By Rosemary James-Beith (Executive Director, Creative Glasgow), 14th July 2026
On Tuesday, 23rd June, over 50 members of Glasgow’s creative community gathered at Civic House for a pivotal network meeting. Co-hosted by Creative Glasgow, Agile City, and the Glasgow 2026 Legacy Network the event focused on the cultural and creative legacy of the upcoming Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games. This event built on the Legacy Network’s ambition to do legacy differently from the outset, bringing people and organisations together early and often to co-define legacy outcomes, collaborate, share ideas, and develop projects that maximise the wider benefits and impact of the Games.
Reflective of the Legacy Network’s collaborative tone, the evening kicked off with food and networking at Civic House. Attendees were then invited to engage in an interactive workshop session, to tackle critical inquiry questions related to the Legacy Network’s activity. The conversations focused on three core areas:
- Defining a successful creative legacy for Glasgow’s cultural sector.
- Identifying major sectoral challenges the 2026 Games could help address.
- Uncovering new opportunities for local creatives to realise.
During the interactive workshop sessions, attendees mapped out visions, hurdles, and strategies for the future. The findings from the three core inquiry questions revealed a clear roadmap for the sector:
Participants agreed that success means long-term funding infrastructure, affordable permanent spaces for artists, and deep-rooted community access that outlasts the final whistle of the 2026 Games. The main hurdles identified were widespread financial precarity, rising venue costs across Glasgow, and a historical lack of structural support for minoritized and freelance creators. The guests agreed that the 2026 Games present an unmatched platform to showcase local grassroots talent to a global audience, pilot new cross-sector collaborations, and secure new forms of resource to fund local arts and cultural activity… but that all of these require ongoing collaboration and commitment to address the identified structural challenges.
The discussions highlighted a collective determination to ensure the 2026 Commonwealth Games serve as a genuine catalyst for systemic improvement, rather than just a fleeting moment of celebration for the city’s creative economy… and its clear the Glasgow 2026 Legacy Network’s framing and Story of Change provides a useful vehicle to champion the needs of the sector – through demonstrating the various forms of wealth created and distributed by cultural projects.
The event also featured rapid-fire spotlight presentations from four key local projects, highlighting diverse cultural initiatives that have been supported through the Commonwealth Games’ Festival Fund: Pauline McCloy-Turtle (SUUM Studio) discussed the upcoming OPTIKA @ SWG3. Helen Mills reflected on the achievements of this year’s Village Storytelling Festival 2026. Steve Howe (Critical Chance Collective) spoke about his aspirations for Gathering The Tales and the Games. Chris Kane (Whacking Scotland) shared an energising presentation on Whacking Weekender – and got everyone up trying out some new moves!
This combination of people and projects created space to look back on what has already been achieved in a short space of time, as well as whet the appetite of the guests for the programmes and projects still to come. It helped celebrate local talent, and reflect on ways the Games provide a vehicle for local, national and international exchange and connection – between communities, artists, and organisations – to be facilitated.
The final portion of the evening shifted focus toward environmental responsibility – a major priority for this year’s Games. Led by the Circular Arts Network and Arts Resource Management Scotland, this explored practical ways to drive sustainability. The presentation offered mechanisms for local artists and creative organisations to share, recycle, reuse, and repurpose materials and equipment – contributing to the long term sustainability of the sector.
This gathering marked an inspiring step forward, ensuring Glasgow’s creative sector is increasingly connected, sustainable, and deeply integrated into the 2026 Games legacy conversations. As Creative Glasgow’s Executive Director, I was thrilled to be invited to help gather the sector together for this moment, and host the discussions. We hope that as the dust settles on the Games in just a few short weeks we can continue to draw on our network and relationships in the city to foreground the long term structural needs of the sectors we support and represent, and revisit the Legacy discussions.
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