Enjoy this article?
Most Museums Journal content is only available to members. Join the MA to get full access to the latest thinking and trends from across the sector, case studies and best practice advice.
Artists’ fund gets reprieve but Creative Scotland under review
Open Fund reinstated after warnings that closure would lead to 'cultural catastrophe'
Creative Scotland has reopened a key grant stream for artists and creative practitioners after the Scottish Government confirmed the release of £6.6m for the fund.
However first minister John Swinney has ordered a wholesale review of the arm’s-length arts and culture body, which has been under scrutiny following several controversies.
The developments come after Creative Scotland announced last month that it was closing applications to its Open Fund “due to lack of clarity regarding longer-term funding”.
The organisation said it could not get confirmation from government about the release of the budget and was halting “all but essential” spending to balance its books.
The crisis sparked an outcry in the arts and culture sector, with leading musicians warning the country would face a “cultural catastrophe” if the government did not take action.
In his first Programme for Government speech this week, Swinney confirmed that the funding for Creative Scotland would be reinstated but ordered a wholesale review of the organisation.
Advertisement
The review is intended to ensure the organisation's “operations and structure are optimal to the needs of the culture sector”.
It follows a series a controversies surrounding Creative Scotland, including its decision to award a grant of almost £85,000, later withdrawn, to a pornographic film project.
The government says the review, which will be the first since the public body’s establishment in 2010, “will examine Creative Scotland’s remit and functions as a funding body, and how the overall impact of planned increases in levels of public funding can be maximised to support sustainability in the sector and in participation in the arts”.
The review will seek “views from individuals and organisations from all parts of Scotland’s culture sector”.
Full details of the review and its process will be set out to parliament in the near future.
Earlier this year the government pledged to invest £100m more annually in the arts and culture by 2028-29.
Advertisement
Culture secretary Angus Robertson said this week: “With the sector having faced a number of new and enduring challenges since then, the time is now right for us to ensure Creative Scotland’s remit and functions remain relevant, in line with our commitments to invest at least £100m more annually in the arts and culture by 2028-29, and to continuous improvement across all our public bodies.”
Following the announcement of the Programme for Government this week, Iain Munro, the CEO of Creative Scotland, said: “Creative Scotland notes the intention to review the way the sector is supported, as announced by the first minister in the Programme for Government, and we look forward to hearing more details.
"We welcome the continued commitment to provide an additional £100m in funding for culture and will work with the Scottish Government on the effective allocation of that funding, to the benefit of culture and creativity in Scotland.
"We also welcome today’s confirmation of £6.6m, originally committed to Creative Scotland by the Scottish Government at the start of this financial year, reinstating budget removed in the previous year.
"We continue to see unprecedented levels of demand for the Open Fund for Individuals and will process the high volume of applications we have received. With the budget now confirmed, we will work to re-open this fund.
"We are sure today’s confirmation of the release of this funding will be welcomed by the creative community of Scotland."
Advertisement
Meanwhile the Scottish Parliament has heard evidence of a funding crisis facing the country's museum and gallery sector, with fears that some venues could close this year.
Last month, Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) and the Museums Association highlighted the urgent need for investment in Scotland’s museums and galleries in submissions to the Scottish Parliament’s pre-budget scrutiny for 2025-26.
MGS said that "many of Scotland’s museums and galleries are in crisis”, with 11% of respondents to a July 2024 survey worried that their organisations are at risk of closure in the next 12 months.
The MA called on the Scottish Government to “invest some of the £100m committed to the arts and culture sector by 2028-29 in the museum sector”.