ED Robson was recently appointed artistic director/ CEO of the Macrobert Arts Centre in Stirling.

The last time I spoke to Ed, was before he was about to depart from the same role at Cumbernauld Theatre. 

“I either made a fantastic career choice or the worst career choice ever,” Robson says. “When the Cumbernauld Theatre panto finished in December 2019, the Lanternhouse was due to open in the autumn of 2020. The new organisation needed more staff, needed recruitment time and all these kinds of things, so it seemed like a natural time for me to leave.”

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Robson left them time for a “new theatre with a new set of energy, a new set of ideas, full of potential”. He says: “I had lots of freelance theatre lined up, directing some shows for different companies, a couple of nice international projects, lots of opportunities [which were not] doing a major capital development project.

“I wanted to spend a couple of years focusing on developing work for the stage, some artist development work and some teaching. I wanted to get more on to the rehearsal room floor, back in touch with that artistic spirit, to do the basics of drama again.”

In 2006, Robson’s first few days at Cumbernauld were memorable. Entering the front door, he discovered the theatre faced bankruptcy.

The auditor resigned along with one of the long-standing directors – all within his first 100 hours.  Thirteen years later, Robson had rescued the organisation, spent time looking at “swatches for the padding in the back of cafe seats”, helmed the creation of a new building to replace the much-adored Cumbernauld.

And then he left. Then the pandemic hit.  Robson went from being in a “regular position which would have been supported in that time to a period of utter penury”. He had developed relationships in Portugal, “out of work I had done at Cumbernauld”, where he found himself “doing some work, mentoring artists, leading professional development, teaching” and, importantly, surviving.

Dividing his time between Scotland and a small university town in Portugal, with a castle on its hill – a warm weather Stirling, perhaps – he is again running a building with a difference. “This is an arts centre which is an entirely different being,” he says.

The radical spirit which governed Robson’s time at Cumbernauld is  re-energised. He did his homework, as he launched into arts centres: “They all emerged out of that time of new ideas, the 1960s and the 1970s, where there was the emergence of new creativity, universities with broad radical activists, debates and discussions.

“Creativity was a leader of social change. I was fascinated to see if they were still doing the things they were supposed to do or were trying to form themselves into mini theatres.

“I wanted to re-explore those radical ideas. Could we reconnect with that spirit of access, engagement, changing the world, that the ways of the old  and institutions of the past could not be solely responsible for new ideas and ways.

“We need new institutions and ways of working to go with new ways of thinking, to shape the world with ideas, words, argument, debate, discussion. We could have a different view of the relationship between education and people, communities and in particular the working class.

“The arts wouldn’t be an elitism accessible through being affordable but a genuine series of engagements, begun with the principle that everyone had a right to and potential for the arts and creativity in the middle of their lives regardless of where you started, or if it was your birthright: it deserved to be on stage alongside the great, acknowledged classics.”

With that stirring rendition of a call to arts, Robson is deep in the planning stages for “possibilities based upon whatever that fundamental outcome is in terms of investment level for the next three years which will shape the aspirations of the programme of the work”. 

Decisions are due in October for Creative Scotland’s multiyear funding. “The values won’t change but the scope of the operation inside of it may change to respond to the limitations of the context of whatever happens,” Robson says.

I wanted to know if he felt things were different in the arts landscape since leaving Cumbernauld. “It feels more nervous” he says.

“There is a certain kind of fruitfulness I don’t think was there before, when there was a growing confidence in the performing arts sector, more interconnected, partnership-led, aspirational. 

“The range of projects was expanding, seemed to be more young artists making demands upon core funded organisations to be let through the door. I don’t think there is the same groundswell of young artists coming into the sector.”

And for the future, funding permitting?

“Things have come back strongly from Covid for projects like the Christmas shows and work we do in the community.

“There is also interesting work around documentary filmmaking, a strong relationship with the art form, not just through legendary Scottish documentary filmmaker John Grierson but also through the Central Scotland Documentary Film Festival. There is a real resurgence of young Scottish filmmakers.”

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Robson’s research led him to consider an American university arts centre model with a professionally run performing arts department, a live professional learning environment where the Macrobert would become “not just very good neighbours but also excellent partners”.

“I hope we can foster some new ideas around how we relate to the university. More masters and research projects which provide real opportunities for training.” 

Beyond the campus, Robson’s radical thinking was: “Looking at neighbourhood arts projects we can package as Macrobert in the neighbourhood, taking all of our team out in that neighbourhood, to expand that work in other areas, taking advantage of the small city centre but also of the rurality around us. It would be fabulous to do some outdoor work”.

We gazed upon the lake in the centre of the university campus, as thoughts of that Portuguese sunshine were in our minds as I returned to the car in the drizzle, as a much refreshed and newly enthusiastic CEO was left to get on with his new day job.