The Creative Scotland Taskforce

The Joint Board of Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen has delegated responsibility for the ongoing management of the Transition Project to a Taskforce.

The Taskforce is chaired by Richard Holloway as Chair of the Joint Board.

Richard Holloway - Chairman

Richard is a writer and broadcaster. He is the author of twenty six books, including God-less Morality, Doubts & Loves, and Looking in the Distance. His new book, ‘Between the Monster and the Saint: Reflections on the Human Condition’, will be published by Canongate in August.

Richard was a member of the Broadcasting Standards Commission from 2000-2003. A frequent broadcaster, he has presented a number of television services, including Art & Soul, Holloway’s Road and The Sword and the Cross, and also BBC Radio Scotland’s flagship book programme, Cover Stories.

Ray Macfarlane

Ray is a Senior Director of Corporate Banking at Bank of Scotland.

She is a qualified solicitor and has held several significant posts in economic development, including that of Managing Director, Scottish Enterprise, where she had responsibility for national and International Operations.

Barbara McKissack

Barbara is an independent producer working on a range of film and television projects. Her most recent production, Mrs In-Betweeny, aired this month on BBC3.

Whilst Head of Drama at BBC Scotland she was Executive Producer on a range of drama including Sea of Souls, Monarch of the Glen, Tinseltown, England Expects, The Key and 2000 Acres of Sky. Barbara has also Executive Produced feature films including Ratcatcher and Morvern Callar.

John Mulgrew OBE

John is Chair of Learning and Teaching Scotland. He serves on a number of Boards and Trusts in Scotland.

Until 2006 he was Director of Educational and Social Services in East Ayrshire Council for 11 years. He is a former President of the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland and has been a member of a number of National Review Groups. He has a particular commitment to creativity, arts in education and inclusion in all of his activities.

Ken Hay, Chief Executive, Scottish Screen

Ken has extensive media and business development experience, including establishing and running several media businesses. As well as direct production and training experience in both radio and television, he has been a lecturer in entrepreneurship at the University of Aberdeen, a development worker with Katutura Community Radio in Namibia, Director of Intermedia Film and Video in Nottingham and was the founding Chief Executive of EM Media, the regional screen agency for the East Midlands. He has been Chief Executive of Scottish Screen since April 2005.

Jim Tough, Acting CEO , Scottish Arts Council

A graduate of Edinburgh University, Jim came to the arts via an earlier career in community education. He established the award winning WHALE project (Wester Hailes Arts for Leisure and Education) in Edinburgh, a role that included direct involvement in youth theatre as well as the development of a venue during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

In June 1998, he was appointed to the post of Combined Arts Director at the Scottish Arts Council.  He became Director of Arts in January 2003 and since March 2007 has been Acting Chief Executive.

Strategic Advisors

Strategic advisors to the Transition Project Team.

Dr John Knell, Intelligence Agency

One of the UK’s leading thinkers on the changing face of work and organisations and is co-founder of Intelligence Agency.  John has worked with a wide range of corporate clients, including Microsoft, Tesco, Astra Zeneca, and Siemens.  John’s recent client work has ranged across high level public policy work particularly in the arts and cultural sphere, strategic reviews and strategy development.  Aside from John’s current commitment to strategy development for the Board and Director of the Creative Scotland Transition Project, his recent work has included a residency in Perth, W.A on the invitation from the Australian Government to work with all of the funded cultural organisations in the region on their forward strategy.  He assisted the UK Film Council with development of a provocation narrative about the future of film in the UK and he is a lead investigator on a new £80k research project funded by NESTA exploring interdisciplinary innovation.

Dr Tom Fleming, Creative Consultancy

Dr Tom Fleming is director of Tom Fleming Creative Consultancy. Tom is a consultant and academic specialising in research, strategy and policy for the cultural and creative economy at all levels. His focus lies on establishing the climate for creativity, innovation, collaboration, and business growth.  Tom Fleming Creative Consultancy works to develop creative policy and infrastructure that is fit for purpose in an age where creativity and innovation, the physical and the virtual, the consumption and the production, the lifestyle and the commercial; are increasingly interdependent. This means focusing on the spaces and places that enable creativity to thrive and add value against a range of agendas – from the social to the economic, the intrinsic to the instrumental.

Lesley Thomson

Lesley Thomson is one of the founding directors of the Liddell Thomson management consultancy. She offers strategic advice to a wide range of public and private sector clients. Lesley has a long-standing involvement with the arts and creative industries. She has served on the Scottish Arts Council and the boards of Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet, where she was vice chair and is chair of The Arches in Glasgow. She is a former council member of CBI Scotland.