Trongate 103: Glasgow arts organisations forced out

The arts organisations based at Trongate 103 in central Glasgow are facing the prospect of losing their homes, after their council-run landlord terminated their leases. 

The affected organisations include Glasgow Print Studio; photography gallery Street Level Photoworks; artists-led visual art space Transmission; Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre; the Glasgow Project Rooms exhibition space; Project Ability, a charity which provides arts opportunities to disabled artists; and GMAC Film. The organisations were reportedly given an "ultimatum" to accept a new lease with substantially increased rent, or leave. The news comes just weeks after the closure of the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) on Sauchiehall Street, which closed at the end of January with plans to enter liquidation. 

Trongate 103 opened in 2009 to act as a creative arts hub housing an interdisciplinary group of arts organisations under one roof, with funding from a host of public bodies and sources, including The National Lottery and Glasgow City Council. A press release from its launch stated: "There is no other facility like this in the UK – and perhaps only one other in the world – in terms of supporting such a broad range of practice." The building itself is managed by City Property, a subsidiary of Glasgow City Council, with many within the arts community pointing out that a building specifically opened to house non-commercial arts organisations is now being cleared of those organisations by an arm of the same council which set it up.

GMAC's Interim Programme Director Louise Oliver said in an email shared with The Skinny: "Trongate 103 isn’t just a building. It has been a cornerstone of Glasgow’s creative life for decades. It has incubated filmmakers, storytellers, artists, musicians, and activists. It has housed communities who could not afford commercial rates. It has provided access and inclusion work, and held space for experimentation that doesn’t fit market logic. It has been proof that culture belongs in the heart of the city, not on its margins.

"If we lose Trongate 103 to corporate interest, it confirms a precedent that is being set in our city that culture – and the charities, creative businesses and individual artists that make culture – don’t matter."

Speaking to The Herald, a City Property spokesperson said: “Lease renewals are a standard process for all tenants given that existing leases expire and the market rent of properties change over time, which is reflected in any new lease agreement.

"Lease renewal negotiations for 103 Trongate have been ongoing for some time and we have already advised our tenants that the serving of a notice to vacate would be necessary to enable the old leases to end and the new lease agreements to take effect."

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