Scottish Government media release - June 11, 2010
Chair and Board of Creative Scotland:
Culture Minister announces new arts body appointments
Minister for Culture and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop today announced the appointment of the first Chair and Board of Creative Scotland. The Chair is Sir Sandy Crombie. The other Board members are Robin MacPherson, Gwilym Gibbons, Gary West, Ruth Wishart, Steve Grimmond, Barclay Price, Gayle McPherson and Peter Cabrelli.The Chair is:
Sir Sandy Crombie - currently Senior Independent Director of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, Sir Sandy retired from Standard Life on 31st December 2009 after 43 years service, having been Group Chief Executive since January 2004. He was previously Chief Executive of Standard Life Investments Limited from its launch in 1998. He was a member of the (former) Chancellor of the Exchequer’s High Level Group on Financial Services and served on the board of the Association of British Insurers. He is Vice Chairman of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and Chairman of the Edinburgh World City of Literature Trust. Sir Sandy received a Knighthood for services to the insurance industry in Scotland in the 2009 New Year’s Honours List.
Sir Sandy’s appointment is for four years and will run from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2014.
The post is part-time, with an anticipated time commitment of up to 10 days per month and attracts a remuneration of £250 per day.
Sir Sandy Crombie holds no other Ministerial appointment.
Fiona Hyslop said:
“I am delighted to appoint Sir Sandy Crombie as the first Chair of the Board of Creative Scotland, the new development body for the arts, culture and creativity that will be established in July.
“Sir Sandy’s business acumen, combined with a strong appreciation of the creative sector, will provide strong leadership for the new board, driving forward Creative Scotland’s agenda to support, promote and develop quality and excellence in the arts and cultural sector, in Scotland and internationally.
“Selected from a large number of high quality applications, the board is a diverse group of skilled, knowledgeable and talented people, capable of helping to realise the potential contribution of the arts and creativity to every part of Scotland’s society and economy.”
Sir Sandy Crombie said:
“I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead the board of Creative Scotland from its inception. The Scottish Government has shown a commitment to investing in arts, culture and the creative industries and I look forward to working with my new board, and with other organisations working in this field, to producing a return on that investment for the benefit of our country.”
The Board members are:
Robin MacPherson – Robin is Professor of Screen Media in Edinburgh Napier University’s School of Arts and Creative Industries and Director of Edinburgh Skillset Screen and Media Academy (also known as Screen Academy Scotland). The Academy, established in 2005 as a collaboration between Edinburgh Napier University and Edinburgh College of Art, is one of only two dual-status Skillset Screen and Media Academies in the UK. Robin is also Project Director of ENGAGE, an EU MEDIA programme funded partnership between Edinburgh Napier and the national film schools of Ireland, Estonia and Finland which since 2008 has provided talented new filmmakers from across Europe a unique opportunity to develop international collaborations. Robin has been a film and television producer since 1989 and has produced a wide range of documentary, current affairs and drama for BBC, Channel 4 and ITV as well as international broadcasters. He received a UK BAFTA nomination in 1996 for his first drama production and a Scottish BAFTA nomination in 2004 for documentary, both of which were produced through his company, Asylum Pictures, established in 1997. From 1999 to 2002 he was in charge of Script and Project Development for the national screen agency, Scottish Screen. Current research projects include a study of the performance of Scottish films and Scottish film policy since 1993.
He holds no other Ministerial appointment.
Gwilym Gibbons – Gwilym is the Director of Shetland Arts Development Agency. His organisation is behind 'Mareel' the UK's most northerly arts centre, a £12.2m project currently under construction and which will open in early 2011. His career spans venue, festival and partnership management. Self educated while growing up in communes throughout the UK and after an experimental 2 years in school in Argyll, he found his way into the arts through a youth theatre project in Milton Keynes which led to a 7 year period of street theatre work and open-air festival management. Gwilym returned to Argyll in 2001 to take up the post as Development Manager for Argyll & Bute Council at the Corran Halls in Oban, followed by a short period working outside the arts as the Partnership Manager for Kintyre Healthy Living Partnership for the NHS and as the Stronger Safer Communities Manager for West Wiltshire. He took up his post as the first Director of Shetland’s new arts agency in September 2006, an organisation born out of the merger of two long established organisations. In a voluntary capacity Gwilym is a director of the Highland and Islands Promoting Arts Network (PAN). Gwilym is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, hold an MSc in Cultural Management and Policy from Queen Margaret University and has been a Chartered Manager for the past 8 years.
He is an European Regional Development Funding Advisory Group Member for the Highland and Islands Partnership Programme. (Not remunerated)
Dr Gary West –Gary is a traditional musician, piper and broadcaster, and is currently Head of the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Dr Gary West learned his piping with the much acclaimed Vale of Atholl pipe band with whom he played for 18 years winning both the Scottish and European Championships. His teaching and research interests include issues of local and national identity; the history of Scottish music, revivals and oral history. Gary presents BBC Radio Scotland’s weekly specialist piping programme, Pipeline. He is in regular demand as a recording session player, and has performed on over 20 CDs. More recent releases include his first solo album, The Islay Ball, and Hinterlands, a collaboration with harpist Wendy Stewart.
He holds no other Ministerial appointment.
Ruth Wishart – Ruth Wishart is one of Scotland's leading journalists. A columnist for The Herald, she has held senior positions with The Scotsman, Sunday Standard, Daily Record and Sunday Mail. As a radio presenter, her credits include Blood Ties, Eye to Eye, Values Added, Speaking Out, Headlines, and Woman's Hour. She chairs The Dewar Arts Awards, and is a Trustee of The National Galleries of Scotland. She is a former chair of The Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow and of Theatre Cryptic, and a former Governor of Glasgow School of Art.
She is a Trustee of the National Galleries of Scotland. (Not remunerated).
Steve Grimmond – Steve is Executive Director, Housing and Communities at Fife Council with responsibilities spanning housing, culture, sport, greenspace and community learning and development. He has previously held Director, Chief Officer and Executive posts across Culture and Sport at Aberdeenshire Council and Dundee City Council. He is an Executive Member and previous Chair of VOCAL (Voice of Chief Officers for Cultural, Community and Leisure Services in Scotland); a Governor of Adam Smith College; a Director of the Collective Gallery, Edinburgh; and a Non Executive Director of a number of cultural, sporting and voluntary sector organisations. He is also a practising artist.
He holds no other Ministerial appointment.
Barclay Price – Barclay’s career has spanned employment in a bank; setting up and performing in a community-based theatre company; supporting the creation of small craft businesses; developing cultural policy; and engaging business with the arts. He worked in London for over 25 years and returned to Scotland to be Depute Director of the Scottish Arts Council. In 2001 he became the Director of Arts & Business Scotland, an organisation that works to encourage business engagement with, and support for, the cultural sector.
He holds no other Ministerial appointment.
Professor Gayle McPherson – is Head of the Department of Cultural Business and Chair in Cultural Policy at Glasgow Caledonian University. She leads a team with interests in the consumption and production of festivals and events, whether delivered on a global scale or for the enhancement of community interests. She has a particular interest in the social and cultural impacts and benefits of events on local communities. In addition, she contributes to the University’s Masters programme in International Events Management, aimed at top level practitioners. Gayle’s main research interests lie in the use of festivals and events in the regeneration of cities and local communities. Her recent research subjects include both Singapore and Glasgow. Additionally, she has been commissioned to investigate the use of culture as a planning tool, its use in deprived communities and its role in developing the social economy. She co-wrote the Culture, Ceremonies and Education element of the successful Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games bid and was the Cultural Advisor to the Bid Team. She is on the Board of the Glasgow East Arts Company. Gayle has recently co-edited a book on the construction of national identities through National Day festivals and is currently working on a new book on government intervention in major events entitled Events Policy: from Theory to Strategy.
She holds no other Ministerial appointment.
In addition to the appointments above, the Minister has also appointed Peter Cabrelli to the Board of Creative Scotland for a two-year period. This is to provide continuity between the Boards of Creative Scotland 2009 Limited and the new body.
Peter Cabrelli – Peter has over 25 years’ international business experience, most recently as Group Human Resources Director of HBOS plc where he was closely involved in the large and complex merger of Bank of Scotland and the Halifax. Educated at St Andrews University and the London School of Economics, Peter has wide board-level experience, including directorship of several service subsidiaries of the Pearson Group. He has a broad view of business and cultural practices, having previously worked in London, Europe, Africa, and the Middle and Far East, including spells with ITT in Brussels and with Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong. Peter combines keen and regular theatre-going (he is a Director of the National Theatre of Scotland) with an active involvement in sport and recreation as Chairman of the National Playing Fields Association in Scotland. He is also a Non-executive Member of Court at the University of St Andrews and is Chairman of the Trustees of the university’s pension plan and is a member of the Board of Creative Scotland 2009 Limited.
He holds no other Ministerial appointment.
All appointments will run from July 1, 2010. The appointments of Robin MacPherson, Gwilym Gibbons, Dr Gary West and Ruth Wishart are for four years – ending on June 30, 2014. The appointments of Steve Grimmond, Barclay Price, Professor Gayle McPherson and Peter Cabrelli are for two years – ending on June 30, 2012.
The post of Member is part-time, with an anticipated time commitment of up to one day per month and attracts no remuneration.
Creative Scotland will be the new national development body for the arts and culture, embracing the creative industries. Building on the achievements of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen, it will support, champion and develop quality and excellence in the arts and cultural sectors, placing creativity, artists and access at its centre. The new organisation is expected to be formally established early in July, as a Non-Departmental Public Body.
All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public. Sir Sandy Crombie has not declared any political activity in the past five years. The Board Members have not declared any political activity in the past five years.
