Arts quango scraps £100,000 of grants to Scottish publishers

Published on Tuesday 29 April 2008 22:52

THE Scottish Arts Council has quietly axed grants to about half a dozen Scottish publishers worth around £100,000, The Scotsman has learned.

Publishers have been told not to apply forthe "block grants", in a move that has brought widespread dismay.

Those losing out include established companies such as Polygon, to small Scottish outfits like Luath Press.

Grant funding for publishing individual books has been increased by 40,000; however critics argued cutting the block grants makes it difficult for publishers to plan and invest.

And last night, firms warned they will have to cut back on the books they buy.

The cuts have prompted Hugh Andrew, the chief executive of one of Scotland's largest publishers, the Birlinn/Polygon group, to call for an examination of arts council spending.

Twelve publishers have had block grants in the past, from well-established firms like Edinburgh's Polygon and Canongate, with hundreds of books on their lists, to smaller niche players like Luath and Sandstone Press.

The Scottish Arts Council (SAC) confirmed yesterday that the block grant fund has gone from 100,000 to nothing. It was "suspended temporarily for this financial year", a spokeswoman said.

But a general book-publishing fund has risen from 110,000 to 150,000 in 2008-9. The decision was made as the council developed its business plan after its settlement from the Scottish Government.

Neville Moir, the publishing director of Polygon, told The Scotsman: "We are concerned that the pot of money available to publishers is shrinking." The company received about 20,000 in annual block grants.

David Knowles, a co-founder of Ullapool's Two Ravens Press, a new company that has been earning rave reviews for its pioneering book list, said it was told not to apply for a grant.

"It doesn't mean we are going to shut down, but it would have been a major change to our whole financial profile," he said.

He and his partner funded Two Ravens with 25,000 of their own money. "Had we been able to get 15-20,000, we would have been even more adventurous than we already are. We are going to have to be financially cautious."

The SAC is reassessing its grant funding in the transition to a new arts body, Creative Scotland. Tomorrow, the council announces its decisions on how to hand out 7 million in "flexible funding" grants. There were about 14 million of applications for the cash.

While big-player Birlinn publishes 150 new titles a year, Mr Andrew said block grants helped publish work like new Scottish fiction. He added: "It's getting to the stage where we have to have a root-and-branch examination of where our money is going. It seems the amount of money given to bureaucrats and quangoes is increasing at the expense of those on the front line."

He questioned why Publishing Scotland, the organisation which works for the "support and development" of the sector, received about 200,000 in annual funding, twice the block-grant fund.

Publishing Scotland's director, Lorraine Fannin, said the organisation's funding was "completely separate".

She said the loss of block-grant cash was "a bit of a shock" for publishers that relied on it.

"It's going to hurt the small literary presses that are looking for block grants to develop a significant title list," she said.

CASH vital for survival

THE SMALL but ambitious Highlands publisher Sandstone Press scored a major coup this March. Shadow Behind the Sun, written by former Albanian refugee Remzije Sherifi and published by Dingwall-based Sandstone, was nominated for the Sundial Scottish Arts Council book awards.

Robert Davidson, founder and managing director Sandstone, was delighted to see Sherifi's name alongside nominees like AL Kennedy, Ali Smith, and Andrew Marr. The firm recently rolled out what it hopes is the next strong title, The Kerracher Man by Eric MacLeod.

But yesterday Mr Davidson described the arts council's decision to end the block grant as a serious blow – though he will apply for individual publishing grants for books.

He stressed: "We have great sympathy and understanding for the position officials are put in. It's a political decision above their head."

However, he added: "Struggling to gain a toehold on the UK scene as we do, it is extremely difficult, not to say impossible and we do need support from one quarter or another."

The Sandstone publisher added: "In 2006, without a substantial SAC block grant, we might have been out of the game in a difficult year. It helps us immeasurably."