Push for Scotland's vacant high street premises to become studios

As times changed, even much-loved shops and once-thriving offices closed. Shelves cleared, desks and chairs removed, from the outside, they may look just another sad symbol of decline, on the inside, however, they became a blank canvas.

Now, those forlorn former retail spaces, commercial offices and industrial units which had become a blot on the face of high streets, are being put to use as unexpected hubs for creativity, art and music.

They include gaping spaces like the former Marks & Spencer shop in Sauchiehall Street where, on a shopfloor where customers once browsed, artists’ paints, brushes and ‘work in progress’ sculptures lie scattered.

READ MORE: Prominent wildlife artist swaps global adventures for Scottish nature celebration

There are similar scenes of activity at empty shop units at Waverley Mall in Edinburgh, a former furniture store in Inverness, office blocks in Aberdeen and closed-down retail outlets in towns and cities dotted around the country: all now reborn as part of an innovative new project to give artists temporary access to the soaring amount of empty commercial spaces.

So far, arts organisation Outer Spaces – which connects artists with empty commercial spaces - has provided rent-free temporary spaces for more than 300 artists, including 23 arts collectives and organisations, at 18 spaces in 11 locations.

Spaces being taken over range from locations in busy urban centres, out-of-town commuter hinterlands, post-industrial places and communities devastated first by austerity, then Brexit and Covid and now impacted by the cost-of-living crisis.

Often working behind closed doors – but sometimes in shop windows, in full view of passers-by – have been illustrators and photographers as well as artists working in film, music and other arts.

The idea has been so successful, that it now has 742 artists on its waiting lists.

The project was launched by Shân Edwards  in 2021 in response to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, as artists struggled to access studio spaces at the same time as shops and workplaces shed staff, leaving vacant premises.

As well as providing artists with much-needed space within empty commercial properties - often huge spaces enabling them to work on large-scale pieces and which are often difficult to find in traditional studios - it aims to explore new models of organisation and collaboration.

She said: “Recent events have seen skilled creatives, many of them freelance, lose their incomes.

“Artists were unable to access the spaces where they made, presented and shared their work. Communities of artists with once thriving social and cultural networks became disconnected, students couldn’t get into their university and college studio spaces and arts graduates struggled to find affordable studio space even before the pandemic.

“There was a real risk that a generation of arts graduates would not be able to pursue their careers or reach their potential without the opportunity to access studio space and the communities they offered.

“During lockdowns, furloughs and bouts of emergency funding, it became clear there was an opportunity to be bold and create a whole new infrastructure giving artists temporary access to the increasing amount of empty commercial space becoming available all over Scotland.”

Spaces currently being used by artists include empty offices at Amicable House, Westpoint Business Park and Weatherford House in Aberdeen, shop units in Newton Mearns’ Avenue Shopping Centre and at Westside Plaza Shopping Centre in Edinburgh’s Wester Hailes.

Artists have also occupied the former Argos site in Burns Mall, Kilmarnock, offices at Eurocentral in Motherwell, and in Greenock, office space at Victory Court, Scarlow Street and Dalrymple Street.

While in Edinburgh, the former offices of Royal London at 57 Henderson Row, where staff once dealt with insurance, pensions and investments, have become the focal point for ten artists led by Outer Spaces curator in-residence Claire Feeley for a project, The Dissenter for Space Studies.

READ MORE: CalMac may lose £1m-a-month 'emergency' ferry after MV Pentalina crash

The Dissenter for Space Studies designed by Thomas Woodcock and Robin Ellis (Image: Elliott Hatherley)

It is part of a wider Creative Scotland-funded project, More Than Spaces, in which artists in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow are re-imagining the artist’s studio in response to the current economic and social climate.

At Henderson Row, the former staff canteen has become the creative hub: one artist has moved her ceramics studio into the area to undertake a time-motion study producing coffee cups that represent the working day, while another, Suds McKenna, is painting large canvases with crowds of imagined people – a throwback to the throngs of office workers.

Claire said: “We have invited people we really admire to share their experiences with us – from setting up alternative publishing platforms, running cooperative bars, to establishing places where artists as people, not just as labour, feel welcome.

“The Dissenter for Space Studies is designed to challenge assumptions, facilitate discussion and debate between artists and propose new ways of working and viewing work.”

Nikki Kilburn, one of the artists working from the Royal London building and involved in the More Than Space project, said it had been “life-changing”.

“It has given me space to explore myself as an artist and enabled me to connect with other artists,” she said.

“It is life-changing to have a space to create artwork. I can think, breathe freely and immerse myself in a project in a way I never had the space to do before. It is a milestone in my journey to professionalism.”

Another, Ceri Hughes, said having access to the city centre office space had enabled her to continue working: “In Edinburgh there is currently very limited availability of studio space.

“Without a studio space I would not have been able to continue painting as I have insufficient space at home.”

Shân added: “At present we are still learning about how best to meet artists’ needs.

“Our space in Henderson Row, Edinburgh provides a model which we can build on for the future.

“This is a new creative community space for artists, for research & development, for artistic exchange and collaboration, and a place for artists to be ambitious again.”