It is not only bricks and mortar that must be rebuilt at troubled art school
When the Mackintosh Building caught fire twice in four years, with the 2018 inferno resulting in complete destruction, like many others, I was at first disbelieving then heartbroken.
I was based in Manhattan at the time, and had just donated my written archive to GSA for safe-keeping. I wept the first time, felt anger the second time and, over the last six years, my desperation to see progress, not strife, has grown.
The Mackintosh building was beloved – a treasured masterpiece, an international icon but my sorrow is not just about the building. Since the fires, internal turmoil has added a toxic atmosphere to the damage done, denials of responsibility and multiple questionable sackings left the public bewildered, nearby residents homeless, staff depleted and students stressed.
GSA is in a perilous position. A new director, Penny Macbeth, takes over in May. She is brave indeed. Much depends upon her. Hopefully she will be cool, calm and collected – in contrast to the current aggression and defensive antagonism. Her CV mentions community, empathy and cohesion, all much needed at GSA.
So what are the first essentials for Penny Macbeth when she arrives in two months? She must assure staff their jobs are safe; remove the toxic atmosphere of fear; stop the bullying; reinstate those unfairly sacked; reach out to neighbours; begin a process to separate management of the Mackintosh building from the running of the Art School; and, finally, hand the rebuild of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s masterpiece to a trust.
The rebuild is, of course, a huge task in itself but there is a vital need to rebuild confidence, heal a damaged spiritual psyche among staff and students and Ms Macbeth should not be expected to be a genius who can handle both.
She is currently the academic lead for Manchester Metropolitan University’s groundbreaking £35 million School of Digital Arts due to open next year, and the GSA board has hailed her ability “to manage significant capital development projects”.
This worried me. I would rather hear about the success she is said to have had at Manchester “across student experience, and engagement with the city and the community”. The same success is most sorely needed here.
I welcome her, wish her all the best and pray she will be a good colleague to staff, an inspiration to students – but not the lead overseer of a building project, a project manager. That job must go to someone else.