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Galleries in limbo as Creative Scotland delays crucial funding decisions
'Extremely uncertain future' for applicants as funding body halts allocations until 2025
Galleries and arts organisations in Scotland are facing months of uncertainty after Creative Scotland announced that long-term funding decisions would be delayed until next year.
The arm’s length funding body, which supports a range of galleries across Scotland as well as artists and arts organisations, said that it would not be able to finalise the portfolio for its Multi Year funding programme until after the announcement of the Scottish Government’s draft budget in December.
Robert Wilson, the chair of Creative Scotland, said: “While we would have preferred to announce the outcome from this application process in October as planned and have been working collaboratively with Scottish Government to endeavour to do so, we also understand the extreme budget pressures that exist.
“These pressures mean we are required to postpone the outcome until such time as we have budget clarity. This will enable us to make final decisions in a context of budget confidence and to support as many organisations on a multi-year basis as we possibly can.”
The Multi Year fund is due to distribute £87.5m in the next round. The 281 applicants to the fund were originally scheduled to find out this month if they had been successful, and some have warned that the delay will put them at risk.
Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA), the art gallery and cultural centre that was nominated for Art Fund Museum of the Year earlier this year, said it was facing an “extremely uncertain future” because of the delay and the “ongoing lack of clarity” from Creative Scotland.
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A statement from DCA said: “We are deeply concerned to learn that Creative Scotland's Multi-Year Funding decision has been delayed until the end of January as a result of ongoing uncertainty about their funding from Scottish Government.
“The impact of this announcement, and the ongoing lack of clarity about the level of additional funding available to organisations through this fund, means that we face an extremely uncertain future.
“This delay will affect our audit report and our ability to be declared a going concern, jeopardising our ability to fundraise elsewhere; and will force us to escalate scenario planning for receiving less support than we have applied for, putting jobs and our ability to serve our audiences at risk.”
The development comes just weeks after first minister John Swinney reversed a decision to pause Creative Scotland’s Open Fund for artists following an outcry from the sector. Swinney has ordered a review of the funding body after a series of controversies.
Culture secretary Angus Robertson told Holyrood this week that the Scottish Government is waiting for clarity from the UK Government about its budget situation before it can confirm whether cultural funding will rise.
The Scottish Government has pledged to increase investment in culture by £100m a year by 2028-29, and is hoping to provide an additional £25m for culture in 2025-26.
Robertson said: “The cultural sector is an integral part of our identity as a country. This is why we’re working hard to help the sector to fulfil its potential in Scotland by assuring at least £100m more annually in funding by 2028/29.
“We await the chancellor of the exchequer’s budget announcement on October 30 which has a hugely significant bearing on the Scottish budget. Following that we will be able to set detailed budgets for the coming financial year including for the culture sector.”