Interview: Sir Sandy Crombie - Chairman of Creative Scotland

Published on Friday 11 June 2010 21:22

WHEN STANDARD Life began work developing its new £100 million headquarters in Lothian Road, the Cockburn Association – guardian of the city's architecture – stepped into the fray. "They commented on the initial designs, and we came to realise, prompted by their comments, they weren't good enough," said Sir Sandy Crombie, who retired as group chief executive of the insurance giant in December.

• Sir Sandy Crombie at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow where his appointment as the new chairman of Creative Scotland was announced yesterday. Picture: Robert Perry

He took his architects back to the drawing board, but last year, about 15 years on, the encounter led to his agreeing to become Cockburn Society president. "Over the years I have watched how they acted as a conscience for the city, although they probably work to the annoyance of those who want development to happen," he said. "They have contributed quite significantly to keeping Edinburgh a very beautiful city, one of the finest in the world."

Crombie was named to a vastly more influential cultural post yesterday – as first chairman of Creative Scotland, the new body overseeing the arts, which was born after painful years of grinding commissions and consultations. The man whose tenure saw thousands of redundancies at Standard Life, but who is also credited with regrounding the company so well that it weathered the credit crunch far better than most, is now at the helm of an organisation charged with revitalising Scottish arts and the "creative industries", from galleries to theatres and the screen trade.

If he is bringing a corporate feel to Scotland's cultural scene, many observers will be wondering where his own creative conscience lies. The new arts organisation, with about 65 million in funding and more than 100 staff, will, he pledged, aim to ensure "that government investment produces a good return for the country. I find I can bring my skills and experiences to bear," he said. "I think the arts industries, the organisations, can make good use of the skills I bring along in making things happen, and building strategies, to create plans and find efficiencies.

"The types of skills that are honed in the business world are often applicable in the arts world. I wouldn't pretend to be the creative, that's the job of others."

Creative Scotland, which replaces both the Scottish Arts Council and film agency Scottish Screen, is to roll into motion on 1 July. It now has a chief executive, Andrew Dixon, three "directors of creative development", and, as of yesterday, eight new board members and a chairman. Over the coming months it will appoint about 110 staff, down from 146 in the two former organisations. The board members named yesterday ranged from Robin MacPherson, a film and TV producer and professor of screen media at Edinburgh's Napier University, to Gwilym Gibbons, director of Shetland Arts Development Agency, and Dr Gary West, a piper, broadcaster and academic.

Crombie said the board's role is to "offer encouragement, but acting as a check and balance... In that, it's not different from any other business." Sounding very much like a corporate chief, he said he expected the board to work together, with a "holistic view" , not an "individual thing" or "particular pet ideas." He added the new organisation had a "very large responsibility to deploy our money... to the best possible effect for the benefit of Scotland".

It is only very recently Crombie's long-standing interest in the arts has led to an organisational role. . He was simply too busy with the day job at the company where he worked for 43 years after leaving school. At Standard he oversaw the selling of 7.5 billion of equities to right its capital position and its demutualisation, and endured the press glee in chasing down the story that he purchased a Porsche while colleagues were facing job losses. He is now a senior independent director at the Royal Bank of Scotland, and will work for Creative Scotland for up to 10 days a month, earning 250 a day.

Crombie was at Buckhaven High School in Fife with John Wallace, the future world-class trumpeter and principal of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. "He got all the artistic ability, I'm afraid. I went on to be rugby captain," said Crombie. "I don't have musical ability." But he is also now a vice chairman at the RSAMD, bringing, he suggested, a "certain calm reasoning" to bear.

Scott White, director of public relations firm Black to White, worked for Crombie at Standard. "He was a keen supporter of the arts," he said. "Very passionate in terms of local interest, and young people, and giving them every opportunity in the art world. He is also very well read, and thrives on learning things."

Yesterday Crombie could not name a performance, or a moment, when he got hooked on arts, but he did single out RSAMD students' recent performance with Deep Purple's John Lord, at the Usher Hall, as "one of the best concerts I've seen. I have quite eclectic tastes. I enjoy most things, but I get the greatest buzz when I see young performers giving their all."

At Standard, aware his time was limited, he "helped out" at Scottish Ballet by making financial contributions, since dance is a major interest, along with theatre and opera, though he denies his is "highbrow taste." In 2006 he became chair of the Edinburgh World City of Literature.

He was also closely involved with Standard's own arts programme, from its "Braveart" promotions of postgraduate Scottish artists, to picking the shows it would sponsor at the Edinburgh International Festival. "What I tended to get involved with, and enjoy most, were the newer, edgier things," he said. "Repetition of the masters and the greats is wonderful, but we should also cherish that which is new and perhaps difficult to understand." Productions he singled out included Nuts CocoNuts, the deliciously off-beat show from 2007, and an experimental production by dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov.

"Nobody who saw it forgot it," he said. "In fact most people were coming out at the interval shaking their heads, but they all came out talking about it and still do."

THE NEW BOARD MEMBERS

As well as the appointment of Sir Sandy Crombie as chairman, Creative Scotland unveiled eight new board members yesterday

Robin MacPherson: Bafta-nominated producer of film and television drama and documentary, professor of Screen Media at Edinburgh's Napier University, director of the Screen Academy Scotland.

Gwilym Gibbons: First director of Shetland Arts Development Agency, since 2006. His organisation is behind Mareel, the UK's most northerly arts centre, a 12.2m project currently under construction.

Dr Gary West: A traditional musician, piper and broadcaster, currently Head of the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh. A member of the acclaimed Vale of Atholl pipe band for 18 years.

Ruth Wishart: Columnist, radio presenter, and former Scotsman journalist, Wishart chairs the Dewar Arts Awards, is a trustee of the National Galleries of Scotland, and former chair of the Centre for Contemporary Arts.

Steve Grimmond: Well-known in the Scottish arts scene, Grimmond is director of Housing and Communities at Fife Council with responsibilities for culture, sport, greenspace and community learning.

Barclay Price: Former depute director of the Scottish Arts Council, Price has been director of Arts & Business Scotland, which encourages business ties and sponsorship in the cultural sector since 2001.

Professor Gayle McPherson: Leading expert in cultural policy and business at Glasgow Caledonian University, and a researcher in the use of festivals in the regeneration of cities and communities.

Peter Cabrelli: Has more than 25 years' of business experience, most recently as Group Human Resources Director of HBOS plc, where he was closely involved in the merger of the Bank of Scotland and the Halifax.