Cavan County Museum retains museum accreditation

Cavan County Museum has successfully retained its  full accreditation with the Museum Standards Programme for Ireland. 

The Museum Standards Programme for Ireland (MSPI), which started in 2006 with just 12 participants, now has 57 museums across the island. The programme recognises excellence in caring for collections, museum management, education, exhibition and visitor services.

 

Cavan County Museum has made both small and major changes since it received full accreditation in 2013.  

Its assessor said, ‘â€I have witnessed this museum grow in professionalism over the years and I think it is fair to say that it was their determination to achieve accreditation and to remain in the scheme has helped them to do this. Their new outdoor displays of the trenches of the First World War and the large scale GPO display made up of five shipping containers are a wonderful addition to the museumâ€.

 

Eight museums – Cavan County Museum, Drogheda Museum Millmount, The Glucksman in Cork, Kerry County Museum, Muckross House, Muckross Traditional Farms, Muckross House Research Library and Tipperary County Museum, retained the Full Accreditation they had previously been awarded.

 

Four museums have been awarded full accreditation for the first time - Dublin Castle State Apartments, Galway City Museum, Highlanes Gallery in Drogheda, and Rathfarnham Castle. A further four museums – Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, Seanchaí – Kerry Writers' Museum, The Heritage Centre (Royal College of Physicians of Ireland) and The Little Museum of Dublin – were awarded Interim Accreditation.

 

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Minister Heather Humphreys said: “There has been great work done to raise the standards of care across Irish museums, and I would like to congratulate and thank all those involved, especially those who are receiving awards here today.â€

Chairman of the Heritage Council, Mr. Michael Parsons, said, “What we see through this programme is that Ireland's museums are exciting and vibrant places where the staff are working hard, often with very limited budgets and resources, to ensure that the collections in their care are protected and made available to the public. Not only is this important work from a cultural point of view, it also supports tourism in a locality and helps people feel proud of the place where they liveâ€.

 

Mr. Parsons said that taking part in a museum standards programme is a public promise by each museum to care for the heritage of its community. Achieving accreditation in the MSPI demonstrates that a museum is meeting its promise.

 

“Through MPSI, the Heritage Council is working to improve all aspects of Ireland's museum practice and, in particular, to raise the standards of care for collections across Irish museums and galleries. A voluntary programme, it has attracted involvement across the cultural spectrum, from national institutions to small, volunteer-led organisationsâ€, concluded Mr. Parsons.