Independence ‘will kill the arts’ says singer

By TIM CORNWELL
Published on Sunday 12 February 2012 00:00

ONE of Scotland’s top opera singers has said she will move out of the country if it goes independent, claiming that it would be “death for the arts in Scotland”.

Arbroath-born Karen Cargill, who has taken leading roles with Scottish Opera and on the British concert stage, said she and her husband have already agreed that they will move to his home in Canada in the event of a pro-independence vote.

“I think independence would be death for the arts in Scotland,” said the mezzo-soprano, who will make her debut with New York’s Metropolitan Opera this spring. “Because for the arts in Scotland, funding is difficult. There is an audience for classical music, but it’s very small, and we can’t deny that people travel from south of the border to attend.

“I think we’re stronger together. People know I’m Scottish, I don’t really require an independent parliament.”

Cargill added she was proud of being both British and Scottish. She said “My husband’s Canadian. We have decided that, should it come to pass, then we’re moving to Canada.”

Her concern about independence was shared yesterday by several other Scottish figures with major international careers in the creative arts. The Edinburgh-born film and television producer Douglas Rae, who founded Ecosse Films in 1988, making films from Mrs Brown in 1997 to this year’s Decoy Bride, said simply: “I am against independence. We are an island and we should stick together, albeit with devolved parliaments. It would affect every aspect of Scottish life, not just the arts.”

Cargill’s warnings on the impact of independence on the arts were echoed by Iain Paterson, like Cargill a leading opera singer born and raised in Scotland. The Glaswegian bass-baritone has been billed as Scotland’s future answer to Bryn Terfel.

Interviewed with Cargill in New York, he agreed that independence would “absolutely not” be good for Scottish arts.

“In times of recession, when times are tough, the arts suffer,” he said. “If Scotland gets independence, it’s not going to be boom time for the arts; it’s going to be even more lean years.”