Vision and Values

We’re creatively inspired, community minded, and culturally committed. Forging learning links with schools and institutions and dedicated to connecting creative people and businesses through our spaces, collections and activities.

We are rooted in Scarborough’s landscape, heritage and culture and believe our collection belongs to our community. We are committed to improving access and inclusion, this means opening all doors, exhibits and opportunities to everyone.

We will always work harder to understand our communities better. We’re driven to offer them meaningful experiences by encouraging and supporting learning, creativity and opportunity in Scarborough.

We are proud of Scarborough, and it inspires us to make every day a special one for all our visitors and co-workers. We are passionate about the places, spaces and collections our community have entrusted us with. And we believe the experiences we share in them can support the health and wellbeing of every visitor.

We are team players who foster an atmosphere that is friendly, fun and playful, so that our exhibits and activities reflect this. We’re always looking for fresh ways to be informative, supportive and encouraging.

We want every person who visits us to be met with a Scarborian smile, to be mesmerised by special moments, and to remember their visit with a wow.

We want those we work with and for, to feel they have a space to be part of and a voice that is heard. We share challenges and are keen to listen to, learn from, respond to and value each person.

Our ambition is to digitise, democratise and decolonise the collection, because we believe in giving everyone an equal chance to be proud of our shared heritage and culture.

We are determined to tell the full story. We inspire our evolving regional culture with compelling activity and innovative initiatives that our region can feel proud of and be inspired by, and that the wider world can learn from.

We are eager educators, lifelong learners, and willing leaders. We want to contribute more to the world than we’ve benefited from it. 

We are committed to learning from our past, to secure a thriving future.

We recognise that our culture and heritage is dependent on a thriving coastal ecology. We are activators of change who seek to embed environmental sustainability throughout our organisation and activity, in ways that are relevant, accessible, affecting and inspiring. 

Since 2021 we have engaged in workshops, evaluations, projects, conversations, and partnerships that demonstrate a commitment to learning more about social and racial justice and to ensure our working practice reflects this. For example, since the start of the project From Local To Global, we have developed a better understanding of the collection and its relationship to British colonial history and we have established new links with communities locally, elsewhere in the UK and abroad so that we can introduce different viewpoints and voices into the work that we do.

We understand that this is a long-term process and are fully aware that it will be challenging, sometimes uncomfortable but also rewarding. We are by no means perfect, and, for the avoidance of any doubt, we know we won’t get everything right. However, we welcome all feedback and conversations which will help SMG become a fully inclusive and diverse organisation.