A group of artists and gallery staff from both cities converged on the agency’s offices where officials insisted that the key funding decision that could settle Tramway’s future is still months away.

The protesters arrived to mark a meeting between Glasgow City Council and Tramway officials and the SAC at the offices, on Manor Place.

The meeting was eventually held at the SAC’s other building on nearby Melville Crescent - but officials denied it had been moved away deliberately.

A handful of people unveiled a "Save Tramway II" banner and then were invited in for a round-table talk to "express their views". The SAC’s head of art, Jim Tough, assured them "no deals had been made", said those who went inside.

"It wasn’t numbers, it was the presence," said Susanna Beaumont, of the Doggerfisher gallery, a commercial Edinburgh venture that does not receive any public funding.

The protesters are opposed to the loss of exhibition space if the Tramway was used solely by Scottish Ballet. "Tramway is unique not just for Glasgow but for the whole of the UK and everyone is concerned that we would lose that. It’s a totally extraordinary space," said Graham Domke, gallery manager at Inverleith House, the exhibition space that was founding home of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and is now run by the Royal Botanic Garden.

He added that Glasgow had "very small space compared to what is available in Edinburgh" for art exhibitions.

Glasgow City Council owns the Tramway venue, and Scottish Ballet says it settled on the choice after vetting scores of other sites.

But while critics of Scottish Ballet’s plans are suspicious of a "done deal" with the authority, it appears clear that the final decision is landing squarely in the SAC’s lap.

Scottish Ballet has made an application for lottery funding that is said to be central to the move, and Glasgow City Council insists it is awaiting the SAC’s decision on lottery cash.

"We are not yet at the stage of taking a decision on lottery funding for the Tramway," an SAC spokesperson said yesterday. "That will be months down the road. We are listening to all kinds of views from all kinds of constituencies."

The SAC funds Tramway to the tune of £192,000 annually, while its current funding for the Scottish Ballet is £2.8 million.

original article : http://www.news.scotsman.com/arts.cfm?id=1112862003