Glasgow is one of the UK’s leading creative and cultural economies. It is a sector that is globally recognised with world-leading specialist higher education institutions, national performing companies, museums, galleries, collections and archives of international standing, theatres, performance and exhibition spaces and importantly spaces for production, making, experimentation, collaboration at scale and at level. It is central to the city’s economy, its international standing and the day-to-day lives of its citizens.
These strengths have been recognised in the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy and aligned Creative Industries Sector Plan. Prior to the publication of the Industrial Strategy and Creative Industries Sector Plan, the UK Government Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport visited Glasgow. We spent considerable time with them, ensuring they understood clearly Glasgow’s strengths, distinctiveness, impact and potential and the unique ecosystem that exists here.
That ecosystem, comprising self-employed artists, makers and practitioners, social enterprises, micro-businesses, SMEs and charities, operates across contemporary fine art, digital, filmmaking, performance, music, fashion, design, education, community arts, production and innovation. It is supported by a range of private sector, charity and artist-led spaces alongside key civic spaces like Trongate 103. Together, this creates scale, drives innovation and generates opportunity, attracting and retaining the creative talent within that underpins the sector’s growth, sustainability, and wider social and economic contribution.
The current situation at Trongate 103 risks undermining these unique strengths and represents a significant threat to the city’s international standing and attractiveness as a leading centre for creative and cultural practice and production.
We recognise the complexities and fiscal constraints facing everyone involved. However, Glasgow’s long standing investment in culture has been fundamental to the city’s transformation into one of the UK’s leading creative economies and the sector’s contribution to Glasgow’s economy, soft power and global standing is well evidenced.
What is now required is renewed commitment. This is a moment to act with ambition and clarity: to protect vital infrastructure such as Trongate 103, to sustain the ecosystems that underpin creative production, and to ensure that Glasgow is a place where creative talent does not simply survive, but thrives. Failure to do so will not simply result in a loss of critical space—it would result in a loss of capacity, talent and global relevance that would take years to rebuild.
Our concerns have been raised directly at a civic level, urging a collective, solution-focused response that recognises the scale of what is at stake. With targeted support, partnership and innovation, Glasgow can continue not only to sustain its cultural leadership, but to strengthen it. The alternative is a managed decline – one that neither the city nor the wider UK creative economy can afford.
Professor Penny Macbeth, Director & Principal of The Glasgow School of Art.
