David Mann, Director of the Scottish Maritime Museum, will retire after 12 years at the helm of the nationally recognized 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, March 28, 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 significant restoration projects and acquisitions.
Key projects have included the £1.25m refurbishment of the Victorian Grade A Linthouse in 2013 and the restoration of two of the Museum’s most significant vessels – the 150-year-old MV Kyles and the 1884 Fife yacht Vagrant. In addition to maritime heritage, acquisitions have included work by internationally renowned artists, including John Bellany, FCB Cadell, and Muirhead Bone, as part of developing 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. As well as successfully steering the Museum through the COVID-19 pandemic whilst establishing resilience and forging stronger community connections, Mann has taken up roles championing the industrial museums sector, regional tourism, and community development during his tenure.