Glasgow CCA apologises for handling of pro-Palestinian protests after two-month closure

The Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Glasgow has apologised for its response to protests by pro-Palestinian activists and announced changes to its board.

The institute on Sauchiehall Street has been closed since June 24, when Art Workers for Palestine Scotland began a week-long demonstration occupying the building’s public courtyard.

The group planned to stage events in the “liberated zone”, including workshops, screenings and discussions that centred on Palestinian liberation and “interrogate the complicity of Scottish cultural institutions in the ongoing genocide in Gaza”.

The action was announced in response to the CCA’s Board’s refusal to endorse the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).

The PACBI advocates for a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions.

Police were called to the CCA building after activists began their takeover, resulting in a 63-year-old woman being arrested and injured.

Nearly 50 days on, the CCA has said it “sincerely regrets” the outcome of its decision on June 24 and that an individual was injured.

Art Workers for Palestine Scotland action at CCA STV News

In a statement, it acknowledged the “disruption, confusion and harm experienced over recent weeks, particularly by our community, artists, staff, tenants and partners”.

‘Deeply sorry’

“We recognise that a lack of clarity on our choices had real human consequences, and for this we are deeply sorry”, the statement adds.

The centre said it is “committed to meaningful engagement first within the organisation, and then with all those we work with and serve”.

It goes on: “We are listening and know that trust cannot be repaired with words alone, but through consistent, honest, and long-term work.

“We are working to refresh our processes to ensure leadership reflects our principles, to amplify staff voices and to meet the changing needs of CCA.

“Through this, we remain committed to meaningful engagement first within the organisation, and then with all those we work with and serve.

“This includes constructive dialogue with those who have raised concerns. Reopening will require a collective effort across our entire community. We now ask for your support and patience as we undertake this process of reflection and repair.”

PACBI decision to be ‘revisited’

Following the closure, plans to change the Board membership are set to be accelerated. New members, including a finance minister, will be recruited, and the current chair will finish her term in October.

The new leadership is set to revisit the decision not to endorse PACBI, with the centre saying it “respects the calls for CCA to endorse PACBI” and is “grateful to those who have challenged us and held us to account and have clearly and powerfully expressed the need for cultural institutions to take a stand”.

“We condemn the violence of the Israeli state, the ongoing occupation, genocide, and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”, the statement adds.

“We stand firmly against all forms of oppression and in support of the rights and dignity of the Palestinian people.”

Reopening

The CCA said it is working towards reopening on August 25, following a period of work with artists and communities to rebuild trust.

Art Workers for Palestine Scotland described the statement as a “moment of real institutional change and real decolonisation”.

Commenting, the group said: “It is huge win for pro-Palestinian campaigners, organisers, staff, artists and members of the CCA’s community, and shows us how we can use our collective power to successfully demand that arts organisations represent the views of the people who constitute them, and stand in unequivocal solidarity with Palestine and against the genocidal settler-colonial state.

“We will now hold CCA to account and ensure that a formal endorsement of PACBI, the cultural boycott of Israel, is made as soon as a new board is in place.”