Editorial
CCA Current Situation - August 2025
12/08/2025
Image Credit: CCA
CCA Glasgow acknowledges the disruption, confusion and harm experienced over recent weeks, particularly by our community, artists, staff, tenants and partners. We sincerely regret the outcome of our decisions on 24 June and that an individual was injured. We recognise that a lack of clarity on our choices had real human consequences, and for this we are deeply sorry.
We apologise for the delay in external communications, as we focused first on internal dialogue so that we could provide clear and considered information when speaking publicly. We are listening and know that trust cannot be repaired with words alone, but through consistent, honest, and long-term work.
CCA is committed to lasting change, to listening more openly, making space for conversation, and taking shared responsibility. We are working to refresh our processes to ensure leadership reflects our principles, to amplify staff voices and to meet the changing needs of CCA. Through this, we remain committed to meaningful engagement first within the organisation, and then with all those we work with and serve. This includes constructive dialogue with those who have raised concerns.
Reopening will require a collective effort across our entire community. We now ask for your support and patience as we undertake this process of reflection and repair.
Leadership and Governance Changes
Meaningful change must be material across all levels of the Institution. The CCA Board had previously agreed on a period of turnaround, which would happen this year. Recent events have now accelerated these plans. In the coming months CCA will:
• Recruit a new Finance Manager in August 2025.
• Recruit new board members, with an aim to widen the scope of experience,
background, and representation, including global majority voices.
• Our current Chair completes her term of office in October 2025.
• Launch recruitment for a new permanent leadership for CCA, with timelines to be
confirmed following board appointments
• Work with external partners, including stakeholders and funders, to ensure these
processes are transparent and inclusive.
CCA Ethics and PACBI
We condemn the violence of the Israeli state, the ongoing occupation, genocide, and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. We stand firmly against all forms of oppression and in support of the rights and dignity of the Palestinian people.
We respect the calls for CCA to endorse PACBI (the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel). We are grateful to those who have challenged us and held us to account and have clearly and powerfully expressed the need for cultural institutions to take a stand.
We recognise the urgency of the call to endorse PACBI. While the CCA will reopen without a formal endorsement, we are now working towards adopting an ethical fundraising and programming policy. CCA will revisit the decision on endorsement of PACBI when the new leadership is in place.
In the last year CCA hosted 44 events in solidarity with Palestine and over 50 exhibitions on anti-colonialism, anti-racism, and resistance. We remain committed to work that reflects these values in practice. CCA is now liaising with sector bodies and working to rebuild trust, re-engage with artists and communities, and continue dialogue. CCA will engage in open and respectful discussions with those who have expressed concern about its future and purpose.
We are committed to evolving our board and governance structures and processes to enable a legitimate and accountable review of this commitment in the future. This means holding space for meaningful internal discussion, ensuring our actions are supported by clear policies, and acknowledging the responsibility we have to implement this with care, integrity, and transparency. This will ensure that any commitment we make is both principled and practical.
We ask now for time to complete this process with the depth it deserves.
What We Are Doing Now
During this temporary closure, we have focused on listening internally. Our immediate priority is to stabilise the organisation and safely reopen the building. To do this we are:
Planning Internally towards Reopening
• Supporting the phased return of cultural tenants to begin reactivating the building.
• Holding workshops with staff and board to co-create a clear reopening plan.
• Working towards a renewed plan for CCA’s spaces.
Staff and Community Engagement
• Facilitating staff focus groups to inform our turnaround plan. These include:
○ Reflecting on CCA’s ethics and organisational culture.
○ Widening and diversifying pathways to board membership.
○ Working to rebuild trust with artists and partners.
○ Working towards wider engagement with the CCA community.
• Training to ensure all staff feel supported.
The insights from these sessions will guide the next phase of organisational change.
Reopening
CCA is working towards reopening w/c 25th August.
We will update as we progress.