Members FAQs
Answers to common questions about ARMS — what we do, who we’re for, and how to get involved.
ARMS (Arts Resource Management Scotland) is a not-for-profit organisation helping Scotland’s creative sector share, reuse and manage resources.
We connect arts organisations, freelancers and creative practitioners so that materials, equipment and other useful stuff can be used again rather than bought new or thrown away.
The bigger idea is simple: make it easier for the creative sector to share what it already has.
Arts organisations often have things they no longer need, while somewhere else in Scotland someone is spending money to buy exactly the same thing.
ARMS was set up to help solve that problem.
By making it easier to store, catalogue, find, share and reuse resources, ARMS can help organisations:
- reduce unnecessary spending
- avoid waste
- make better use of existing resources
- collaborate across artforms and organisations
- reduce the environmental impact of constantly buying new
It also makes sharing resources less dependent on who you happen to know.
ARMS provides a combination of shared storage, digital asset management and practical support.
This includes:
- Shared storage for equipment, materials, scenery and other physical resources
- Digital catalogues where organisations can see what they have and what is available to share
- Asset management to help organisations keep track of what they own, where it is and who is using it
- Cataloguing support for organisations that need help getting their existing stores and inventories organised
ARMS is for people and organisations working across Scotland’s creative and cultural sector, including:
- theatres and performing arts organisations
- visual arts organisations and galleries
- screen and film
- festivals and events
- freelancers and individual practitioners
- smaller and emerging organisations
If you make things, store things, tour things or regularly need things to make your work happen, ARMS may be able to help.
Yes, for organisations there are tiered membership options, designed to work for different sizes and budgets.
Individual membership is currently free, although there are some eligibility criteria.
You can find the full membership options and criteria here.
Across Scotland.
ARMS currently has a particular focus on the Central Belt, but the ambition is to build a network of regional hubs across the country.
The aim is that wherever you are in Scotland, you can eventually access shared resources without everything having to pass through Glasgow or Edinburgh.
If you’re a freelancer or creative practitioner, you can join ARMS by contacting us at admin@artsresource.scot.
If you’re an organisation interested in shared storage, digital asset management or becoming part of the ARMS network, get in touch through our contact page or email us.
And if you’ve got equipment, materials, scenery or other resources sitting around that someone else could use, we’d love to hear from you too.
ARMS is about making better use of what Scotland’s creative sector already has.