A call has been made for monthly donations to be made to help Glasgow's cultural institutions survive Covid-19
The charity which runs Glasgow’s top cultural organisations has made a plea for donations.
Glasgow Life is facing a £38 million funding shortfall as a result of the Covid crisis, meaning it cannot afford to reopen dozens of sites across the city.
And this has prompted Jill Miller, director of cultural services at Glasgow Life, to call for supporters to make regular donations to help the institutions survive.
In a piece for the Centre for Culture, Sports and Events research centre at the University of the West of Scotland, she urged people to make donations rather than spending money on video streaming services.
She said: “Agreeing monthly donations to cultural organisations will secure the future for venues, the people who work there and the artists they work with.
“If you are going to Kelvingrove Art Gallery from mid-August or any other museum or culture venue, please make a donation.
“The future of arts and culture is in live experience. That’s the message we hear time and again from audiences and performers and artists. Nothing compares to sharing those moments with family and friends, to the swell of feeling as part of a crowd in a creative performance.
“We want to make sure we continue to have as many opportunities as we can to do this and we’re going to ask for all the support we can get.”
The Scottish Greens called for a government bailout for Glasgow Life last month, so that essential services such as libraries can reopen.
In the piece Miller, said that work to reopen venues will not stop, but financial support is vital.
She said: “Glasgow Life is in a precarious position financially. Tens of millions of pounds of income has been lost. We have announced a plan for reopening 61 of our venues between now and October, including a limited number of arts and cultural facilities.
“We’ve made it clear that a return to anything like the pre-Covid days won’t be possible. All will need more staff on duty during opening. Some of our buildings simply don’t have the space to be adapted to follow social distancing guidance.
“None of this means we stop. People rely on culture to feed their souls, it gives their lives meaning.”
