School of art facing probe over £20m f ire donations
Watchdog ‘to investigate’ charity cash use
THE Glasgow School of Art is facing an official investigation over how it used £20million worth of public donations made in the wake of a devastating fire.
Funding watchdogs are expected to probe how money raised to pay for restoration costs was used.
An inquiry is now expected to be carried out by the Scottish Fundraising Standards Panel (SFSP), which adjudicates on complaints about charities.
The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) confirmed it had been contacted by SFSP but said it had not received any complaints from donors.
The institution’s Mackintosh building, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, was devastated by fire in 2014 and was destroyed by a second blaze in June last year.
The second, more destructive fire happened while work was taking place to repair the damage of the first.
Senior members of staff said many donors thought
‘Questions still to be answered’
their money was ‘helping to repair the fire damage’.
An appeal led by actor Brad Pitt and former Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi aimed to raise £20million.
After millions of pounds of donations had been received, the £32million Mackintosh Campus Appeal was launched which focused on upgrading the east wing of the building, which was unaffected, and buying Stow College nearby.
Art school chiefs said the new appeal reflected what the school needed to recover from the fire which ‘had become clearer’.
However, fundraising continued its focus on repairing the fire damage to the building after insurance money of more than £50million had been received.
Management resignations have followed since the two fires. Professor Ken Neil, who has worked at the school for 13 years, announced he is to leave for the Royal College of Art in London.
It follows the resignations of finance director Alastair Milloy and director Tom Inns last year.
The school has received cash at events including a
New York fundraiser where tables cost £3,500.
A sale of works by 25 leading artists held by Christie’s auctioneers, meanwhile, raised more than £700,000.
MSPs said there were a number of questions still to be answered, such as whether the fire alarm was on and insurance cover levels.
The Scottish parliament’s culture, tourism, Europe and external affairs committee has called for a public inquiry. Labour MSP Pauline McNeill was critical of management for being unable to say if the fire alarm was operational when the second fire broke out. She told MSPs: ‘The management of the building did not know whether the fire alarm system was on on the night of the fire and the fact that no one has been held accountable for that is one of the most damning aspects of the episode.
‘For that alone, heads should have rolled at the GSA. That, in itself, should be the subject of public inquiry.’
Nationalist MSP Annabelle Ewing told the Holyrood committee: ‘We have no idea what cover is in place.’
Broadcaster Muriel Gray, who has temporarily stood down as art school board chairman, said in September that the restoration costs would be covered by insurance.
But some experts have suggested that it could cost more than £200million.
A GSA spokesman said: ‘GSA’s director of development has received an email from the Scottish Fundraising Standards Panel and he is taking this forward with them.
‘It should be noted that neither the GSA or the GSA Development Trust has received a complaint from donors regarding the fundraising undertaken in response to the fire.’