Glasgow Museums boss thanks 'passionate' city after announcing retirement
Duncan Dornan has overseen the refurbishment of both the Burrell Collection and the People's Palace during his decade in the post
After securing transformative refurbishments for two of Glasgow's biggest attractions and helping tourism bounce back after the pandemic - Glasgow Life's head of museums is retiring.
Duncan Dornan spent almost a decade in the role and said it has been an honour to see many venues brought into the 21st century under his watch.
Track record
As Head of Glasgow Life Museums and Collections, Duncan has been responsible for the planning and delivery of many of the city’s major museum projects and initiatives, including:
The £68.25m refurbishment of the Burrell Collection: In 2023, The Burrell was named as the recipient of the world’s most prestigious museums’ prize, The Art Fund Museum of the Year. Since reopening in March 2022, the museum has attracted 1.3m visitors.
The ongoing £35.9m refurbishment of the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens: The facelift was initiated through a successful funding application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF).
Banksy surprising the art world and beyond with his first exhibition in more than a decade at Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA): The show attracted over 180,000 visitors across its 10-week run from June to August 2023 and boosted the city’s economy by £13.5m.
The refurbishment of Provand’s Lordship: This is Glasgow’s oldest building, and it was repaired at a cost of £1.6m and reopened in March 2024.
Under Duncan’s tenure, Glasgow Life Museums recorded almost four million visits in 2023/24. More than half of all visits (55%) were from people outside the UK and over 85% of these said visiting a Glasgow Life Museum was a reason for coming to Scotland.
'Amazing support from Glaswegians'
He told Clyde 1 News: "We have an amazing level of support from Glaswegians, and the international profile of our museums is tremendous.
"The city is recognised worldwide for the quality of the collections, and for the passion people in Glasgow have for their collections.
"It's absolutely amazing, people are engaged and they're paying attention.
"It's been so satisfying to work in a city where people care about what you do and it has a real impact.
"Museum projects can be immensely long, and in the middle of them you often think they might go on forever.
"All of a sudden it's finished and to see people coming in and really enjoying, and if you get the sense that the team have genuinely delivered something innovative - it makes it all worthwhile.
"Seeing people quietly looking at the exhibitions, seeing children engage with the digital parts of the Burrell, just being in museums and reminding yourself of why we do all this... those have been some of the best moments."
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