Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

New £4.5 million Creative Exchange officially opens in Perth at former school site

Tenants Sarah Marshall (left) and Pamela Atan (right) in an the 'Gannoch Project Space' at Perth Creative Exchange
Tenants Sarah Marshall (left) and Pamela Atan (right) in an the 'Gannoch Project Space' at Perth Creative Exchange

A new £4.5 million arts hub has officially opened its doors in Perth as tenants took the wraps off their first exhibition.

The Perth Creative Exchange at the former St John’s Primary School on Stormont Street was unveiled by Provost Dennis Melloy on Wednesday.

Artists, ranging from illustrators to jewellery makers, have taken up residence in the new venture created as a joint project between Wasps Artists’ Studios and Perth and Kinross Council.

The space also contains an new gallery, the Gannochy Project Space, where the first exhibition by the tenants, Fair Exchange, will run until Saturday March 28.

St John’s RC School students trying out VR tech in the new space

It is expected the new space will bring in 66 jobs and generate wage earnings of nearly £1 million per year.

Audrey Carlin, chief executive of Wasps, said the new space would fill a gap in Perth’s creative market, where there has been a “real-shortage” of  high-quality, affordable studio and workspaces.

Ms Carlin said: “We have been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm that artists, makers and creative businesses have shown for the new Perth Creative Exchange, and it has been amazing to see this old school building come back to life.

“The official opening is the chance to mark what we hope will be the start of a new chapter in the story of the area’s cultural economy – and will also be the moment when we start to welcome in the general public, for what will be the first of many exhibitions.”

One of the new tenants,  illustrator and author John Halverson, had three previous ill-fated attempts at getting his own studio space before the Creative Exchange opportunity arose.

The Creative Exchange building

One burnt down, one was a “death trap” with floors that flooded and blackened power sockets, and the third was in such a dodgy area that the police advised him to leave before it was relieved of all his stock and equipment.

He said:  “I have been waiting for years for a space like this.”

Other new tenants include visual artist Susan Hutchison, dinosaur illustrator Jon Hoad, ceramicist Ceri White and landscape artist Libby Scott.

Provost Dennis Melloy wants the new venture to provide an economic boost to the area.

He said: “We are creating an environment which encourages creative and artistic growth, whilst retaining and attracting talent to the City of Perth.

Andrew Burrell (Chair of WASPS), Audrey Carlin (CEO of WASPS) and Provost Dennis Melloy at Perth Creative Exchange

“Not only has Perth Creative Exchange attracted resident creative people from across Scotland to the Fair City, this splendid facility is already fully let and expected to support 66 full time equivalent jobs and generate wage earnings of just under £1 million per annum across the local economy.”

“He said the creative sector was now the fastest growing sector in the UK. In 2018 it added £111 billion to the economy, an increase of just under 8% from the previous year.

“Perth and Kinross is a place where businesses thrive ,” said Mr Melloy.

“But creative people need particular support for their talent to thrive and grow.

“We have around 1,500 creative industries in our area, many of which are very small scale but have huge potential to grow.”