Charity buys Third Eye centre and CCA archive

The charity that manages Glasgow's museum and library collections has bought the archive of two organisations that played a key role in the city's contemporary art scene.

The collections of the Third Eye Centre and the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), containing material gathered over more than 50 years, are now owned by Glasgow Life.

Items include exhibition records, photographs, films, posters, flyers and artists' letters, providing a record of the people and work that helped establish Glasgow as a centre for contemporary art.

The acquisition follows the closure of the CCA and the sale of its Sauchiehall Street building and assets.

The CCA building in Sauchiehall Street was originally home to the Third Eye Centre, which was established by the Scottish Art Council in the 1970s.

With performers including Billy Connolly, Whoopi Goldberg and American poet Allen Ginsberg, a key figure in the Beat movement, the venue was an outlet for Glasgow's counter culture.

It closed in 1991 with the CCA taking its place as a hub for the city's art scene.

The venue endured a turbulent time in recent years, having been first forced to close in 2018 after a fire destroyed the nearby Glasgow School of Art.

Several of the businesses which rented out space inside the building never returned after it reopened.

The centre's popular cafe bar - the Saramago - closed permanently in 2023 after a lengthy and bitter dispute over staffing issues led the venue to discontinue its relationship with the bar - a decision that resulted in a financial hit.

The CCA itself temporarily closed in December 2024, saying this was in a bid to secure its long-term future amid significant financial concerns.

But earlier this year the venue was permanently closed and all staff were made redundant.

Glasgow Life worked with Creative Scotland and The Ballast Trust to acquire the collection, with funding provided by Creative Scotland.

The archive will now be catalogued by Glasgow Life's City Archives team before being made available to researchers, artists, students and the public.

Jane Rowlands, Glasgow Life's head of museums and collections, said the archive was an important part of the city's cultural history.

She said: "The Third Eye Centre and CCA helped shape Glasgow's reputation as a place for creativity and contemporary art.

"Securing this archive means an important part of that story will remain in Glasgow, where it can be cared for and made available to future generations."

Culture Secretary Màiri McAllan said she was pleased the archive had been kept in public ownership and would remain accessible.