Summary
AS EDINBURGH contemplates the future of its International Festival without Sir Brian McMaster, who stepped down as director last night after a 15-year term, it could do worse than look to Glasgow for lessons in how to expand its cultural investment. The capital knows that if its festivals are to maintain their enviable position as world leaders, in the face of fierce competition at home and abroad, more generous funding has to be found. It knows too that its resources are limited. Which is where Glasgow comes in.
Over the next few months, Glasgow's city council will be debating a dramatic and imaginative scheme, which could transform the fortunes of its cultural institutions. It proposes to transfer all its museums, galleries, sports and community facilities to a company limited by guarantee, with charitable status. This would allow it to make huge savings in rate relief, while at the same time raising funds from a whole range of sources, including the private sector, which, as a council, it is prevented from doing at present. The council would retain ownership of all its assets, such as the Kelvingrove Museum, the Gallery of Modern Art, the Burrell Collection and so on, but would lease them to the new company, which would be responsible for running them.See the full content of this document
Extract
A Little Miracle in the City of Culture
As a charity, it would have immediate advantages. It could obtain relief of 80 per cent on non-domestic rates, and gain VAT and tax benefits which are unavailable under the present arrangements. More importantly, however, would be the freedom in which Glasgow's cultural enter...
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