Three Cork museums take a major accolade

NANO Nagle Place, Cork Public Museum and the Glucksman in UCC were three of 13 museums celebrated at a ceremony in Kilkenny Castle recently.

The chosen museums achieved official accreditation under the Heritage Council’s Museum Standards Programme for Ireland (MSPI), which was 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 considered 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.

Nano Nagle Place 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.

Some of the improvements include the installation of insect traps that were introduced throughout the museum, and environmental monitoring which was greatly improved, while new Testo data loggers are in the process of being installed.

For Cork Public Museum, located at Fitzgerald’s Park, 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.

The Glucksman received a ‘Maintenance of Full Accreditation’ award. 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.

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."

The Heritage Council committed to further improvements to the MSPI through increased funding, new training and professional development opportunities for volunteers and professionals who run museums within their five-year strategy.