Scottish Contemporary Collective — SCCOCO — is a not-for-profit organisation
creating new ways for artists to develop their practice, build sustainable careers and
connect their work with wider audiences.
We have one simple belief: talent needs more than exposure — it needs opportunity, experience, knowledge and sustained support.
SCCOCO is more than an artist development programme, it is being built as a connected ecosystem.
Rather than offering artists a single workshop, exhibition or short-term opportunity, we are creating a pathway that supports development over time — from experimentation and learning through to professional practice, exhibition and public engagement.
Bringing emerging and established artists together to share experience, develop practice and create meaningful opportunities for long-term artistic careers.
Our artists receive sustained support through mentoring, residencies, technical workshops, masterclasses and opportunities to develop new work.
The aim is not to prescribe what artists should make, but to give them the space, knowledge, challenge and support to strengthen their own practice.
Making strong work is only one part of sustaining a career as an artist.
SCCOCO also develops the practical knowledge artists need to operate professionally — from pricing, presentation and websites to marketing, financial awareness, self-employment and working with galleries.
Artists gain experience not only of making work, but of preparing, presenting and exhibiting it professionally.
Tighnabruaich Gallery is SCCOCO’s exhibition and sales platform. Through the Gallery, developing artists can exhibit alongside established and nationally recognised practitioners, gaining genuine experience of curation,
installation, presentation, sales and engagement with collectors and the public.
Revenue generated through SCCOCO activity is reinvested into supporting future opportunities.
SCCOCO is not intended to exist behind closed doors. Alongside our core artist-development programme, we are developing workshops, talks, demonstrations and learning opportunities that connect artists and creative practice with the wider community.
That includes opportunities for people to learn directly from practising artists, develop new skills and engage with contemporary art in a more accessible and meaningful way.
Our annual Open Call creates a route into SCCOCO for artists beyond the core cohort.
It gives artists the opportunity to have their work seen, considered and exhibited, while helping us discover and support talent from across Scotland and beyond. Over time, we want the Open Call to become an important part of how SCCOCO identifies new voices and creates further opportunities.
SCCOCO brings experienced artists together with artists at earlier stages of their careers.
That transfer of experience is fundamental to what we are building. Knowledge that might otherwise remain informal or inaccessible can be shared,
recorded and developed into resources that benefit many more artists in the future.
Our ambition is to build something useful, practical and lasting — an organisation that helps artists develop not only their work, but the experience, confidence and skills needed to sustain a creative career.
Tighnabruaich Gallery sits at the heart of the programme.
The Gallery provides SCCOCO with something unusual: a real exhibition environment in which learning can move directly into practice.
Artists can experience the realities of selecting work, pricing, framing, installation, curation, promotion, sales and engaging with audiences.
At the same time, the Gallery continues to present ambitious exhibitions by established and nationally significant artists.
That exchange between experience and emerging talent is central to SCCOCO.
SCCOCO has already begun.
Artists are being mentored. Workshops are taking place. Exhibitions are happening.
New skills are being developed and knowledge is being shared.
But we are still building the organisation that will allow this work to grow.
Friends of SCCOCO gives artists, collectors and supporters the opportunity to become part of that journey from the beginning.
Be one of our first 250 Founding Friends.
