Scottish arts centre to shut from December amid 'significant financial uncertainty'

Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) on Sauchiehall Street is closing its doors until March next year.

The decision was posted on social media on Tuesday by the venue team, who said the centre would be temporarily closing from December as it seeks to address significant financial concerns and to secure its long-term future.

A statement said: "We are facing a period of significant financial uncertainty and we’ve been working hard to plan for the future with a focus on securing CCA’s long-term stability.

"We are actively reimagining how we can continue our community initiatives during our short closure, and we are exploring the possibility of keeping our in-house bar open.

"Our efforts are aimed at reopening in the spring with plans in place that will carry us into the years to come. We will continue to operate as normal until the temporary closure."

Originally set up as the Third Eye Centre, the CCA was first established in 1992.

The Covid pandemic has previously been cited as having a direct impact on operations. The fire in 2018 that destroyed the nearby Glasgow School of Art also temporarily forced the closure of the CCA venue.

Rental units inside the centre remained vacant following the reopening, impacting directly on funding. The venue’s cafe bar was also forced to shut permanently following the loss of its tenants.

Francis McKee, who stepped down as CCA director in December last year, said at the time Glasgow was facing a cultural “blackout” unless shrinking public funding was addressed.

Writing on the CCA website, Mr McKee had said: “Closing libraries, shutting venues and cutting support for artists and galleries will smash the mirrors that reflect our lives. In that kind of blackout, a city is meaningless. Talk of independence, identity or culture has no weight.

“Politicians seem to have suffered a loss of nerve when it comes to art funding. They aren’t grasping the economic benefits or the enormous social impact of the arts in general.”

Mr McKee added: “It’s always easy to make promises around culture and issue grand statements citing wellbeing and diversity. It is harder to deliver on the ground in a convincing way.”