Glasgow’s Shame
I am a volunteer tutor in English for Speakers of other Languages – also known as ESOL- and supported brilliantly by Glasgow ESOL Forum. For the last three months I have been working with a young man...
View ArticleBeware false prophets
The front-page splash on Saturday’s Herald was about impending cuts to public expenditure and the possible impact this could have on the arts in Scotland. Richard Findlay, Chair of Creative Scotland is...
View ArticleLook what I found!
In 2006, while working at the University of Glasgow I undertook a piece of research for the Federation of Scottish Theatre on Theatre Directing in Scotland. I was encouraged to re-visit this work...
View ArticleBA or Ryanair? The pain of theatre ticket buying.
I am very fortunate to receive invitations to opening nights or special performances from friends, former colleagues and professional associates. However I also attend lots of arts events on my own...
View ArticleGoing for Gold: Involving Arts in Community
Going for Gold: Involving artists and community. Above is a link to the paper presented at the World Leisure Congress in Rimini, Italy on 30 September 2012 which discusses issues around access,...
View ArticleI wonder if anyone will ever realise how wonderful it all was
– Robert David MacDonald, Chinchilla act 2. I have resisted entering into the debate on Alasdair Gray’s essay partly because others have already said what I would have said and partly because...
View ArticleWant to buy tickets for shows? Forget it!
I decided it is time to get New Year into gear and book some tickets for up and coming events. Three different scales of shows; three different experiences. I have written about poor ticket selling...
View ArticleLes acteurs français sont trop payes! (French actors are paid too much)
Thus ran the headline in the French daily newspaper Le Monde on 29 December above a photograph of Gerard Depardieu. Yet this was not an article about the larger than life French actor, his drunken...
View ArticleAugust in Edinburgh- some observations
(Grumpy old woman alert!) As the Fringe and Book Festivals pack up for another year, the media are full of stories on ticket sales and overviews of the highs and lows of the arts in Edinburgh during...
View ArticleHow to turn a drama into a crisis: thoughts on the funding announcement from...
On 25th January Creative Scotland (CS) made its long-awaited announcement on funding to its regularly funded organisations. This announcement outlines how organisations across Scotland and in all...
View Article
