David Mann, Director of the Scottish Maritime Museum, is to retire after 12 years at the helm of the nationally recognised maritime heritage collection.
He will be succeeded by Matthew Bellhouse Moran, current Executive Director of the Unicorn Preservation Society, Dundee, and Vice Chair of Museums Galleries Scotland.
Mann, who will step down on Friday 28 March, first joined the Scottish Maritime Museum Trust in 2005 as Clydebuilt Visitor Services Manager. He became Operations Manager for the Museum’s two sites, in Irvine and Dumbarton, in 2008. He was appointed Acting Director of the Scottish Maritime Museum in 2012 before becoming Director and a Trustee in 2013.
Under his leadership, the Museum’s collection, which includes some of the UK’s most historic vessels, has been enhanced through major restoration projects and acquisitions. Key projects have included the £1.25m refurbishment of the Victorian Grade A Linthouse in 2013 and restoration of two of the Museum’s most significant vessels – the 150 year old MV Kyles and 1884 Fife yacht Vagrant.
As well as maritime heritage, acquisitions have included work by internationally renowned artists including John Bellany, FCB Cadell and Muirhead Bone as part of the development of a new national maritime art collection.
In 2014, Mann also helped establish the Museum’s Scottish Boat Building School to turn the tide on the disappearing craft and support local employability. The Museum then helped develop Scotland’s first Modern Apprenticeship in Boat Building and Repair and welcomed the first apprentice in the country to embark on it.
Moran joined the Unicorn Preservation Society in 2021 as Museum Manager at the 1824 HMS Unicorn, the oldest ship in Scotland, where he has led the charity through significant organisational change and led on the development of Project Safe Haven, the multi-year multi-million pound project to relocate the Georgian warship to Dundee’s East Graving Dock.
Prior to that he was a Curator at the Scottish Maritime Museum for five years. He first began working in museums in 2013 and early posts included the South Georgia Museum in the South Atlantic. He is also trustee of the Museums Association’s Membership Support Fund and Vice Chair of Museums Galleries Scotland, the development body for Scotland’s museums.
As Director of the Scottish Maritime Museum, Moran will also be responsible for overseeing the development of a major new waterside gallery and events space in partnership with North Ayrshire Council and the Crown Estate Scotland. The planned Maritime Heritage Hub is part of The Great Harbour, an ambitious £14million regeneration project for Irvine Harbourside.
Zone Scotland