Ominous noises as crucial countdown for Scottish culture gets underway

Ominous noises as crucial countdown for Scottish culture gets underway, writes Brian Ferguson

It seems an odd contradiction for the mass influx of artists and performers from around the world to coincide with a period of angst in the Scottish cultural world.

With hundreds of packed – and not so packed – venues across Edinburgh currently hosting shows of every possible description there is undoubtedly a carnival atmosphere in the air.

Yet the mood behind the scenes is very different – and not just within Edinburgh.

The clock is ticking down in a timetable which will shape the future of the Scottish cultural landscape. At the moment, almost all the noises I hear are ominous.

Creative Scotland has just launched a new application process for a share of long-term funding, the first of its kind for six years.

Arts organisations have a deadline of the end of October to set out their case for long-term support after a fraught few years grappling with the impact of the pandemic, the cost of living crisis and their own rising costs, but will have to wait another year to find out if they have been successful.

The timetable set out by Creative Scotland is divided into two parts, with applications due to be informed in February whether they have reached a second stage, before a new application process opens in the spring.

This would be complex enough if Creative Scotland knew what its future budgets were going to be.

It may have to wait until the Scottish Government sets its own budget in December to find out. And, as most applicants will no doubt recall, last Christmas brought a 10 per cent budget for Creative Scotland from the government, a move switly reversed in the new year after a widespread backlash.

What should become clear this month is the level of demand for funding from companies, venues and events seeking to secure their long-term future.

However the overall tally is expected to be way more than the £32 million Creative Scotland currently spends.

The big picture is likely to give plenty of food for thought for both Creative Scotland and the Scottish Government about how to respond.

In its advice for organisations, Creative Scotland seems to be preparing them for the worst by warning that, given its budget uncertainties and expected demand, it will not be able to support anything like the 121 organisations which currently get such support.

But if organisations need substantially more funding than they have had, to operate on anything like the same level, maintain the quality of their programmes and retain their audiences, what should they do?

Umpteen arts organisations have pleaded for an end to more than a decade of standstill funding. Edinburgh’s festivals are, unsurprisingly, at the forefront of such campaigning at the moment.

It is less than four years since the government published a new cultural strategy pledging that Scotland would be “a place where culture is valued, protected and nurtured.”

It was meant to leave to culture being placed at the heart of health, education and economic policy-making, but has simply not been acted upon, as yet.

It seems clear that a fundamental rethink of funding support for the whole cultural sector is needed. The government should return to its own blueprint as a starting point to navigate a way forward.