This column being titled as it is, Inside Track, assumes that our specialist team knows what is going on in our particular field.
That is often the case, and is of course our goal at all times. But with the ongoing process at Creative Scotland, currently attempting to find a new chief executive, I am, largely, at one with the vast majority of staff at the national arts funding body: a little bit stumped. Several sources told this newspaper, with differing degrees of certainty, that the former director of Glasgow 1990 and Brussels 2000 years of culture, Robert Palmer, was chosen by the selection panel as a leading candidate for the role. A second choice, a woman with a high-profile job in the arts, has also been mentioned. The identity of that woman remains unconfirmed, although the same name keeps popping up.
If the leading candidate is or was Bob Palmer, currently a freelance consultant, he would bring a wealth of experience to the role. He would seem to have the national and international experience the CEO role requires. He also knows Scotland, although he has not worked here for a while.
This week Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop – as well as asking me where we had heard Mr Palmer's name (which of course we cannot say) – told me this: "The process has been very thorough and robust. I am waiting with anticipation to hear from the board. I want them to make the right decision, and that will take as long as it takes." Well, it is fair to say they are not rushing it.
There was certainly some consternation when The Herald ran the Palmer story. One person told me the piece was deeply unhelpful and even hinted that it had endangered the whole process. Others have said the same. Whether newspapers exist to be "helpful" is perhaps a moot point. Several sources have since confirmed Mr Palmer's name. Whether he will be announced as the troubled organisation's new chief executive next week, however, remains to be seen. We are satisfied the story, written by my colleague, arts editor Keith Bruce, was accurate at the time. However, I have been told today that a "surprise" may be in order.
The board, however, to which the selection panel reports, appears to be painstaking. No-one would begrudge a board being diligent in its due diligence. But the clock ticks on. There are two sizeable cultural events happening in the next fortnight: the Cannes Film Festival, to which Creative Scotland is sending its annual team of film experts and deal-makers, and the launch of the Venice Biennale the following week, a huge event for the visual arts and one at which Scotland has a notable presence. If there is no announcement next week, both events will pass without the main arts funding body having announced a new leader.
Whoever is the new chief executive, he or she has a big role to fill. The conclusions of the Open Session series have yet to be played out. Perhaps an additional appointment will be made, a kind of chief operating officer post, looking inwards at the running of the organisation while the new CEO acts as lead actor, ambassador and spokesperson.
Meanwhile, we all await, staring at the empty stage, with interest.
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