The outgoing director general of Scotland's national galleries has stated that the institutions, which contain some of the finest works of art in the nation, need to do much more to be inclusive and accessible. After leading the National Galleries in Scotland (NGS) for 17 years, Sir John Leighton will step down in February. He stated that the group "still has a long way to go" to reach those outside of Edinburgh's middle class and visitors. According to Leighton, the two neoclassical and colonnaded structures on the Mound that make up the gallery complex housing pieces by Titian, Sir Henry Raeburn, Botticelli, and Leonardo da Vinci resemble "Greek temples." “There were conceived as treasure chests and the architecture is an expression of cultural ambition, but expressed in a way that feels quite imposing,” he said.

"We are aware of folks who don't attend art events thanks to the work we undertake with communities around the nation and the city. However, we also deal with neighbourhoods that don't even travel to the city. The city heart of Edinburgh is not a part of their lives. "So we know there's a long way to go and, you know all the rhetoric about culture being good for wellbeing and health and so on, which I genuinely believe, but to make a difference with the hard to reach audiences?," Leighton said. We've gotten going. Therefore, I hope that those who after me will work even more to advance the concept of inclusion and equitable access. Leighton was speaking as NGS prepared to open its latest suite of galleries to showcase its Scottish art collection on 30 September, in new spaces built at a cost of £36m in the basement of the National complex.

The Scottish galleries are the culmination of a construction programme which includes a glass-fronted basement entrance, with a cafe opening on to a plaza on East Princes Street Gardens, which he believes makes the site more welcoming. He said the new galleries would be free, and would show the Scottish collections “with pride, and that badly needed to be done”. He said there was a direct thread between achieving an “international level of ambition” for showcasing the collections and then making them accessible. Leighton has also overseen a £17.6m refurbishment of the National Portrait Gallery on Queen Street, as well as updating the two modern art galleries at Belford in the west end of Edinburgh, and the Artist Rooms acquisition project jointly with the Tate, which tours nationwide.