The artists struggling to survive the fall of Glasgow's CCA

The sudden closure of the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Glasgow last month came as a shock to the 40 members of staff who lost their jobs.

The doors were shut after serious concerns were raised over its finances and following a series of rows with artists and activists over issues such as the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

But the news also came out of the blue for hundreds of creatives who were working on projects in and around the building.

Call to Stage, a small non-profit theatre company based in Glasgow, were due to open their latest production - Spring Awakening - in the CCA this week.

"The first we knew of the closure was in a news article," says co-founder Olivia Attwooll-Keith.

"We were shocked to find out that the venue had made its staff redundant and would be closing with immediate effect.

"What followed was a frantic and emotionally heavy scramble which is probably familiar to many artists right now: trying to save a project in a struggling creative economy, with venues disappearing overnight."

The company's new show is an ambitious production of a 2006 Broadway musical, a challenging coming of age story about a group of young people in a strict nineteenth century community.

With just days to go before curtain-up, they now had to find a new venue. They were determined the show would go on.

"We've got a cast of 14, and a team of about 10 who have been working on this for four months now, on top of full-time jobs," says Olivia.

"Losing venues and opportunities like this just drove us even more to make sure that the show would go on in whatever way possible."

Last Thursday, the show opened in the National Piping Centre, with some changes to the staging.

Tickets were controlled through their own box office system but they're still owed close to £2,000 from their cancelled venue booking at the CCA, which was paid in full, in advance, in December.

Olivia says many organisations have been in touch to offer support and alternative venues, but the whole affair has been a stark reminder of the fragile infrastructure of independent theatre in Scotland.

"Had we not found a venue, the loss wouldn't only have been financial. It would also have meant months of voluntary creative work being all for nought, and many early-career performers losing a rare platform," she says.

"It feels almost ironic that a musical about young people navigating systems that fail to listen to them was potentially silenced by the circumstances."

One show which didn't go on was the event organised by Daisy Mulholland to mark the launch of her new art shop.

It was a spectacular circus-themed involving aerial performances, a laser show and animation. She too had been working on it for months. It was due to take place in the CCA on the day after the centre dramatically closed.

"We had so much online interest, and over 250 people were meant to be attending," says Daisy.

"This was a month-long endeavour with multiple rehearsals, costume-making and installs. Then on Friday I got an email saying the building was shut.

"By the time I arrived at noon the locks had been changed. All of our projectors and lasers, costumes and aerial equipment have been locked inside the building. "

She says that means they've been unable to rearrange the launch event or make any future plans. Her art shop inside the CCA is unable to trade until she can access the stock inside the building.

Her original business - The Woom Room - began in the Savoy Centre and moved to the Barras Market. She says the success of that project and the support of the community made her believe it could work in the CCA.

"We were so excited to bring more people to Sauchiehall street like we did in the Barras Market. We were already beginning to come up with ideas about how to bring more people in. We were working together. It was such a positive and inspiring place," she says.

Daisy is talking to Scottish Enterprise and other agencies about what to do next.

"The CCA do not owe us money directly but the sudden closure has lost us sales, stunted our growth as a business, and we cannot fulfil pre-orders from customers that were meant to be shipped out on the Monday.

"Not to mention the refunds we now need to give out due to the sudden postponement of our event which we had to notify people on the day about."

Glasgow's poet laureate Jim Carruth says the closure has also hit writers.

St Mungo's Mirrorball - a network of 100 poets he founded in 2005 - has had a partnership arrangement with the CCA for more than a decade.

"It has been vital to our survival," he says.

"We receive no public money, so the free room they provide for seven events a year is vital to showcase the best UK poets alongside local ones."

Their next event, with recent Scottish Poetry Book of the Year winner Anthony Vahni Capildeo, will now be staged at a nearby Waterstones book shop. But Jim says he's worried he may not be able to find suitable venues for future readings.

"The CCA was central, accessible, affordable and it had a bar. Very few venues in Glasgow offer that," he says.

Although the building at 350 Sauchiehall Street is owned by Creative Scotland, who rented it for the peppercorn rate of £1 a year, it remains under the control of the CCA until the appointment of an insolvency firm.

Speaking to the Scottish parliament's culture committee last week, Creative Scotland's chief executive Iain Munro said he would not "be rushed into reopening."

"We're committed to 'what next'," he said.

"We've had a lot of interest come forward in terms of the building, its recreative opening and ideas around that and we need to engage with that.

"We won't be able to rush into anything because we need to be able to get something with solid foundations confidently in the position to reopen for the long term."

The CCA has had to close several times over the past few years, once due to insecurity over funding. But with the promise of £1.3m from Creative Scotland in the coming financial year, it's not funding which is the obstacle.

Nor is it a lack of passion or ideas. For Olivia Attwooll-Keith, the closure has made them even more determined to stage their show.

"It's been a difficult week but it's also been an incredible week," she says.

"It's a tribute to the tenacity of our cast for continuing to rehearse and then stage a difficult and challenging show while not knowing if it would go on. It's a real example of the tenacity of the arts to make sure that we can still perform and give audiences the chance to see work."

For Daisy Mulholland, it's a case of waiting and hoping the work she was forced to abandon can still be staged at another time.

She says: "You work together and pour your heart into this dream. So to watch the doors close right in front of your eyes and your dreams be quashed is absolutely devastating, emotionally and financially."