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Dateline: 5th October, 2004
McAveety Replacement Announced Scotland's First Minister, Jack McConnell, has announced who is to replace sacked culture minister Frank McAveety. It will be Patricia Ferguson, who was an administrator in the NHS for fifteen years and then worked for the STUC before becoming an MSP. She was elected to the Scottish Parliament as the MSP for Glasgow Maryhill in 1999 and became Minister for Parliamentary Business in 2001. It is understood that she has no arts experience and so is an unknown quantity in the arts world. The full job title is Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport and now responsibility for Externam relations has been added to the portfolio. She is known to be a strong supporter of the First Minister. Reaction in the Scottish arts world has been muted. The fact that the post will now be part of the cabinet has been welcomed but comment has focused on the need for a minister to be dedicated to the arts. "I do believe that the time is now right to have a dedicated ministry for culture," said Christopher Barron, chief executive of Scottohs Opera, and his comment has been widely repeated in the Scottish arts world. Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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