprentices starting in 2022.
They have continued to rise from the ashes after the museum was devastated by a fire that resulted in the loss of the reconstructed Crannog roundhouse back in June.
