The assets of the Centre for Contemporary Arts were auctioned in July following building closure.
The assets which had previously belonged to the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) were put up for auction online following the centre’s closure earlier this year. The auction followed Creative Scotland’s announcement in July of its intent to sell the building.
Save Our CCA, a group campaigning to preserve the CCA, issued a statement on social media that criticised the decision to initiate the auction of the centre’s assets. “For as little as £1, with an end date of Thursday 30 July, anyone can bid on entire roomfuls of furniture, books, tech, even digital and 35mm film projectors … It is devastating to see the objects and equipment used by so many of us, to produce so many events, festivals and exhibitions, carelessly parcelled up and disposed of.”
However, responding to concerns that the CCA’s archive was going to be included in the auction, the Culture Secretary for the Scottish Government, Mairi McAllan, stated: “I have been given concrete assurances by Creative Scotland today that the archive is not being sold as part of the auction process concluding this week.”
The CCA closed earlier this year, despite having received funding of £3.4m last year from the arts body, Creative Scotland. This grant from Creative Scotland was supposed to have been used over a three-year period. This is not the first time the CCA has been closed: temporary closures occurred in 2018 following the Glasgow School of Art fire; again during the Covid pandemic lockdowns; and in 2024, as it sought to protect its future by securing funding for itself.
Its final closure followed in January this year, when all staff were immediately made redundant via video call with one day’s notice.
In a statement issued by McAllan, the Scottish Government expressed a desire to reopen the centre as a cultural asset for Glasgow and Scotland, stating: “The Scottish Government’s preference is to see 350 Sauchiehall Street reopen as an important asset to both Glasgow’s and Scotland’s culture and creative sector. Creative Scotland, as owner of the building, continues to work on an open process for its future with the intention to sell the building as a cultural asset.”
