Dear readers — when it was announced in September that longstanding (and crucially: free) arts magazine The Skinny had printed its last edition, the laments were loud and despairing. This year has been a rough one for Glasgow’s arts landscape. The demise of the chronicler of that landscape seemed another bad sign. But then, a lifeline.
The Skinny was saved. Behind its resurrection was a mysterious charity, Outer Spaces, who, it turned out, are a major backbone of Glasgow’s struggling creative scene. How?
Well, they act as a middleman, providing 338 artists with free studio space in the city inside repurposed commercial buildings. Outer Spaces tenants are working inside some of the most potentially valuable real estate in the city, like Finnieston’s Skypark. Corporate landlords are positively chomping at the bit to subsidise Glasgow’s art scene in this way. Do they want to find the next David Shrigley or Peter Howson? Probably not. So what’s going on?
We answered this question recently in a paywalled investigation that got a huge response on social media. On that note, we’ve got great news: now you can beam Calum and Beth going deep on Outer Spaces straight into your ears, via the very first episode of The Bell’s new podcast! It’s called Saved By The Bell (obviously) and will be weekly. Well, that’s if we meet our campaign target of netting 1,000 new paying members by 15 November.
Because yes, as some of you will recall, this podcast is one of our five pledges to make Glasgow better, as shaped by readers. Specifically, it’s pledge number five: to pull back the curtain on our stories via audio. We’ll drop three more taster episodes, one every Tuesday until the campaign wraps up. If we’ve hit 1,000 by then, the podcast will live on (just 767 to go!).
Not only does this give free access to our journalism (and while on the go!), it also enhances accountability and trust in what we’re doing and how we do it. Listeners can hear exactly how we go about digging into tax avoidance schemes around the city, but also the arguments that can make the situation less cut and dried — like when that tax avoidance is helping prop up a flagging arts sector.
If that sounds like something you — and Glasgow — might want more of, sign up to The Bell right now as a paying member and help us reach our goal. We’re offering a whopping £40 off an annual subscription or, if you’re still not convinced, you can try us out for £2.99 for two months.
