Adam Smith Global Foundation under fire for ‘lacklustre presence’ in Kirkcaldy

Adam Smith’s tercentenary will be marked with a week-long event which will also be the soft relaunch of the Adam Smith Theatre after a three-year closure.

But the foundation has been criticised by David Torrance MSP for making “little progress” with almost £500,000 of Fife Council funding to promote Smith in the town, and champion employability.

He said the refurbished Adam Smith Centre had “been closed for years” and nothing done with the purchase of his original garden adjacent to it, while the Enlightments hub in the east end of the High Street is also shut after a brief spell as a base selling surplus goods from retail organisations, including Amazon.

Mr Torrance said: “The scope to attract tourists to Kirkcaldy interested in Scottish history is great. If the Adam Smith Heritage Centre was open, it would bring many visitors. The global foundation needs to be held accountable for the amount of public money it has received and what it plans to do with it.”

The foundation launched in 2012, and two years secured the financial backing from the Government’s Coastal Communities Funding to build a world class exhibition centre which then became the organisation’s home at 1 Adam Smith Close from 2016.

Since then, it has hosted the annual Festival Of Ideas and the Adam Smith Lecture as well as being part of Kirkcaldy’s Ambitions.

The refurbished office - which also accommodates an exhibition on Smith’s life and times - has been largely closed since the pandemic, with original plans to create a training base at the Enlightments also hit by lockdown.

Mr Torrance said: “Adam Smith is world renowned and is celebrated as the greatest economist to have ever lived. Quite rightly there should be a foundation that promotes him in Kirkcaldy, but the fact that the global foundation has received almost £500,000 from Fife Council and done nothing with it is unacceptable.

“The Adam Smith heritage centre has not been open for years and the garden, which is supposed to be open to the public, is locked behind an iron gate and wildly overgrown. The Enlightenments hub in the Merchants Quarter that was meant to bring training, skills, and employability opportunities to the town, as well as hosting new businesses and creatives, shut after only being open for a very short period of time.”

Mr Torrance also said that the foundation was squandering any potential tourism opportunities that Kirkcaldy’s connection with the renowned economist would bring.

“Adam Smith was a great thinker and a major proponent of laissez-faire economic policies, but I feel that the foundation’s laissez-faire attitude to promoting his legacy is less than satisfactory.”

Councillor Lesley Backhouse, SNP member for Burntisland, Kinghorn and Western Kirkcaldy, added: “I’m concerned that Fife Council has funded this organisation for the last five years to the tune of nearly £500,000 and I haven't seen any report to local councillors as to how the funds have been disbursed.

“I understand that the heritage centre and garden are under refurbishment, but on looking over the wall there seems to be no progress despite significant funding being provided. We have numerous voluntary organisations within Kirkcaldy who have the skills to support this garden tidy up, and I am surprised not to hear about the plans for this very important heritage site.”

Sally McKenzie, the recently appointed chair of the foundation, said the pandemic had a significant impact on its plans - but it has still delivered festivals with high profile names, and it was looking to forge ahead with plans for the centre and garden.

She said: “The Enlightenments hub was only open for a short while before being forced to close due to the national lockdown which was very discouraging.

‘Notwithstanding that we were still able to present our Festival of Ideas and, over the past two years, we have welcomed top class speakers such as Henrietta Fore, director general of UNICEF, Dr Okonjo Iweala, director general of the World Trade Organisation and Dame Joanna Lumley at events that have been resounding successes.”She said several projects were also in hand.

“We are keen to move forward with the development of the heritage garden and have earmarked a number of projects that we are working towards from the heritage centre to encourage and promote employability in the Kirkcaldy area, the details of which are set to be announced later this year.

“The heritage centre is the focal point of the foundation, and we are pleased to confirm it will be opening again shortly in time for the tercentenary. In the run up to the celebrations, we plan to reintroduce the heritage trail, as well as open up the exhibition centre and start work on the garden but, as ever, volunteers are key. We are keen to hear from anyone who wishes to help in any way.

In response Mr Torrance’s criticisms, Ms McKenzie added: “I am delighted to hear that David is taking such an active interest in the foundation. I would hope that someone of his calibre would be able to help us with the promotion of Adam Smith and Kirkcaldy generally and I look forward to hearing from him as to how he could work with us and with our other key partners throughout Kirkcaldy to achieve the aims the foundation has.”

» Celebrated prize-winning Scottish author Alexander McCall-Smith will launch the Adam Smith Tercentenary week in June.

It is one of ten major events to be announced by the foundation over the next few weeks to commemorate the landmark anniversary

McCall-Smith will speak on Tuesday, June 6, at the start of a series of headline grabbing events involving major authors, writers, entertainers and personalities culminating in a night with cast members from BBC TV series Two Doors Down including Arabella Weir.

The tercentenary programme commenced in January with with Sir Michael Marmot, author of The Health Gap, speaking to a packed hall in St Bryce Church.