Charity CEO and finance manager Steven Thomson has been criticised by campaigners
A senior staff member at a Glasgow arts charity has been urged to resign after liking an “ableist” social media post directed at a group challenging his employer.
Steven Thomson, who manages finances at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) charity in Glasgow, is also the creative director, CEO and company secretary of the charity-run gallery the Art Department in Paisley.
Mr Thomson is accused of supporting a comment on social media platform Instagram which described campaigners outside of his Glasgow workplace as “r*t*rds”.
The official account of the Art Department, run by the CCA finance manager, liked a post by a member of the public.
The CCA has faced significant criticism in recent months for its refusal to back the demands of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).
The charity said in a statement earlier this month that their board could not reach a consensus on publicly endorsing the boycott, claiming it could face “potential legal complexities and implications for a charity”.
They added that: “To fulfil its charitable aim, the organisation must remain independent politically.”
The statement came after the CCA called the police to prevent a protest by the campaign groups Art Workers for Palestine (AWfP), No Pride in Genocide, and others.
AWfP had proposed a week-long series of workshops hosted in the venue, which the CCA claims did not have permission to go ahead.
The CCA has since been closed, with the charity claiming it will be undertaking a period of reflection.
However, during Pride in Glasgow a group of protesters gathered outside the venue to lead chants criticising the CCA’s lack of action on PACBI.
Responding to a video of these chants, Mr Thomson’s Art Department page liked a comment describing the protesters as “r*t*rds” - widely regarded as an offensive term for people with disabilities.
The Instagram page for Mr Thomson’s Art Department charity has since been taken down.
AWfP, which has led calls for the CCA venue to support the PACBI campaign, told TFN this should not be treated as an “isolated PR issue”.
They added: “The ableist slur used in the comment is appalling. It is deeply harmful and triggering - particularly to disabled members of our communities and those involved in the No Pride in Genocide march. That it was publicly liked and defended by a senior staff member at the Centre for Contemporary Arts is disturbing and unacceptable.
“This incident is not isolated. It is part of a wider pattern of institutional failure at CCA, where the board and interim leadership have repeatedly acted in ways that betray the values of care, inclusion, and justice they claim to uphold.
“The fact that CCA’s finance manager - someone entrusted with leadership and oversight in a publicly funded organisation - would publicly engage in such ableist and queerphobic behaviour speaks volumes about the culture at the top. It is a culture of privilege, repression, and impunity, where marginalised voices are punished while those in power remain protected.
“We stand in full solidarity with those harmed. We call for Steven Thomson’s immediate resignation, a public acknowledgment of the harm caused, and an urgent overhaul of CCA’s governance structures to centre the communities it claims to serve - disabled, queer, racialised, working class, and pro-Palestinian cultural workers.”
The CCA did not respond, and the Art Department declined to comment.
Renfrewshire Council and Engage Renfrewshire - partners of the Art Department charity - also declined to comment.
