06/05/2026
Our thoughts on The Herald’s list about ‘powerful people in the arts in Scotland’:
Perhaps the aim of The Herald’s Top 50 list is to provoke discussion about what power is, and whether such power is good? In this respect, proposing such a list is a provocation in itself.
In the current climate, boasting about being in its number seems as tone deaf as one can get, like Malcolm Offord bragging about his cars and boats. ‘Powerful people lists’ represent the way culture and, increasingly, the arts panders to the patterns of celebrity.
Of course, there is a big difference between power and influence. The people who really do the work, make the art, and influence – often the freelancers or innovators at the bottom of the ‘power’ structure - are unlikely to occupy much space on lists like this. Yet these are the people the arts infrastructure in Scotland should be supporting and championing if it hopes to prosper.
Is ‘power’ really what we want to be celebrating?
An interesting perspective is offered by Marissa MacWhirter here: www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/26068942.scotlands-art-scene-shaped-quangos-playwrights/
