Questions raised on twitter about the ScotPop Centre latest news
Many thanks to Brian for raising these questionsÂ
Brian Ferguson – arts journalist for the Edinburgh Evening News and Scotsman
An interesting read, but just couldn’t see any sense in @Edinburgh_CC agreeing to set up a rival history of Scottish pop & rock exhibition in the City Art Centre at the same time as the @NtlMuseumsScot one. @EdinCulture @sto_paul @fruitmarket
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ScotPop Centre has a completely different focus + complements the museum. I’ve been in contact with museum since April 2016 at their request forwarding exhibits they could use + working on areas they are not covering. They finish November + some exhibits will be available to me
Frank Little (museums and galleries manager) told me he asked if CAC could work with the museum on the exhibition but got knocked back. I already had that agreement though I believe their comms people are wary. They asked me not to stress differences as that was pointing out what they weren’t doing.
The council aren’t setting anything up and the centre won’t be a rival but it will be able to continue the work done by museum long after they have moved on to their next exhibition. The museum is understandably out of their comfort zone whereas I have 30 years worth of contacts.
Brian Ferguson
The only other thing I would add is that it took the @LeithTheatre trust around a decade to get access to a building which was going to rack and ruin.
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To be fair to @Edinburgh_CC they have made that point about @LeithTheatre and also the Calton Hill Observatory. It was said I had achieved in three years what would normally take a team of people seven given what I have ready to go. Things though don’t have to take this long.
Brian Ferguson
It’s 15 years since the @edhogmanay party was cancelled when the stage started getting torn apart. Not a brick laid. Easier said than done when reality kicks in!
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Of course when building is involved things take a lot longer but the original idea from the council was that they have too many buildings so finding one for @HistoryofSMC should be possible. If a cafe/bar/venue included even better as that helped with the issue over venues.