Rent rises stir up a nest of protest at WASPS
Expansion into what looks increasingly like a property company is upsetting the many tenants of Scotland's largest, longest established studio/workshop provider, Clare Henry reports.
WASPS is the U.K.'s largest studio provider, with over a thousand artists in 21 buildings across Scotland. All thousand artists are currently directly affected by a massive hike of their studio rents. In fact many more than were impacted by Creative Scotland's "closing" of the Open Fund for Individuals!
Many are worried that WASPS has lost sight of its founding principles to serve and support Scotland's artist community, and instead risks helping to destroy it.
Founded in 1977, WASPS spaces are supposed to be 'affordable' – but with rents now often around £ 300–400 per month, and over 85% of artists earning 'under £ 10,000', who can afford it? And how will young artists ever get a start?
WASPS' new chair, the architect Karen Anderson, blamed power bills for the rise, "A 400% electricity hike meant we had to introduce a monthly electricity surcharge reluctantly. And ongoing spiralling inflation, especially in maintaining our buildings, has resulted in significant rent rises."
The decision to sell the famous East Campbell Street Glasgow WASP Studios, home to the likes of Peter Howson, Ken Currie and Jacki Parry – who found the building in 1985 – was the final straw.
Angry tenants organised a Save Our Studios, (SOS) campaign online, with petition, Instagram and demo. The petition listed five demands, including keeping rent rises in line with inflation. With no response from administrators, many artists quit, going back to work on the kitchen table. But that's not so easy if you are a sculptor or ceramicist needing a kiln.
East Campbell Street was sold off "due to escalating maintenance and running costs." But tenants claim that building repairs often appear to be neglected in favour of further expansion.
Among questions being asked are: Why do WASPS insist on over–expanding when they can't maintain current properties? Are extra staff managing property development rather than property maintenance. Are new building developments coming in over budget and causing rents to rise? Why are new buildings empty? How many studios overall are newly empty?
Poor communication from the board of administrators is at the heart of this row. Letters go unanswered. Repairs to boilers, broken windows, etc not fixed. There is only a single artist on the board.
Karen Anderson agrees bad communication and lack of representation are valid issues. The original board was composed of artists, plus a couple of business people – a successful format for many years. "More artist tenants on the Board is long overdue," she told me.
The SOS petition also requested a new Tenants Council with artist representatives from each studio building to work alongside the all–powerful board. This was also ignored. This lack of transparency is a serious issue. Other questions being asked are why WASPS' electricity costs went up 400% and why new WASPS buildings are lying empty?
WASPS was set up by artists for artists. Yet what was once a small social enterprise has become a giant property–owning business. Something is clearly wrong.
Reading the SOS Instagram chequerboard page of tenants' letters is heartbreaking. I remember the 1977 talks so well. Back then collectives and co-operatives were common. Idealism was high. Soon WASPS was a big success. But it grew.
"It's a monster," said one tenant. "This charity is no longer charitable; it's purely business. Big business! WASPS has become primarily a property development company, run on corporate lines with the artistic community taking second place."
Another told me "The business model is now dependent on commercial tenants and skewed towards their needs and revenue."
This could be tricky for a registered Scottish charity, which should be focusing on artists' needs first. Yet because of its vast programme of expansion and new ongoing projects, revenue from artists' rents alone doesn't balance the books. With 28 staff and 21 buildings each requiring considerable upkeep, WASPS appears seriously over stretched, having grown too big too fast. With a virtual monopoly on studio spaces, this is proving damaging to Scotland's artistic life.
The knock-on effect of WASPS' corporate attitude, allied with regular rent hikes is having devastating consequences to our cultural landscape. Artists' lives, artist careers, are endangered. Their mental health is suffering. Board and tenants urgently need to find a way forward.
The legendary Bill Buchanan and Tom Laurie would be shocked if the original idea should be lost. In the mid 1970s Bill, Art Director of the Scottish Arts Council, set up the company he called Workshop and Artists' Studio Provision Scotland.
In winter 1977 passionate arts lover Tom Laurie and David Cook (later WASPS CEO 1991–2014) found a derelict property on King Street in Glasgow's Trongate, which became the second WASPS building.
Cook remembers: "Tom turned WASPS' fortunes around. There was no money in the beginning, and the rental income barely covered the administration costs. Tom secured charitable status for WASPS."
With buildings large and small in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Perth, Dundee, Irving, Newburgh, Inverness, Selkirk, Skye, Orkney, Nairn and Scotland's oldest artist town, Kirkcudbright, WASPS board needs to act fast to improve tenant representation and communications at the very least.
