Bridget McConnell
Contents
Early Years and Family Connections
Born Bridget Mary McLuckie on 28 May 1958, she was educated at Our Lady's High School, Cumbernauld, St Andrew's University (MA Hons 1982), Dundee College of Commerce (DIA 1983) and Stirling University (MEd 1992). [2] Her brother, Robert McLuckie, is a millionaire property tycoon who has been portrayed in the press as drunken, sectarian and lewd.[3]
In 1990, Bridget married Jack McConnell who would go on to become First Minister of Scotland from November 2001 to May 2007.
Cultural Interests
In 2006, Bridget spearheaded the controversial devolution of Glasgow City Council's Cultural and Leisure Services to form the company/charity known as Culture and Sport Glasgow with a separate trading arm, Culture and Sport Glasgow (Trading) CIC. Since March 2007, she has held the post of Chief Executive of both companies.
Controlling all cultural provision in Glasgow, Bridget McConnell would be expected to have an interest in culture.
Glasgow the Brand
Bridget McConnell is fully conversant with the fact that culture and sport generate tourism and increase the revenue of a city. In her introduction to Glasgow’s Cultural Strategy, published in 2005, she noted that cultural tourism accounted for 37% of all tourism to the city.[4] She has also compared the new Zaha Hadid-designed Riverside Museum, due to open on the banks of the Clyde in 2010, to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, widely regarded as the pinacle of cultural tourism.[5]
Commonwealth Connections
Bridget McConnell was instrumental in launching the campaign for Glasgow to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games. However, in June 2007, it was reported that McConnell had been dropped from the steering group, to be replaced by Sean Connery, in case her presence upset Alex Salmond.[6]
Plans are afoot to house the offices of Culture and Sport Glasgow at the site of the Commonwealth Games. [7]
National Galleries in Glasgow
Following the renovation of Kelvingrove Museum, McConnell is now campaigning to establish a Gallery of Scottish Art in Glasgow.[8] According to reports, 'the scheme was discussed as far back as 1993, when the Post Office on George Square and the former Sheriff Court buildings were suggested as venues. But it failed to attract Heritage Lottery funds.'[9] Bridget McConnell has been a member of the Heritage Lottery Fund Committee for Scotland since September 2004. One option is for the National Galleries of Scotland(NGS), based in Edinburgh, to lend works to Glasgow, but there is resistance to this scheme from NGS director, John Leighton, on the grounds that it would dilute the collection and that a gallery showing only Scottish art would be parochial.[10]. Notably, two Board members of Culture and Sport Glasgow - Liz Cameron and Sir Angus Grossart - have previously served on the board of the National Galleries, while Grossart and fellow Independent Director of CSG, Lord Macfarlane of Bearsden, have sizeable collections of Scottish art. It is also expected that Vartan Gregorian, Special Advisor to the Board of Culture and Sport Glasgow, would be involved in convincing wealthy Scottish emigres to gift their collections of Scottish art to Glasgow. It was reported that 'Among other responsibilities he is courting rich Scottish emigre families such as the MacMillans, owner of the multinational Cargill, who have an acclaimed art collection.'[11]
Nationalist Tensions
With connections to the top of the Scottish Labour administration, Bridget McConnell has had run-ins with SNP councillor Billy McAllister. In December 2006, Bridget McConnell accused McAllister 'of invading her personal space and shouting at her for one-and-a-half minutes. But CCTV footage proves the heated encounter in Glasgow's City Chambers only lasted 14 seconds and the pair were not even in the same room at the time.'
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Notes
- ↑ Power 100 Scotland on Sunday, 28 May 2006 (accessed 11 April 2008)
- ↑ Who's Who 2008. A&C Black, London, p. 1453
- ↑ Annabelle Steggles 'You asked for sex education' The Sun, 3 December 2007.
- ↑ Bridget McConnell in C. Landry (ed)Glasgow: The People, The Place, The Potential. Glasgow’s Cultural Strategy, 2006 (accessed 11 February 2008).
- ↑ Martin McLaughlin, 'Museum faces delays as costs spiral to £74m', The Scotsman, 13 June 2007, 21.
- ↑ Paul Drury, 'McConnell's wife axed from Games bid team' The Express, 25 June 2007.
- ↑ Carolyn Churchill, ‘Seven years for area's regeneration’, The Herald, 10 November, 2007
- ↑ David Leask, 'Call for national gallery in west' The Herald 9 January 2008, 4.
- ↑ Gerry Braiden, 'Glasgow wants to be home of new Gallery of Scottish Art', The Herald. 28 May 2007, 3
- ↑ Barry Didcock, 'Culture boss revives vision of a gallery of Scottish art in Glasgow: Bridget McConnell assembles high-profile group to push through scheme.' The Herald. 27 May 2007
- ↑ Barry Didcock, 'Glasgow’s cultural ambassador out to woo US galleries and Scots exiles: City seeking access to Stateside treasures.' The Sunday Herald. 15 April 2007, 25.
