Glasgow Life secures complete Third Eye Centre and CCA archive for the city

Glasgow Life has formally secured the complete archive of the Third Eye Centre and Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), ensuring this important record of Glasgow's contemporary arts history remains in the city.

The acquisition safeguards more than five decades of material charting the development of two institutions that have played a significant role in shaping Glasgow and Scotland's cultural life.

The collection includes exhibition records and programmes, photographs, film, posters and flyers, and artists' correspondence documenting the people and creative practice that helped establish Glasgow as a major centre for contemporary art.

Since the CCA closed and the Sauchiehall Street building and its assets were listed for sale, Glasgow Life has worked with Creative Scotland and The Ballast Trust, a specialist archives charity for business records, to secure the collection for the city.

The acquisition has been made possible through funding from Creative Scotland and will see Glasgow Life take responsibility for the archive's long-term care and preservation.

Glasgow Life's City Archives team will now begin cataloguing the collection ahead of making it accessible to researchers, artists, students and the wider public. Glasgow Life will also assess the most appropriate long-term home for the archive.

Glasgow Life's Head of Museums and Collections, Jane Rowlands, said: "The Third Eye Centre and CCA helped shape Glasgow's reputation as a place for creativity and contemporary art. Securing this archive means an important part of that story will remain in Glasgow, where it can be cared for and made available to future generations. We're grateful to Creative Scotland for making this acquisition possible, and to The Ballast Trust for its expertise and support."