Glasgow City Council has enough problems without being landed with the blame for a "tax on creativity".
In recent years one of the city's great success stories has been its transformation into a hub for the visual arts. It is not mere coincidence that the city has produced a healthy crop of Turner Prize winners.
Part of the mysterious process that transforms an impecunious student into a feted artist is having the space and opportunity to experiment and exhibit for little or nothing. Glasgow has been able to attract and keep its artists because it has created the right climate for them. This has included free entry exhibitions in private flats and vacant public spaces. Indeed, Turner prize winner Martin Boyce first exhibited in this way.
By nature they are more likely to be creating their work rather than studying obscure sub-sections of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010. This is why the city's artistic community has been taken by surprise by the news that from April 1 – yes, April Fool's Day – exhibitions and public shows will require a licence, even if they are completely free. Even a temporary licence for a non-commercial event will cost £124. If the work is for sale, the cheapest licence will be nearly £600.
Today in The Herald members of the artistic community have joined to protest at what is viewed as a "tax on creativity", which they claim could undermine the so-called Glasgow Miracle.
The city council claims its hands are tied by Scottish legislation. The Scottish Government maintains it is up to individual councils to decide which events require a licence. Glasgow has already decided that school and church halls and galas will not need licences. It should show more flexibility, by excluding small-scale exhibitions from licensing requirements or risk killing the golden goose, all for a few hundred pounds in fees.
To add insult to injury, council officials are not prepared to advise individuals on whether a particular venture requires a licence or not: a potentially Kafkaesque situation. Instead they are advised to take their own legal advice, further adding to the cost. Has the council not heard that penniless and artist are two words that tend to go together?
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