Join our membership community
for voluntary organisations in Scotland
Membership directory
MANY Studios
- Membership number 10647
Many Studios is a place for creative practice. Our building at Ross Street provides 42 workspaces for a creative community of 70+ people, from visual artists, makers and designers to writers, programmers and engineers. We host a venue for hire, and produce local and international community-led projects.
Many Studios is a women and LGBT+ led, independent arts organisation and Community Interest Company, founded in 2012. Our ambition has always been to provide long-term, quality workspaces, programmes and venues that enable artworkers and organisations to develop practice in new and exciting ways.
Many Studios began as a voluntary organisation, supporting and stemming from the creative practices of the founding directors. Becca, Marc and Natalia combine experience in architecture, design, curatorial practice and community engagement to create places where arts and culture can thrive, and alongside Many Studios, the team have developed and led reputable, socially-engaged organisations in Scotland and internationally.
Initially, we were asked to take care of an existing artists’ studios on the 3rd floor of a Victorian office block in the heart of the Merchant City. At this time, many collectives and artist-led spaces operated with in-kind building rental, occupying spaces until a point that landlords changed the use; creating poor infrastructure for workspace provision (and culture more generally). The development of a permanent creative hub by Many Studios was prompted by a couple of questions: how could we ensure that we can offer workspace that will be long-term, allowing artists to develop practice with some security and stability? How do you create jobs in the arts that are not susceptible to changes in public funding? We set out to see if it was possible to develop an independent arts organisation that would generate core income from services to give the organisation autonomy in decision-making and ensure we had the guaranteed income for long, secure leases on buildings. To achieve this, we needed a new space. A building that could allow us to develop a sustainable model for the organisation long term.
In 2013, with support from Glasgow City Council through the Underused Floorspace Grant, we partnered with a local landlord to retrofit a disused market building in the east end of Glasgow. This ambitious capital development project was formative for the directors' practices, working together, with little experience of this scale of development, to introduce a creative hub in the historic Barras Market. The funding was part of a legacy of the Commonwealth Games, placing the project within the context of wider regeneration of the east end of Glasgow.
Our services and programme have emerged through the development of our director and team’s own practices, harnessing the knowledge of our community to ensure the organisation can continue to provide reliable and innovative workspace for the city, whilst offering a unique place for development, both for artists in the building and out-with.
Links
If you work for this organisation, you can sign up for a My SCVO account to gain access to member benefits