Exclusive:Creative Scotland issues new 'severe budget pressure' alert as it defends axing £6m artist fund

Creative Scotland has issued a new warning that it is facing "severe budget pressures" as it defended a decision to shut down its main support fund for artists.

Officials have revealed it is "unlikely" the Scottish Government will unlock millions of pounds of funding, which has recently been put on hold due to a new squeeze on public spending.

A History of Paper is currently being staged at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh. | Traverse Theatre

The agency has blamed new “budget control measures” put in place by ministers for its decision to pull the plug indefinitely on a £6 million "open fund", which is jointly funded by the Government and the National Lottery.

More than 140 arts organisations have signed an open letter warning the closure of the fund for artists sends a message that “Scottish arts is closed for business” to the rest of the world, while nearly 9,000 supporters have backed a campaign warning Scotland is facing a “cultural catastrophe” unless there is urgent intervention from the Government.

Creative Scotland has admitted it chose to give priority to arts organisations and insisted the Government's cuts would have had a "greater" impact on the cultural sector if it had chosen to keep the open fund for artists open, with funding routes for coming festivals and events having to be shut down within months.

Charlene Boyd’s show June Carter Cash: The Woman, Her Music and Me is currently being staged at Summerhall. | Sally Jubb: National Theatre of Scotland

Creative Scotland has already raised fears of "significant job losses" across the cultural sector if it cannot meet demand for long-term funding from 280 different organisations later this year amid concerns over a £47.5m funding gap.

The Government agency insisted the open fund for individual artists, which is due to be closed down at the end of this month, would be reinstated "as soon as possible" once it has clarity on its future budgets.

However, it claims that was "not possible" for any other funding to be used to protect the support for artists, citing a previous Scottish Government cut 12 months ago that left its financial reserves "depleted".

Creative Scotland expected to have £13.2m restored to its budget for this financial year after being targeted for cuts 12 months ago, while the Government has pledged to "more than double" arts spending in the next few years.

The arts body alerted the Scottish Parliament last week that around £10.65m of Government funding it had allocated during this financial year had either been cancelled or was in serious doubt.

It has warned MSPs the Scottish cultural sector is facing the prospect of "managed decline" without urgent clarity from the Government on how £100m in promised new investment for the arts industry is to be allocated.

In a new Q&A bulletin on the scrapping of the open fund for artists, Creative Scotland states: "Creative Scotland is facing severe budget pressures and has little flexibility as regards implementing changes as to how these budgets have been allocated at the start of each financial year.

"The scale of the demand on the open fund for individuals and the fact that £3m of Scottish Government funding allocated to it is no longer forthcoming, means that we do not have any viable alternative options other than to close the fund. 

"This Scottish Government funding was specifically allocated to the open fund for individuals, alongside £3m of National Lottery funding, the remaining budget from which will be used to support the successful applications received prior to the deadline.

"As the Scottish Government is unable to confirm the release of budget that was previously committed at the start of the financial year, we do not have the money available to support the OFFI past the closure date of 30 August 2024.

“In the context of the Scottish Government’s recent announcements regarding additional budget control measures, the £3m we had anticipated from them is unlikely to be released and we therefore need to close the fund to new applications.

"This has been a very difficult decision, but Creative Scotland needs to have sufficient funds to viably run the funding programmes we offer."

Creative Scotland said all of its Scottish Government and National Lottery funding was allocated at the start of the financial year, and was now already committed or contracted.

The body said: "Creative Scotland works to very strict budgets, provided by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery, with that money committed at the start of any given year, and detailed in our annual plan.

"The majority of applications we get to the open fund for Individuals are to support an individual applicant. In contrast, the majority of applications we get from organisations support employment for multiple individuals including freelancers across the sector. 

"We absolutely acknowledge the huge impact this will have on individuals. However, in this instance the impact on the sector would have been greater in closing the open fund for organisations.

"Moving budget from this fund to the open fund for Individuals would have had limited, short-term impact and would also result in us having to close the open fund for organisations within the next few months."

A Government spokesperson said: "We have increased arts culture funding this year, as the first step to achieving our commitment to invest at least £100m more annually in culture and the arts by 2028/29.

“The Scottish Budget continues to face significant challenges. We are considering the implications of the actions announced by the Chancellor on July 29 for our public finances, and the next steps required by the Scottish Government.”