Being a powerful person shaping Scotland’s art scene is not the same as being good for the art scene.

Take Pauline Barclay, for example. The managing director of Glasgow City Council’s property arm is number five on The Herald's list of the 50 people influencing arts and culture in 2026 – ahead of BBC Scotland director Hayley Valentine. Her choices at City Property determine whether Glasgow treats cultural space as a public good or a commercial asset, and her decisions on leases, rents, and disposals influences if a cultural organisation lives, shrivels or dies.

The Trongate 103 scandal was one of two big controversies to rock the arts sector this year. City Property’s decision to radically alter leases and surge rents for arts organisations in the Merchant City building happened alongside sweeping cuts at BBC Radio Scotland (under Valentine). Both of these fiascos have made, for a brief time, the mechanics of cultural powerbrokers unusually visible. This year is also, critically, the year that Creative Scotland is supposed to be undergoing a pivotal structural overhaul on the back of the national arts body’s first-ever review since its inception in 2010.

For 15 years, Scotland’s main arts funder has made public spending decisions worth hundreds of millions of pounds without anyone lifting the hood to examine all the bureaucratic problems clogging the engine. The review, published in November 2025, found the organisations’ governance to be difficult to navigate and lacking transparency, and concluded with 36 recommendations to overhaul it. This year, Creative Scotland’s chief executive, Iain Munro (number two on the list), is tasked with completely overhauling the organisation’s structure and operating model in response.

Revealed: The 50 powerbrokers shaping Scotland's art scene

Revealed: The 50 powerbrokers shaping Scotland's art scene

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