Former Scottish Government tsar Mark Logan takes up key role in performing arts

Mark Logan has been appointed as “entrepreneur in residence” at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS). He will take up the role next month at the conservatoire, which in March retained its number six position as one of the world’s top performing arts schools in the QS World University Rankings.

Logan – who was chief entrepreneurial advisor to the Scottish Government until announcing his departure last year and is a former chief operating officer of Skyscanner - recently highlighted the untapped potential of Scotland’s creative sector, where Glasgow is home to a “hidden yet world-class creative and performance supercluster,” anchored by institutions such as the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Glasgow School of Art.

In his two-year RCS tenure, Logan will develop thinking and action around the performing arts supercluster, seeking to “unlock, reframe and sharpen the argument around Glasgow as a creative powerhouse”.

Logan, who has almost 30 years of senior and executive leadership experience in the tech industry, said: “Scotland’s creative industries hold immense economic potential, but their impact is often overlooked because they’re not seen as traditional business clusters like technology or finance.

“Recognising and supporting this creative and performance supercluster could bring significant value for Glasgow and Scotland, ensuring students and graduates have the resources they need to innovate.

“It’s an honour to work with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, an institution that not only produces exceptional performing and production artists and creative practitioners but also cultivates highly entrepreneurial graduates, many of whom establish their own businesses,” he added.

He will join RCS’s first entrepreneur in residence, Rachael Arnold, who is the lead adviser in the institution’s creative enterprise development office (CEDO), which launched in 2024 to support creative business development and artistic innovation for students, staff and alumni.

RCS principal Jeffrey Sharkey added: “Glasgow’s creative and performance supercluster is a powerful economic and cultural force, and we’re looking forward to working with Mark to explore its potential.”

'Drained' by right wing attacks, Scotland's Chief Entrepreneurial Advisor Mark Logan has stepped aside