Arts & Business Scotland Becomes Independent Charity

4th November 2011

Arts & Business Scotland (A&B Scotland) is celebrating 25 years of successful partnerships sparked between commerce and culture, and at this important milestone the Arts & Business UK Board has agreed to devolve the Scottish operation and set up A&B Scotland as an independent Scottish charity from 1 November 2011.

Jane Ryder, until last month Chief Executive of the Office of the Scottish
Charity Regulator, will Chair the new Board. Other Board members are Lucy
Bird, Chief Executive of Marketing Edinburgh Ltd and previously Director of
Marketing and Development at The Sage Gateshead; Rhona Brankin, former MSP
and Scottish Government Culture Minister; Barry O?Dwyer, Deputy Chief
Executive, Prudential UK and Europe; Simon Sharkey, Associate Director,
National Theatre of Scotland, and Douglas Smith, Scottish Chairman of CB
Richard Ellis.

Since the Scottish office of Arts & Business UK was established in 1986, it
has engaged with more than 1,300 businesses and directly invested more than
£7 million into the Scottish arts sector through Government supported
sponsorship incentive schemes. It has also placed over 400 business
volunteers onto arts boards and to work as skills advisers with arts
managers.

Through becoming independent A&B Scotland will be able to develop even
stronger strategic relationships with key partners including businesses, the
Scottish Government and Creative Scotland. A&B Scotland will continue to
advocate the power of the arts to business and to broker creative business
and arts relationships that bring demonstrable benefits to both.

Andrew Dixon, Chief Executive Creative Scotland said: "It is testimony to
its excellent track record that Arts & Business Scotland is today in a
position to announce its independence. We look forward to continued
strategic collaboration to enable new models of philanthropy, enhanced
business investment, and best practice in governance."