No questions for Shetland Arts at latest AGM
SHETLAND Arts’ AGM concluded in less than 15 minutes on Thursday night, with no questions asked of its decision-makers.
The trust held the annual meeting online last night (Thursday), echoing previous years in which the AGM was delivered virtually, with members of the public able to ask for a link to attend remotely.
Members of the Shetland Arts board and trust chief executive Graeme Howell attended the AGM in the Mareel boardroom, with board chairman Jamie Manson chairing the meeting.
After an update on Shetland Arts financial position and a short message from Manson, participants online were offered the chance to ask any questions.
However, despite several prompts from Manson, nobody responded.
One person was seen to join the meeting online just as the meeting concluded, around 12 minutes after it started.
Shetland Arts has received criticism over the past week after Shetland News reported that the trust had told its staff they could use artificial intelligence (AI) to generate creative content, if explicitly approved beforehand.
Shetland Arts ‘supports innovative use of AI’ as staff given guidance on usage
The Shetland Arts’ AI policy was presented to the trust’s board meeting in June.
Shetland Arts said it “supports the innovative use of AI in the arts”, if it “enhances creativity, access, and community engagement”.
Employees were told the AI policy “outlines Shetland Arts’ approach to the responsible, ethical, and creative use of AI across its operations, communications, and artistic programmes”.
However, in a video response to the story, Shetland Arts’ chief Howell said that AI would be used to “find efficiencies in the drudge elements of our jobs”.
He said that AI was “hard baked” into a lot of the software that the arts trust used, and that it would be difficult for them to say it was not being used at all.
Howell also said that AI had “helped democratise the tools of creativity”.
“AI has helped make accessible areas of creativity to people who perhaps wouldn’t normally be able to access those things,” he said.
“AI is also an incredible tool to support people who have different neurodivergent conditions”.
The Shetland Arts chief said it would be “disingenuous” for the trust to say they do not use AI, and “would be wrong of us” to tell others not to use it.
Thursday’s AGM heard that Shetland Arts’ income had risen in the 2026 financial year to £2.6 million, up from £2.4 million the year previous.
A large part of that was due to larger grants from the Shetland Charitable Trust and Creative Scotland, though trading activities were also up.
Shetland Arts only reported a very small loss of £9,938 for the year, with the vast majority of its expenditure on wages and salaries.
The arts trust spent £1.53 million on wages in 2026, up almost £400,000 from 2025.
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