The RSA at 200: Redefining Edinburgh's original art house for the 21st century
Plus your cultural highlights for the week ahead
Our long read today takes you inside that other great art institution on the Mound, alongside the National Galleries, the Royal Scottish Academy.
Maybe you don’t know the difference between the two. If so, you wouldn’t be alone, after all they are interlinked.
Perhaps you do know something about the Academy from its history. You might know the (in)famous story of how the upstart young artists John Bellany and Sandy Moffat staged a guerrilla display on the RSA’s railings in the 1960s in protest at the lack of opportunities to publicly display their bold new work.
There’s a lot to discover about the RSA, and its evolving role today, as it prepares to celebrate its 200th anniversary. Step inside, with Will Quinn as your guide, below.
Before that, here’s your usual midweek catchup with the news and our cultural picks for the week ahead.
Your Edinburgh Briefing
ART WORKS: The major new cultural attraction planned for Granton, The Art Works, was one of the big winners in Tuesday’s Budget. Edinburgh’s answer to London’s ‘revolutionary’ V&A Storehouse was awarded £11.65m to kickstart the stalled project to build an open access store for the 120,000 works of art the National Galleries keep in storage. As part of the revamped plan, the Galleries will team up with the National Museums to share the state-of-the-art facility which is expected to cost more than £100m.
‘MANSION TAX’: Thousands of home owners in the Capital face paying a higher rate of council tax after the Scottish Government announced plans for a mansion tax. Estate agents Savills suggests around 11,000 properties across Scotland may qualify for the tax which will be applied to £1m-plus homes. Analysis of house sales in that bracket last year showed more than half were in Edinburgh. The proposed ‘mansion tax’ wouldn’t come into effect until next year.
‘TOO LITTLE’ HELP ON RATES: Most businesses will pay higher rates in Scotland from April despite the Scottish Government announcing reliefs to reduce rises of up to 400%. The reliefs were described as “a sticking plaster” by Leon Thompson of UKHospitality Scotland and “a drop in the ocean” by Guy Hinks of the Federation of Small Businesses. Meanwhile, analysts suggested increased spending on the NHS would be largely wiped out by health service pay rises.
GANG GUNMAN JAILED: A man who fired a Glock handgun into the window of a house in Niddrie during a gangland feud last March has been jailed for nine years. Nicky Robertson , 39, who had previously served 10 years for attempted murder, was caught after a video of him firing the shots was found on his phone along with a picture of him holding the pistol.
Pick of the cultural pops
Greetings (Cultural) Pop-Fans, and welcome to this week’s chart of the brightest and best offerings on now, or soon, on an Edinburgh stage near you. This week, we welcome a completely new famous five to the lineup, writes Will Quinn. With stand-up squarely in the spotlight, plus some mystery, inspirational drama, and dark political comedy, you might think I’m having a laugh. Now that we’ve established my comedic failings, let’s dive in…
Coming in at Number 5 this week, we have a student production of a play that never fails to offend and/or delight… David Ireland’s Ulster American.
Back in 2018, when Ulster American debuted as part of the Traverse Theatre’s Fringe programme, it won both a Scotsman Fringe First and the Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland prize for new work. It also offended plenty of people, who walked out of the theatre shaking their heads. This mix of adulation and revulsion attended a 2023 revival by London’s Riverside Studios, helmed by Woody Harrelson and Andy Serkis. It will doubtless attend its US Premiere (featuring Matthew Broderick) later this year at the Irish Rep in New York City, and when the tireless Edinburgh University Theatre Company (EUTC) take it out for a spin at Bedlam Theatre on 22-23 January. A witty living room comedy that journeys into darkness, the night before three friends open a play based on ‘The Troubles’. There’s a reason stars line up to deliver Ireland’s fearless, sparkling, and challenging text. Based on EUTC’s production of Little Women late last year, expect them to give you a cracking show for much less (£10) than a trip to NYC.
Booking Link: https://bedlamtheatre.co.uk/shows/ulster-american-2025
Onwards then to number 4, and the most lavish production gracing this week’s list, theatre behemoth Bill Kenwright Limited’s returning adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shawshank Redemption.
Last seen in Edinburgh in 2023 at the Festival Theatre, I wasn’t sold on Ben Absolom’s turn as the wrongly convicted Andy Dufresne. With the Crow Road’s Joe McFadden taking centre stage, I’m hoping for a better match this time with Ben Onwukwe’s charismatic turn as wry ‘getter’ of contraband, Red. If so, then this well-directed, fine-looking piece of theatre might just offer something more special than a live action run-through of a familiar, and well-loved movie when it plays the Royal Lyceum on 20-24 January.
Booking Link: https://lyceum.org.uk/events/the-shawshank-redemption
Beating this big-budget star vehicle to take third place is a community theatre group with a track record of innovation and excellence… Citadel Arts Group’s In A Class of Their Own.
Reader, I haven’t seen anything put on by this group that hasn’t impressed. That’s not bad for a quasi-amateur Leith-centric group which adapts and/or writes all of their material. Part of that might be due to their professional/semi-professional/often award-winning membership, but also their passion for Leith, its people, history, and future. I suspect San Cassimally’s adaptation of late Citadel Arts Group co-founder, Millie Gray’s superb first novel, will be a must-see when it plays its only date at the Scottish Storytelling Centre this Sunday. Her heroine, single mother Rachel Campbell’s story of survival in war-torn Leith, won legions of admirers when it was published in 2009. My money’s on Citadel Arts recruiting a few more.
Booking Link: https://scottishstorytellingcentre.online.red61.co.uk/event/913:6418/
If In a Class of Their Own had more than one outing, it might occupy the number 2 slot this week; however, it’s hard to match stand-up comics when it comes to one-night stands. So it is that the superbly funny Garrett Millerick’s upcoming Work In Progress at Monkey Barrel Comedy on 23 January takes the runner-up spot…
When I first saw Millerick at the 2023 Fringe, I was blown away by his ‘rich, sardonic’ voice and laugh-out-loud cynicism. You wouldn’t think that taking a friend out for lunch from the nearby psychiatric hospital would be the basis for a hilarious, even wholesome anecdote, and yet that’s what he delivered. Back then, Garrett was finding every single problem with his triumph over multiple addictions. This time, he’s been following every self-help trend going and come away with opinions on the influencers who sold them. This isn’t a comic who takes prisoners, so expect him to say the quiet bits out loud, and for you to nod along delightedly before your 21st-century consciousness catches up to ask if that makes you a baddie. However, you needn’t worry, Garrett Millerick is a warm-hearted and extremely funny misanthrope.
Booking Link: https://booking.monkeybarrelcomedy.com/monkey-barrel-comedy-1/garrett-millerick-work-in-progress-2/
Making this week’s chart a comedy love-in is my number 1 pick, who you may know since his relatively recent rise to national fame via Radio 4 and the much-missed Mock the Week. I, however, loved Robin Morgan back when he was peddling his sparkling brand of dry observation at (packed) Pay-What-You-Can-Shows at the Pear Tree pre-pandemic…
You can catch his latest nationally touring offering, Let’s Overshare, at Monkey Barrel Comedy on Saturday. You might think that Morgan has spent much of his career oversharing, previous shows having been based on his vasectomy, very straightforward love life, and generally being Welsh (I jest)…but I’ve no doubt he has plenty more to reveal. Extremely likeable, witty and with the polish of an unproblematic old-time TV gameshow host, an hour or more with Robin Morgan is guaranteed to please. Do, however, take any tips he may give on staying organised with a pinch of salt: the in-demand Morgan made the most of a short 2025 run by booking too many shows, thus making him 10 minutes late for one every single day.
Booking Link: https://booking.monkeybarrelcomedy.com/monkey-barrel-comedy-1/robin-morgan-lets-overshare/
Well, now, that’s a wrap on this week’s chart - I’ll return next Thursday to countdown the best of Edinburgh’s culture. Will any of this week’s picks survive, or shall their stars be eclipsed by other celestial productions? Will Robin Morgan show up on time for his show? All I know is that I’ll be back…
The RSA at 200: Redefining Edinburgh’s original art house for the 21st century
BY WILL QUINN
To understand what Colin Greenslade is doing at the Royal Scottish Academy on the Mound, you have to ignore the suit and look at the training. He is a “son of Elgin” who didn’t arrive at the RSA via the lecture halls of art history. He came from the workbench.
“At first, I thought I was going to have an academic kind of career, but then I was just captivated by the creative process,” explains the Academy’s director. “I ended up applying to art school and got into Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen, where I did jewellery and silversmithing. I didn’t become a jeweller professionally then, but creativity made me think about myself in a different way, and I came to understand that creativity needs to be nurtured. You need space for people to be creative, and that has stayed with me in my career.”
He cut his teeth in administration at Peacock Visual Arts in Aberdeen, a place where art is ‘industrial, messy, and collaborative’. That tactile connection to the “making” remains central. In fact, amidst the administrative headache of delivering the RSA’s bicentennial programme, he has returned to the bench.
“Interestingly, this year, I reinstated my hallmark, and I’m making jewellery again,” he notes. “I am not going to be the next Alexander Ritchie, but I like that process of your head and hands doing something that your brain doesn’t need to particularly think about.”
This is the metaphor that defines his leadership. He views the RSA itself as a hallmark - a guarantee of quality applied to the chaotic output of Scottish art. But there is a deeper resonance to it, too.
“It’s probably about mortality, isn’t it? It’s about being here,” he reflects. “You have a code and you can look yourself up, and there you are... it’s a kind of ‘I am here,’ ‘I was here.’ And I think that legacy... when you work with legacies, and you work with amazing artists as I do... it reinforces to you more that you know you’re here once, and you gotta make a mark.”
Redefining the famous three letters
As the RSA prepares for this year’s bicentenary, Greenslade is the man charged with defining what those three letters mean today. He is the first person to hold the title of Director in the Academy’s history - taking the post in 2003 to professionalise a previously member-run society - and his philosophy is devoid of sentimentality.
There’s a ready supply of coffee and biscuits in the Friends of the RSA room. It is a comfortable, hushed space, insulated from the tourist scrum on the Mound by several feet of neoclassical stone. But Colin Greenslade, Director of the Royal Scottish Academy, isn’t interested in talking about the building’s prestige. He is talking about its utility. He views the RSA not as a monument, but as a tool - a literal stamp of approval artists can use to pay the rent.
“Now, when you go to a gallery or an auction and see that RSA suffix, it helps to sell the work. People might not know what the acronym stands for - or they are used to so many acronyms they don’t care - but that RSA suffix carries weight,” he says
“We are in a position now where we can say: we are on the Mound, this is our home space which we share with the National Galleries, but we have an opportunity to re-establish ourselves through our national visibility. We have the opportunity to look at other collections and explain that the RSA suffixes on walls around Scotland relate to us and our 200-year history.”
The Original School
Before the hallmark could be applied, the metal had to be forged. Greenslade is keen to remind me the RSA’s roots in the city run deeper than its neighbours. While the National Galleries (NGS) often dominate the public consciousness of the Mound, the RSA was the original engine of Edinburgh’s art scene.
“We ran an art school before the Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) was in place; we ran a drawing school,” he points out.
This isn’t just trivia; it’s a foundational claim to the city’s creative infrastructure. Even after the ECA was built, the RSA maintained strong ties, funding rooms and prizes that kept the connection alive. But for a Victorian institution, keeping up with the times required more than just funding prizes; it required a willingness to open the doors.
Greenslade recounts a telling story about the Academy’s evolution from a fortress to a gallery.
“There are waves of fashion,” he says. “Years ago, Sandy Moffat and John Bellany hung their show on the railings of this building.”
It is a glorious image: two of Scotland’s most significant 20th-century painters, literally shut out of the establishment, forced to exhibit their work on the iron fence outside.
“It was never lost on John, and he was eventually invited in and very welcome, as is Sandy, who is one of our members,” Greenslade says with a wry smile. “We have to follow that curve. We must be magnanimous and offer opportunities for people to take part.”
The Machine on the Mound
