Creative Scotland unveils largest ever multi-year funding portfolio

Creative Scotland has announced more than £200m in financial support to 251 organisations over the next three year.

This is the largest portfolio of cultural organisations the agency has ever supported on a multi-year basis, and follows a recent uplift in grant-in-aid funding from the Scottish Government. 

Among the recipients are Dundee Contemporary Arts, which will receive £3.9m between 2025-2028; Timespan, which will receive a total of £710,941; and Glasgow Women’s Library, which will receive a total of £525,999.

The announcement comes after a period of uncertainty for the funding body, which was forced to close applications to its Open Fund last summer due to a “lack of clarity regarding longer-term funding”. In September, Scotland’s first minister John Swinney confirmed it would continue to fund the body but ordered a wholesale review into the organisation.

Robert Wilson, chair of Creative Scotland, said the funding would bring “a renewed sense of stability and certainty” to the cultural sector. 

“Thanks to the vote of confidence in the culture sector, demonstrated by the recently announced budget from the Scottish Government, Creative Scotland can offer stable, year-on-year funding to more organisations than ever before,” he added.

Thirteen other organisations will also be supported by a £3.2m Development Fund, with a view to them joining the multi-year funding portfolio in 2026/27. The 13 organisations include Culture and Business Scotland and Culture, Heritage and Arts Assembly in Argyll and Isles.

Sue Bruce, a retired electoral commissioner with 40 years of public service, was recently appointed to chair the review of Creative Scotland, which will examine the organisation’s remit, functions and how it can best support the culture sector’s ambitions for renewal.