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Stars back bid to create Scotland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Pauline McLeanScotland arts correspondent
News imageGetty Images a bald man waring a black top is playing an electric guitar on a stage with a light show behind himGetty Images
Midge Ure has given his backing to the project

Some of the biggest names in Scottish music are supporting a bid to take over Glasgow's troubled Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) and revamp it as a Scottish Rock and Roll Music Hall of Fame.

The CCA closed earlier this year after a series of financial setbacks.

Now the group ScotsRock says it wants to take over the building in Sauchiehall Street and turn it into a hub which celebrates Scotland's contribution to global music.

Midge Ure, whose career spans Ultravox, Band Aid and Live Aid, has agreed to become the inaugural Patron of ScotsRock.

The project has also attracted the support of Lulu, Jim Kerr of Simple Minds, Travis and Del Amitri.

Plans for the venue would include:

  • a permanent exhibition and visitor experience
  • a live performance venue
  • educational and outreach programmes
  • a creative industries hub supporting emerging music and creative businesses
  • archive and heritage facilities
  • a year-round programme of permanent and temporary exhibitions, concerts, talks and special events celebrating both Scotland's rock music legacy and its current artists

Midge Ure said: "This has never been done, and it should have been done.

"In hindsight, it's a major mistake.

"For a small country we punch way above our weight when it comes to global musicians.

"If you go to Cleveland, their Hall of Fame is very American, so I ask myself, why are we not doing the same in Scotland?

"We should be and I'm very proud to be part of it."

News imageCCA A street view of the front of the CCA venue on Sauchiehall StreetCCA
The CCA on Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street closed in January

Ronnie Gurr, a former chief executive officer of the Scottish Music Industry Association, told the BBC's Radio Scotland Breakfast programme it was "a very ambitious project whose times has come".

Gurr, who would act as a senior curator of the proposed hub, said: "The key thing is the Hall of Fame honours the past but it should also help shape the future.

"So the plans is that it's not only a museum but also there would be a live venue.

"At a time when grassroots music venues are closing at a rate of knots, that's a welcome addition.

"That would be shaping the future of the country's music as well."

News imageGetty Images A man with short grey hair is holding a microphone on stageGetty Images
Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr is among the leading lights of Scottish music to support the plan

Glasgow's CCA announced in January that it was to permanently close after serious concerns were raised over its finances.

It came just a year after it secured three years of funding, worth £3.4m, from arts body Creative Scotland.

At the time, Creative Scotland said it was unable to make further payments as the CAA was "unable to demonstrate its ongoing viability and therefore cannot deliver the activity set out in its multi-year funding agreement".

It also said it would explore future options "with the aim of reopening the centre as a cultural resource as soon as realistically possible".

The venue has endured a turbulent several years, having been first forced to close in 2018 after a fire destroyed the nearby Glasgow School of Art.

Several of the businesses which rented out space inside the building never returned after it reopened.