5 January 2016
The Scotsman (p.5)
An artist has been awarded public funding for a project which will see her pledge not to leave Glasgow – where she already lives – for a year.
Ellie Harrison was awarded £15,000 by Creative Scotland to fund The Glasgow Effect, which aims to challenge the “demand for travel” facing artists and academics.
The 36-year-old, a lecturer in contemporary art practices, said the experiment would enable her “to cut her carbon footprint and increase her sense of belonging, by encouraging her to seek out and create local opportunities”.
Harrison will not leave the Greater Glasgow area until 2017, except in the event of the ill-health or death of a close relative or friend.
But critics soon took to social media to question the project’s objectives, with its title attracting particular concern. The Glasgow Effect is a term regularly used to describe the city’s poor public health record.
One wrote: “There are undoubtedly many people who will never have left Glasgow due to long-term unemployment and poverty, and surely they could better tell their experiences instead of some artist?”
A Creative Scotland spokesperson said: “Ellie’s project met the criteria for Open Project Funding to develop her practice.”