The New Shetland Museum and Archives project, currently being developed by The Shetland Amenity Trust, is bringing £125,550 to Shetland for its innovative arts and heritage project. The Scottish Arts Council and The Esmeé Fairbairn Foundation have awarded £65,550 and £60,000 respectively for the provision of Public Art in the project.

The public art project will showcase local talent and also bring artwork made especially for Shetland to the islands through projects both made in Shetland and made for Shetland.

Jimmy Moncrieff, Shetland Amenity Trust General Manager, said "The Trust is extremely grateful for this significant added value to an already high quality project. It has always been a vision that public art would be a strong component of the project and I would like to thank the project team and especially the work of the Coordinator, Karen Emslie, in securing this important funding”

One of the most innovative projects will see artwork incorporated into the galleries that will house the permanent exhibition of the Shetland Museum collection. The story of Shetland will be told around twelve themes in the new building and talented local and national artists are being commissioned to make artwork based on the themes and the work will range from indigenous crafts to new media projects.

There will also be community art projects and an original range of design commissions. These projects and commissions will be announced later in the year but the ideas being considered range from a local designer creating knitted lampshades based on Shetland lace knitting to an art project based on sheep!

The MADE FOR SHETLAND commissions will bring artwork of international importance made especially for Shetland to the islands. Later in the year there will be opportunities for local people to comment on the ideas as part of the selection process. The artists’ proposals will be on public display and the artists will come to Shetland to give talks about their work.

The New Shetland Museum and Archives Public Art Co-ordinator, Karen Emslie, believes that by commissioning a range of work the project has the freedom be innovative.

“We want there to be something that is of interest to everyone but don’t expect everyone to like every piece of art. By having a range of work we don’t have to choose one artwork as often that results in the ‘safe’ option that pleases no one. The work will all be inspired by Shetland and therefore it will mean something to the people living in and visiting the islands”

The public art project has adopted a partnership approach during its development phase and has worked closely with Shetland Islands Council, Shetland Arts Trust and Shetland College. The ART ON SITE project, run in partnership with the Shetland Arts Trust Literature Development project, will be unveiled on site soon and students from Shetland College have made proposals for pieces for the new building at Hay’s Dock as part of their course work.

Tommy Watt, Curator of Shetland Museum is delighted by the funding success. Mr. Watt said "This is excellent news. The integration of art into the building and displays was always a key vision of the project. Visiting the new museum and archives will be a unique experience".

Miss Emslie explained that much of the work so far has been developing ideas and fundraising but now that the majority of the funding has been secured the project will be more visible and commissions will continue to be awarded during the duration of the project.

She said “We still have a bit of fundraising to do but Shetland deserves this project and I am really pleased that our two main funding bodies have recognised this. Like the New Shetland Museum & Archives Project itself the public art element of the project is unique and shows that Shetland is a forward-looking and creative community.”