Dick Institute

Opened in 1901, the Dick Institute is one of the most important cultural venues in the south-west of Scotland, featuring the largest museum and galleries space in Ayrshire as well as East Ayrshire's central library.

It has a programme of nationally important exhibitions, permanent displays of the museum's own diverse collections and innovative work by contemporary artists, film makers and young people from the area, giving the Dick Institute a growing reputation for the quality and scope of its exhibitions and events. Previous major exhibitions have included Miffy, Quentin Blake, Wallace and Gromit, Cutting Edge, Radical Nature and Bill Viola.

Many of Scotland’s leading contemporary artists including Kenny Hunter, Simon Ward and Christine Borland have been shown and creative commissioning programmes have supported artistic talent, by linking with major shows such as Ayrshire Innovators, Creative Burns and South By South West.

The South Museum and Loom Room feature stories of the local and social history of the area as well as a Johnnie Walker display featuring a selection of illustrations and objects from the company and from our own collections.

The North Museum wing contains objects from our natural history sciences and archaeology collections which has been recently updated and refurbished to allow us to display more collections, we’ve even brought some of our stores out into the galleries so you can get a closer look at birds and animals that are rarely let out

Find out more about the latest exhibitions and events at the Dick Institute and our other venues using the links below.

The lending library, audio library, junior library, reference library and learning centre are all housed on the ground floor.

Full disabled access available.