The man behind Banksy’s surprise Glasgow show is to retire as Head of Glasgow Life Museums and Collections after almost a decade in the role.

Duncan Dornan has been with Glasgow Life for more than 10 years after initially joining as Senior Museums Manager before then moving onto his current role in 2015, but will leave the company on Friday, August 23.

He was responsible for Banksys exhibition at Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art in 2023. That show attracted 180,000 visitors across its 10-week run from June to August 2023 and brought £13.5million into the city’s economy.

Read More: 

Cut & Run showed off 25 years of Banksy work at GoMA and included many of the world famous graffiti artist’s most iconic work.

It ran for three months from June to September in 2023 and included authentic artefacts, ephemera and the artist’s actual toilet.

During his time with Glasgow Life, Mr Dornan has also played key roles in a number of other projects that have been huge in the city.

That includes the £68.25million refurbishment of the Burrell Collection and in 2023, that was named as the recipient of the world’s most prestigious museums’ prize, the Art Fund Museum of the Year.

Since it reopened in March 2022, it has attracted 1.3m visitors while he also behind the ongoing working being done at the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens, which will cost £35.9m in total and was initiated through a successful funding application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The refurbishment of Provand’s Lordship – Glasgow’s oldest building – was also done on his watch which was repaired at a cost of £1.6million and reopened in March 2024.

During his tenure, Glasgow Life museums have also become the first in the UK to repatriate objects to India while there are ongoing negotiations about the return of other city-held museums objects to their rightful owners.

He also created a dedicated curator role to explore legacies of slavery and empire in Glasgow’s collections in a bid to provide a better understanding of the city’s role in transatlantic slavery and colonialism.

He said: “The people of Glasgow have a real sense of pride in their ownership of the city’s museums. It has been an enormous privilege to lead Glasgow Life Museums and I would like to thank my incredible team whose passion and care for the city’s collections has driven record numbers of local and international visitors. One in every three visits to a local authority museum in Scotland today is to a museum in Glasgow.

“Glasgow Life Museums bring audiences to Scotland because of their exceptional quality, breadth, and diversity. Our offer is both unique and world leading, and our role as an innovator in museums practice is recognised globally, which is something I am very proud of.”

During his time in the job, Glasgow Life Museums recorded almost four million visits between 2023 and 2024. More than half of those visits came from people outside the UK and 85% of those said it was a reason to come to Scotland.

Glasgow Life Museums also managed to diversify its local audience, with 50% of visitors living in parts of the city that experience some of the highest levels of deprivation in Scotland.   

Bailie Annette Christie, Chair of Glasgow Life, paid tribute to Mr Dornan and believes his work will be remembered and cherished for a long time to come and it will leave people grateful.

She said: “Glasgow’s museums have always belonged to the people of Glasgow. They are cherished by local people because they show who we were, who we are and who we want to be. Anyone who has ever visited one of Glasgow’s great museums has reason to be grateful for Duncan’s exceptional contributions.

“Duncan has taken Glasgow Life Museums to even greater heights, and this is reflected in the awards and interest we receive from around the world. On behalf of everyone at Glasgow Life, I wish him the very best for the future and a long and fulfilling retirement.”

The search for his replacement and has now started with Glasgow Life partnering with Saxton Bampfylde to recruit the new head of museums and collections.