Janet Archer, the recently appointed CEO of Creative Scotland, has announced changes to the staff structure of the arts funding body. Responding to strong criticism of the organisation by the Scottish arts community – which led to the resignation of the body’s first Chief Executive Andrew Dixon – Creative Scotland has been undergoing a major rethink of its organisational structure and approach since Archer joined in June.
Archer said in an open letter: “As I begin my fourth month as Chief Executive for the organisation, we are working hard to progress the development of our new long-term plan and as importantly, the simplification of our funding programmes. Alongside this, I want to ensure that we have the right structure in place to deliver these changes… our current structure isn’t as effective as it should be because it doesn’t make best use of the skills, expertise and knowledge of our staff, or enable best access to these skills. We are also currently operating with four members of our senior team on fixed-term contracts. This needs to be addressed.”
Archer states that she wants to “build up a better knowledge bank of expertise within the areas we serve” whilst ensuring that the organisation doesn’t lose its commitment “to working flexibly and holding a broad perspective.” To this end, the organisation intends to continue the practice of staff working across disciplines, alongside their core specialism. “We will ensure, however, that in future we will feed relevant expertise into advice, decision making, and feedback, because we know that’s what is valued.”
Organisational challenges
In the statement, Archer cites the challenges of simultaneously ensuring “effective planning, change management and delivery”, and as part of what she sees as the organisational changes required to meet this challenge, she announced a new senior staff structure operating under the CEO. This will be:
Deputy CEO: Iain Munro
Director of Arts and Engagement
Director of Film and Media
Director of Creative Industries: Caroline Parkinson
Director of Communications: Kenneth Fowler
Director of HR: Karen Lannigan
Director of Strategy (12 month post)
Director of Funding Operations
Director of Finance
Recruitment of the five posts that need to be filled will begin this month and Archer stressed that there has been no increase in the staff budget to accommodate this. She added that “these changes are just the first step. We will be working with our staff over the coming months to ensure that we put in place the right structure to enable us all to do our jobs effectively and provide the funding, development and advocacy that the arts, screen and creative industries deserve.”
Read the full text of Creative Scotland CEO Janet Archer’s letter here
