Lauren Petrie

The Scottish Government is breaking its promise on art funding. The £6.6 million which has been pledged to Creative Scotland still hasn’t been delivered.

In February 2023, thousands of people joined a campaign to oppose proposals to remove £6.6 million from Creative Scotland, the government organisation in charge of funding Scottish arts and culture. However, the £6.6 million promised to Creative Scotland has not been delivered after seven months, and now Angus Robertson, the culture secretary has informed Creative Scotland that it won’t be delivered at all.

Campaign for the Arts, the UK-wide alliance for the arts has urged Angus Robertson to:

The chief executive of Creative Scotland, Iain Munro, has expressed concern that “we are now about to go beyond the tipping point” and that “the risks to the cultural sector as we currently know and understand it have gone up enormously.”

Due to the extraordinary underfunding of Scottish culture halfway through the year, Creative Scotland has been compelled to make a one-time emergency withdrawal from its restricted funds. This “U-turn on a U-turn” jeopardies cherised venues and companies, thousands of jobs, and public access to Scottish culture. Lewis Robertson, an acting graduate has been struggling to find work within the industry since leaving university;

“Since leaving university, I have only been able to find local and independent acting jobs with my friends. It’s been a real struggle.”

The SNP‘s 2021 manifesto stated, “Culture is central to who we are as a nation”, and “the pandemic has demonstrated more than ever how vital it is to our wellbeing, mental health and sense of belonging.”

But Scotland’s cultural industry, which was one of the hardest-hit sectors during the pandemic, has not yet entirely recovered. Many people’s earnings have decreased, and their savings have run out. Costs are rising and uncertainty is rampant right now as a result of the cost-of-living problem. Ian Munro, said the following about the effect of cost-of-living crisis;

“The pandemic has made things difficult enough, but now they are getting worse because of continuous, stagnant funding, which is a situation that cannot last. Particularly in this atmosphere – with inflation and energy costs. When something is gone, it’s gone. And we’re going to cross the tipping point.”

The Flimhouse theatre in Aberdeen, the Blue Arrow Jazz Club in Glasgow, and the Nevis Ensemble, which performed all over the nation, have already had to permanently close their doors due to economic difficulties. Our lives, communities, and society cannot afford to lose any more arts organisations or the advantages they provide.