GSA bosses ‘outraged’ at fire show

BOSSES at Glasgow School of Art have said they are outraged after it was revealed a fire dancing show was held within their buildings on the anniversary of a devastating blaze. Exclusive footage obtained by our sister paper The Herald on Sunday showed a stunt performed during a graduation party at The Art School student union led to the building being evacuated. The incident, which took place in the early hours of June 15, saw a woman suspend herself from ropes, dance and strip in front of a carpet of naked flame before emergency services rushed to the Reid Building in Renfrew Street. Politicians and trade union representatives have hit out at the “mismanagement” of the school, as well as the continuing dispute between staff at the Glasgow School of Art Students’ Association (GSASA), which runs the student union, over loss of income and working conditions. The Glasgow School of Art initially refused to comment on the issue, claiming events held at the venue were the sole responsibility of the Students’ Association. Now, bosses have said they take incidents such as this “extremely seriously”, branding the performance “unacceptable”. A spokesman said: “We fully understand and share the outrage expressed about this entirely unacceptable incident, but reiterate that, as we have been explicit in recent weeks, the Glasgow School of Art Students Association and GSASA Ltd, also known as The Art School, are both separate legal and charitable entities from the Glasgow School of Art. Therefore the ability of Glasgow School of Art to intervene in GSASA Ltd is limited. “We take any and all breaches of health and safety or fire safety extremely seriously, including in buildings the GSA leases to third parties, as in this case to GSASA. “When notified of this wholly unacceptable incident we took immediate action, requiring the GSASA to review their activities in the building they lease from the GSA.”