Cultural Tides

Through November and December the Cultural Tides engagement team have been travelling all over the Shire, talking to folk and running participatory workshop events to explore the heritage that's most important to you and what you'd like to see in a museum representing Aberdeenshire.

We held drop in sessions at libraries in the main population centres in each of the six, distinct districts that make up Aberdeenshire, and focussed events for heritage groups and organisations, as well as consultations and workshops with community and school groups.

What we've found is a love and pride for our wonderful and diverse region, from mountain to sea, Aberdeenshire means many things to many people, and each of us have our own stories to tell. From farming and fishing, through granite quarrying, the oil and gas and renewables industry, to music, language, literature, song and dance, Aberdeenshire's heritage is certainly a rich and diverse one, and whether rooted here for generations, or newly settled from other parts of the country and the world, we are all connected through these stories, each of us holding something both unique and special to us, but also universal in the way our stories reach out and connect with one another.

We'll be continuing our programme of engagement through 2026, with further drop-in sessions, workshops and events published on these pages and on our social media channels, soon.

This new museum is for everybody, and we want everyone to feel a part of it.

In 2024, Aberdeenshire Council secured funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund towards the development of cultural and heritage opportunities around a new museum of Aberdeenshire.

Throughout November and early December, the Cultural Tides engagement and outreach team are holding open drop-in sessions in libraries across the shire and invite you to come along and learn more about the Cultural Tides new Museum of Aberdeenshire project, share what Aberdeenshire means to you, and the heritage you value in your local area.

Sessions will run through normal library opening hours on the following dates and locations:

Sat. 01 November – Fraserburgh Library

Sat. 08 November – Stonehaven Library

Sat. 15 November – Peterhead Library

Sat. 22 November – Banchory Library

Sat. 29 November – Ellon Library

Sat. 06 December – Inverurie Library

Please do come along and say hello!

The Cultural Tides New Museum of Aberdeenshire engagement team.

The Aberdeenshire Museums Service Cultural Tides project team are keen to meet established and emerging creative practitioners to help develop and co-produce socially engaged work as part of the new and exciting Museum of Aberdeenshire development.

In 2024, Aberdeenshire Council secured funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund towards the development of cultural and heritage opportunities around a new museum of Aberdeenshire. This funding supports engagement, co-curation and co-production work with diverse communities across the whole of Aberdeenshire and aims to rediscover stories and knowledge, to reimagine how the museum collections can be interpreted and engaged with, and to reconnect people and places. The council’s museum collections cover natural and social history, archaeology, art, and archives. The project will explore how these collections can illustrate themes including connections and belonging, voices (in music, literature, and film), hidden histories, and horizons.

Spend the day with us and find out more about Aberdeenshire Museums Service’ ambitious plans and future creative opportunities, network with your peers, workshop ideas and submit your expressions of interest for future collaboration.

The event will be held on Saturday, 25 October, from 11am-2pm at the Acorn Centre, Inverurie. It is free to attend, and a light lunch will be provided.

Book your place through Live Life Aberdeenshire here: https://aberdeenshire.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/WPAC/EVSESENQ?SETLVL=&RNI=16762833