Privacy Policy
Who We Are
We Are Here Scotland CIC is rooted in community, visibility and collective action. Our work exists to create meaningful spaces and opportunities with Black and Global Majority people across Scotland's creative industries.
We believe that Black and Global Majority artists, creatives and cultural professionals should have access to fair, paid and sustainable opportunities that recognise their talent, lived experiences and contribution to Scotland's cultural landscape. Our ethos is grounded in the understanding that representation alone is not enough. Meaningful change requires resources, trust, long-term support and a commitment to addressing the barriers that continue to affect our communities.
This privacy policy explains how We Are Here Scotland CIC collects, uses, stores and protects your personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Data Controller
For the purposes of UK data protection law, We Are Here Scotland CIC is the Data Controller responsible for your personal data. Our details are:
We Are Here Scotland CIC
Registered office: The Anatomy Rooms, Queen Street, Aberdeen, AB10 1AP
Company number: 674720
ICO registration number: ZC176492
If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your personal data, you can contact us at hello@weareherescotland.com.
What Personal Information We Collect
We collect and use personal data about individuals we work with, and on behalf of our clients, when providing services for example, when conducting research, facilitating partnerships or delivering events, or training within the creative industries.
We may also collect and use your personal data in order to administer our website, manage our mailing lists, and to publicise and deliver our own events, campaigns and training programmes.
We currently collect and process the following information:
Personal identifiers, contacts and characteristics: for example, your name, email address and other contact details
Special category data: for example, information concerning racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, health, sex life or sexual orientation, and information about criminal offences and convictions, where this is required for a specific service
Website and social media analytical data: for example, usage patterns and engagement metrics
How We Obtain Your Personal Information
Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:
· To access information from our website or through our social media channels
· By signing up to our mailing list
· By making an enquiry about our services or programmes
· By participating in our events, projects, or research activities
We also receive personal information indirectly from the following sources:
· From third parties who engage us to provide consultancy services: for example, arts organisations, funders or public bodies commissioning research or training
· From third parties who provide services to us: for example, banks and insurers
· From information that is publicly available
How We Use Your Personal Information
We use the information you provide in order to:
· Deliver research, projects, services and creative industry programmes
· Respond to your enquiries in a timely and appropriate manner
· Comply with legislation that regulates our business activities
· Run and effectively promote our organisation and its work
Information provided to us by third parties for specific consultancy purposes is used solely to deliver those services. The receipt, use and processing of such information is typically governed by additional, specific data sharing agreements.
Sharing Your Information with Third Parties
We may share your information with third parties who assist us in delivering our services, but who do not use your data for their own purposes. The main providers we currently use are Tally, Zoom, Microsoft 365, Zencastr and Ticket Tailor.
Mailing List and Marketing Communications
Our mailing list operates on an opt-in basis. You will only receive marketing communications from us if you have actively subscribed by entering your details into our signup form and confirming your subscription. We do not add people to our mailing list without their consent.
You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any email you receive from us, or by contacting us at hello@weareherescotland.com. Once you unsubscribe, we will remove your details from our active mailing list promptly.
Our Lawful Bases for Processing
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely upon for processing your personal information are:
(a) Your consent: Where you have given us clear consent to process your personal data for a specific purpose. You are able to withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at hello@weareherescotland.com
(b) Contractual obligation: Where processing your data is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract
(c) Legal obligation: Where processing is necessary for us to comply with a legal obligation
(d) Legitimate interests where processing is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests
Processing Special Category Data
Where we process special category data (such as information concerning racial or ethnic origin, health, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, or political opinions), we rely on an additional condition under Article 9 of the UK GDPR.
The conditions we rely upon are:
(a) Explicit consent: Where you have provided clear, specific and informed consent to the processing of your special category data for a defined purpose, for example, completing equality monitoring forms, taking part in research activities, or participating in programmes where demographic information is collected.
(b) Substantial public interest: Where processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, on the basis of UK law, specifically for the purposes of equality of opportunity or treatment, including monitoring the existence or absence of equality of opportunity between groups, in accordance with Schedule 1, Part 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018.
You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at hello@weareherescotland.com. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before your consent was withdrawn.
How We Store Your Personal Information
Your information is securely stored on our IT systems, which are hosted on secure Microsoft 365 cloud servers. We also use third-party software including Tally, Zoom, Zencastr and Ticket Tailor to assist us in managing the information we use to deliver our services.
We have data processing agreements in place with these providers to ensure that your data is held securely and is not used by them for their own purposes.
We have procedures in place to manage any suspected personal data security breach, and we will notify you and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) of a suspected breach where data protection legislation requires us to do so.
We retain personal data only for as long as it is necessary for our operational, contractual and regulatory requirements. Once that period has elapsed, we will securely delete or anonymise your data.
Mailing list data: Retained until you unsubscribe or request removal. We review our mailing list periodically and remove inactive subscribers.
Enquiry data (general enquiries received via email or web forms): Retained for twelve months from the date of the enquiry, unless the enquiry leads to an ongoing relationship.
Mentoring and participant records (records relating to individuals participating in our programmes, including mentees, mentors, awardees and research participants): Retained for three years from the date of the final interaction, in line with our safeguarding and duty of care obligations.
Contract and consultancy records (including correspondence, deliverables and associated data relating to commissioned work): Retained for six years from the end of the contract, in line with statutory requirements for financial and contractual records.
Event registration and attendance data: Retained for twelve months following the event, unless attendees have opted in to receive ongoing communications.
Research data (where collected as part of formal research activities): Retained in accordance with the data management plan agreed for the specific research project. Identifying information is removed or anonymised at the earliest practical point.
Financial records: Retained for six years from the end of the relevant financial year, in line with HMRC requirements.
Employment and freelance records: Retained for six years following the end of the working relationship, in line with statutory requirements.
International Data Transfers
Some of the third-party service providers we use to deliver our work are based outside the United Kingdom, or transfer data outside the UK as part of their service. These include providers such as Tally, Zoom, Microsoft Business 365, Zencastr - some of which are based in the United States.
Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your information in accordance with UK data protection law. These safeguards include:
· Transfers to countries that have been recognised by the UK government as providing an adequate level of data protection (adequacy decisions); or
· The use of UK International Data Transfer Agreements or the International Data Transfer Addendum to the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, where these are required.
We review our third-party providers regularly to ensure that they meet UK data protection standards and that the necessary safeguards remain in place.
Cookies and Website Tracking
Our website is built on Squarespace and uses cookies and similar technologies to support its functionality and to help us understand how the site is being used. A cookie is a small text file placed on your device when you visit a website.
The cookies used on our website fall into the following categories:
Strictly necessary cookies: These are set by Squarespace and are required for the website to function correctly, including for security and basic site features. They do not require your consent.
Analytics cookies: Squarespace Analytics collects information about how visitors interact with our website, in aggregated form, so that we can understand site usage and improve the experience.
Embedded content cookies: Where our website includes content from third-party platforms (such as Spotify, YouTube, Vimeo or social media feeds), those platforms may set their own cookies. We do not control these cookies, and you should refer to the privacy policies of the relevant third parties for further information.
When you first visit our website, a cookie banner will appear allowing you to accept or reject non-essential cookies. You can change your preferences at any time by clearing your browser cookies or by adjusting your browser settings.
For more information about how Squarespace handles cookies, please see Squarespace's own cookie policy at www.squarespace.com/cookie-policy.
For general information about cookies and how to manage them, please visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.
Automated Decision-Making
We do not use automated decision-making or profiling in the processing of your personal data.
Your Data Protection Rights
Under UK data protection law, you have the following rights:
Right of access: You have the right to request copies of the personal information we hold about you.
Right to rectification: You have the right to ask us to correct any personal information you believe to be inaccurate, or to complete any information you believe to be incomplete.
Right to erasure: You have the right to request that we delete your personal information in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction of processing: You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Right to object to processing: You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Right to data portability: You have the right to request that we transfer the personal information you have provided to us to another organisation, or directly to you, in certain circumstances.
You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. We will respond to any valid request within one calendar month of receipt.
To make a request, please contact us at: hello@weareherescotland.com
Verifying Your Identity
To protect your personal data, we may need to verify your identity before responding to a request to exercise any of the above rights. This is to ensure that we do not disclose personal data to anyone other than the person it relates to.
Where verification is required, we will ask you to provide reasonable information to confirm your identity. The one-month period for responding to your request will begin from the date on which we receive sufficient information to verify your identity.
In most cases, requests will be free of charge. However, where a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, particularly if it is repetitive, we may either charge a reasonable fee or refuse to act on the request, in line with our rights under the UK GDPR.
How to Make a Complaint
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you may raise a complaint by writing to us at:
or by writing to us at our registered address:
We Are Here Scotland CIC The Anatomy Rooms Queen Street Aberdeen AB10 1AP
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you are dissatisfied with how we have handled your personal data.
The ICO's contact details are:
Information Commissioner's Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
Helpline: 0303 123 1113 Website: www.ico.org.uk
This privacy policy was last reviewed on 30 June 2026. Version 1.0.