Glasgow's Centre for Contemporary Arts celebrates record admission numbers

by XPRESS, 16 May 2017

CCA Glasgow has reached an all-time record of 335,650 admissions in 2016-17, as the increasingly popular hub for the arts celebrates twenty five years since opening in 1992.

CCA launched in the Alexander 'Greek' Thomson building which was previously home to The Third Eye Centre in the city's Sauchiehall Street, with the first exhibitions in the new venue opening on 1 May 1992, alongside a Mayfest party.

In 2016-17, CCA hosted 253 programme partners across 1,075 events and 26 festivals. Festivals including Glasgow Film Festival, Take Me Somewhere, Counterflows, Take One Action, Scottish Queer International Film Festival, Document, Sound Thought and Comic Con are hosted by CCA, as well as a regular series of events from partners such as Seeds of Thought, Scottish Writers' Centre, Ceol's Craic, Paragon and Glasgow Refugee Asylum & Migration Network (GRAMNet). This diverse and experimental programme encourages a wide audience to experience the arts in all its forms, with 51,024 admissions to events over the past twelve months.

This year has seen increasing recognition for CCA. The centre was nominated in the Icon Awards – celebrating champions of diversity in Scotland – for the first time, and won the Best Cultural Venue category in The Glasgow Awards for the second year running.

In the run up to CCA's 25th birthday, several key anniversaries related to the partner programme were marked in 2016-17 with The Radical Independent Bookfair Project, Glasgow Short Film Festival, Glasgow Americana and the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival all celebrating ten years, while Saramago Café reached its fifth birthday in the venue. CCA's commitment to access has continued this year, with the venue taking part in Disabled Access Day for the second time in March, as well as a new access guide and improved venue signage.

CCA's public engagement programme has had a significant impact since it launched eighteen months ago with 138 events reaching 5,138 participants across Glasgow. In April 2016, the Social Intentions conference brought together artists, curators and organisations looking at social engagement in art institutions in an event which saw the beginning of a year-long exploration into art and its relationship with society. This was followed by Intentions in Action, a series of talks, workshops and presentations in the lead up to the Forms of Action exhibition in January.

In the main gallery space, 23,316 people attended exhibitions of work by renowned artists. Pilvi Takala's exhibition during Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2016 was the gallery's most visited show in the last three years.