The Board

The Creative Scotland Board is accountable to, and appointed by, the Scottish Government. The Board provides leadership, direction, support and guidance to Creative Scotland as a whole.

Visit the Resources section to view and download board papers as well as related documents such as the Board Code of Conduct and Register of Interests.

Robert Wilson (Chair)

Robert Wilson brings a wide range of leadership experience in the commercial, philanthropic and charitable sectors, with particular experience of the arts, including festivals and the visual arts. Mr Wilson is co-founder of Jupiter Artland Foundation, the award winning Sculpture Park near Edinburgh.

He has served as Chair of Edinburgh Art Festival, Trustee of Little Sparta Trust, Trustee of the Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh, Trustee of the Dovecot Studios and Chair of the Arts Working Group at Inverleith House. He chairs The Barcapel Foundation and Prostate Scotland. He is Chairman and co-owner of Nelsons, the UK’s largest natural medicines producer.

Mr. Wilson's initial appointment as Chair was for four years and ran from 10 February 2018 to 9 February 2022. This appointment was regulated by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland.

He was reappointed for four years - the reappointment runs from 10 February 2022 to 9 February 2026. This reappointment is regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner.

Malath Abbas

Malath Abbas is a game designer, artist and creative producer working on experimental and meaningful games and experiences in Scotland. Malath is a founding member of Biome Collective, a creative studio, community and digital space for people to create, collaborate and explore new frontiers in game design, digital art and technology.

With over 10 years working in Scotland, Malath has created a diverse portfolio of work and has exhibited internationally. With a passion for the arts, he has a track record of cross-disciplinary collaborative projects with sectors outside of games. Through close collaboration, partnership and workshop facilitation Malath has worked to demystify digital and games to diverse groups and settings.

Past projects include ‘Shpeel’ an interactive installation that explores mental health, BAFTA Scotland nominated game ‘Killbox’ and ‘Arcadia Festival’ that brings people together and empowers marginalised voices to explore, share and celebrate games design, experimental process and our evolving cultural landscape.

Yahya Barry

Yahya Barry is appointed by National Museums Scotland as Community-Led Collections Research Fellow. He is Community Development Regional Lead (Scotland and Northern Ireland) for the Film and TV Charity and director for Olive Tree Madrasah CIC. Drawing on his expertise in ethnic relations, cultural dialogue, and social change, he has provided consultation to the BBC Religion & Ethics Board from 2016 and regularly contributes to BBC Scotland’s Sunday Morning With programme.

Yahya is currently a senior visiting researcher at the University of Copenhagen’s Centre of African Studies and served as Chair and Head of Research for BE United, an African/Caribbean arts and cultural charity. He is a former fellow at the University of Edinburgh’s Alwaleed Centre and Lead Outreach and PR at Edinburgh Central Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre. He hopes to bring his expertise in inclusive approaches to creativity and culture in direct partnership with, and in support of, a diverse range of communities in Scotland to Creative Scotland.

Duncan Cockburn

Duncan Cockburn is the Director of Planning and Policy at the Robert Gordon University. He is currently the Chair of Culture Aberdeen – the network of cultural organisations within the city and is responsible for the implementation of Aberdeen’s cultural strategy.

Prior to this he chaired a working group jointly established by Aberdeen City Council and the cultural sector to develop that cultural strategy.

Duncan was the Chair of the Look Again visual arts and design festival based in Aberdeen for its first four festivals between 2015 and 2018. He is also a Board member of both Aberdeen Performing Arts and Sound.

Stephanie Fraser

Stephanie Fraser is Chief Executive of Bobath Scotland Cerebral Palsy Centre. She is also Chair of the Scottish Government’s National Neurological Advisory Group, a member of the British Library Board and a member of the Executive Committee of the Neurological Alliance of Scotland.

She has previously been a Trustee of Horsecross Arts in Perth and a Trustee of Dance House Glasgow. Having trained as a professional ballet dancer, Stephanie then read history at Trinity College, Cambridge. She became an Account Director at the advertising agency, J Walter Thompson, working on accounts such as Nestlé and De Beers.

She returned to the dance world and re-trained as a Benesh choreologist and worked as Company Choreologist for English National Ballet before moving into the administrative side of the company as Director of Development and then moving north to become Head of Development at Scottish Ballet.

In December 2020 she was created a life peer in the House of Lords and took her seat as Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie in February 2021.

Philip Long

Philip Long OBE is Chief Executive of the National Trust for Scotland, taking up the role in July 2020. Prior to that he was founding Director of V&A Dundee, responsible for the development and operation of this new international design museum.

Throughout his career he has contributed to the development of many arts, education and academic organisations.

Previously he was Senior Curator at National Galleries Scotland, with a specialisation in historical and contemporary Scottish and wider British art and design, producing numerous exhibitions and publications. He curated Scotland’s presence at the Venice Biennale in 2007 and was responsible for the UK presentation at the Milan Design Triennale in 2015.

He is an honorary Professor of the University of Dundee and Honorary Research Fellow of St Andrews University, a member of the British Council’s Advisory Committee for the Arts and Creative Economy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Carol Main

Carol Main is Director of Live Music Now Scotland and LMN International, a scheme which supports exceptionally talented emerging artists in bringing the transformative power of music to a wide range of audiences. She also works as a freelance journalist, including as classical music editor of The List magazine and music reviewer for The Scotsman. She is a Governor of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Chair of The Night With..., and a board member of the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras, drawing on experience as founding Director of the National Association of Youth Orchestras.

Carol has also served on the boards of the Association of British Orchestras, Voluntary Arts Scotland and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She is a past Chair of Chamber Music Scotland and Hebrides Ensemble. Carol grew up in Kirkcaldy and studied Music and English at the University of Edinburgh. She was awarded an MBE for services to music in 2015.

Elizabeth Partyka

Elizabeth Partyka has had an extensive broadcasting career working with commercial radio, BBC Scotland, Granada TV, Buena Vista and most recently STV. In May 2015 she received the RTS Scotland Award for her services to television.

She joined STV as Head of Children’s Programming in 1995, later becoming MD of Network Productions and was appointed Channel controller in 2007, a role she left in 2007.

Elizabeth is currently a member of Edinburgh Napier University Court and Scotland’s Screen Academy.

David Strachan

David Strachan was founding managing director of Tern Television in 1988 and saw the growth of the company from staff of four to more than fifty in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Belfast until he stepped down from that role in June 2018. For 19 years he was Scottish representative on the board of the producers trade association and also served a term on the board of Scottish Screen.

He has been active in making the cases in London and Scotland for increased production from the Nations. As a producer, he has been part of teams which have won several BAFTAS and other awards.

He is an honorary professor in the film and media studies department of the University of Stirling.

Norah Campbell

Norah Campbell is the Head of Arts for British Council in Scotland, working closely with Scottish, UK and international stakeholders and arts partners to facilitate international connections, nurture collaboration, and identify strategic opportunities that result in international Scottish arts initiatives.

A graduate of Edinburgh College of Art and Strathclyde University, Norah has over 25 years of experience working in the Scottish arts sector, including programme delivery, venue management, education, international, consultancy, governance, art policy and strategy.

Past roles have included Head of Skills for Creative Cultural Skills, Director of An Tuireann, Chair of Scottish Music Centre, Board Member of Puppet Animation Scotland, and Board Member of Arts Council of Wales.

Muslim Alim

Muslim Alim has been with the BBC since 2002, producing award-winning content across Radio, TV and Digital. Starting as a Researcher in Ents he went on to produce programmes for BBC Radio 1 and was the co-creator of digital youth brand BBC The Social where he commissioned multi-genre content including partnerships with News, a YouTube drama set in Edinburgh and a slew of viral hits across a social media portfolio.

He joined the BBC Daytime commissioning team in 2017 and looks after some of the department's longstanding titles including ‘Homes Under The Hammer’ and ‘Antiques Road Trip’ as well as new commissions such as ‘The Travelling Auctioneers’ and ‘Clive Myrie’s Italian Road Trip’ - he is also Nations lead for BBC Daytime in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Alongside his day-to-day role as Commissioning Editor, Muslim is keen on discovering how evolving audience behaviours and new technologies can transform the landscape of content conception, production and distribution.

Patrick Brown

Patrick Brown is a qualified Chartered Accountant and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS).

He has significant experience in the public, private and charity sectors. He is currently Head of Finance at Police Scotland.

He was previously a Senior Civil Servant in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office fulfilling the role of Deputy Director of Finance. Patrick was listed as one of ICAS’ top Chartered Accountants’ under 35 in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and one of the top 100 young CA’s in 2019.

Heather Stewart

Heather Stewart has been Creative Director at the British Film Institute (BFI) for the last 13 years and has a wealth of experience, leading on audience development across cinemas, festivals and streaming programming, as well as distribution and film sales in the UK and internationally.

She has sat on the BFI Lottery committee to invest in film production and distribution and exhibition, been a member of the BFI Production Board developing new filmmakers, and Arts Council England Artists’ Film and Video Panel supporting moving image artists. Having been very involved in cultural exchange of film programmes internationally, she has been an expert member of the European Film Festivals Fund, Creative Europe Media Programme, and a Jury member at film festivals worldwide.

Heather is now thrilled to be invited to bring this deep knowledge of film culture and wide range of experience to the Board of Creative Scotland.

Louise Wilson

Louise Wilson is a business leader with a career combining a breadth of commercial expertise and non-Executive experience in the public, private and charitable sectors.

Her international career has spanned 30 years of commercial, marketing and sponsorship expertise gained in top tier blue chip corporate companies including Accenture, Proctor & Gamble and The Coca-Cola Company, as a Founder Entrepreneur of a global Agency and Director of the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games. Louise has served as an active Non-Executive Director across diverse business, non-profit and charitable organisations spanning culture, education, heritage, visitor attractions, faith and diversity including, Historic Royal Palaces, the University of Nottingham, DRET Education Academy Trust, the International Women’s Forum, Harvard Leadership Trust, the Marketing Group of Great Britain, the Northern Ireland Office and The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust.

Louise is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and was awarded a Fellowship in Advanced Global Leadership following her studies at Harvard University where she continues to be a guest lecturer which she enjoys alongside her portfolio career. Louise is passionate about the creative sector and creating cultural capital in the widest sense and looks forward to supporting Creative Scotland increasing the quantity and quality of opportunity for all to develop their full potential through arts and creativity.