Glasgow Life is the principal trading name and brand of Culture and Sport Glasgow, a charity based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is an Arms' Length External body from Glasgow City Council, with operating responsibility for managing the arts, music, sports, events, festivals, libraries and learning programmes for the council. It is the 14th largest charity, by income, in Scotland, and its formation has been described as “one of the highest profile transfers of functions from a council to a charitable Trust in the UK” and that “...the inclusion of libraries was unprecedented“
History
Culture and Sport Glasgow was formed as a company in December, 2006, and a registered charity from February, 2007. The organisation's Board agreed to adopt the name and brand 'Glasgow Life' in January 2010
Notable events
Responsibilities
Glasgow Life are responsible for six service areas within the city:
Public Libraries, including 32 community libraries, 29 school libraries and the Mitchell Library. Sport venues and facilities, including Tollcross International Swimming Centre Commonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome 10 Museums See Glasgow Museums Arts and Music, through management of culture venues and festivals, including Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Glasgow City Halls Local community centres Young Glasgow, providing services aimed at children, young people and their parent/carers.
Structure and Governance
The charity is controlled by Glasgow City Council. It is governed by a Board of directors, consisting of:
8 independent directors
5 partner directors (drawn from within Glasgow City Council) Executive Director The Chair is Councillor Bailie Christie, and the Chief Executive is Susan Deighan.
There are a number of sub-committees, including:
Audit
Nominations
Health and safety
Funding
The majority of the income for the organisation is provided as a service fee from Glasgow City Council, with annual reports showing this is approximately 60% of income.
Audited figures
Glasgow Life is regulated in its charitable activities by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), which publishes headline income and expenditure figures, with full accounts available from Companies House. The 'Service Fee' is the direct contribution from Glasgow City Council.