Culture crisis escalates as Creative Scotland closes down multi-million pound fund to artists

Gareth Williams' project Songs From The Last Page was supported via Creative Scotland's open fund. Picture: Kris Kesiak | Kris Kesiak

A vital fund for artists and performers is to be shut down after millions of pounds of promised Scottish Government funding was put on hold.

National funding body Creative Scotland said it had been forced to pull the plug on applications to its £19m “open fund” from individuals at the end of this month.

It has suggested the government is creating “critical problems” for the industry arts by not releasing funding it has already earmarked in its annual spending plans.

Creative Scotland had been expected to allocated £6 million to support projects by singers, musicians, authors, poets, playwrights and visual artists by the end of this financial year.

Chief executive Iain Munro said the decision, which has effectively closed off one of the main sources of government funding for Scottish culture, was “unavoidable” after the government refused to confirm some around £8.4m of its core grant funding and cut other promised support worth £2.25m.

Around £3m in government funding was intended to be used to bolster support for individual artists and performers in this financial year, along with £3m in ringfenced National Lottery money, to help meet a surge in demand.

The number of applications to the open fund - which will continue to support proposals from organisations - has soared 78 per cent in the space of five years, and the amount requested going up by around 100 per cent.

Creative Scotland has been targeted for new cuts, despite the government pledging an additional £13.2m for Creative Scotland in this financial year, which would have restored a previous cut and restored it to what the arts agency described as “historic levels of funding.”

However it has warned that it is unable to meet commitments which are in its £96m budget for the rest of the financial year after the government refused to release the necessary finance.

Creative Scotland’s move to shut its open fund to individuals has emerged days after the Scottish Government arts agency warned that the cultural sector is facing years of “managed decline” without an urgent roll-out of promised new investment in the industry.

The funding body has repeated calls for the Scottish Government to set out how and when it will be allocating the “additional” £100m it promised for the cultural sector last October.

Arts industry leaders warned of the prospect of “devastating decisions” for arts organisations in the autumn unless new investment is committed for Creative Scotland’s next long-term funding programme.

Festivals, events and venues do not have any confirmed funding beyond the end of the current financial year in March 2025.

Creative Scotland has warned of a risk of “significant job losses," organisations having to change their entire financial model and even complete closures across the cultural landscapes if it is left on “standstill" funding when it decides on £87.5m worth of applications for support in October. It has a projected funding gap of around £47.5m, based on a standstill funding agreement with the government.

Creative Scotland chief executive Iain Munro said: “The level of uncertainty regarding the provision of grant-in-aid budgets from the Scottish Government is creating critical problems for the ongoing support we can provide to Scotland’s culture sector.

"This decision to close the open fund for individuals is not one we would have wanted to take but is unavoidable without the funding from the Scottish Government being available.

"Like everyone working in Scotland’s culture and creative sector, we understand the extreme pressures on public finances, but want to see longer term budget certainty from the Scottish Government, including the additional £100m announced in October 2023, details of which have yet to emerge.”

Lori Anderson, director of Scottish arts industry body Culture Counts, said: “This news from Creative Scotland is a further serious blow to Scotland's culture sector, and is being met with anger and dismay.

“Closing this fund will cut deep at the heart of the sector, impacting those who are most vulnerable leaving many of our artists, writers and producers unable to access the support they most vitally need to support their practice.

“This fragile community of freelancers and other creative practitioners are already under considerable pressure with many choosing to leave the sector unable to sustain and support themselves.

“The decision to close this fund and cut other much needed and committed budgets could have devastating and irreversible consequences and shows the significant levels of uncertainty that the national arts body and wider sector are currently working under.

“We call upon the Scottish Government to make no further in-year cuts, reverse this decision and provide clarity on culture funding through bringing forward as much of the promised £100 million increased investment in culture now when it is most needed to inflict no further damage and secure the sector’s future.”

A statement from the Federation of Scottish Theatre said: “We are dismayed by this and call on the Scottish Government to immediately confirm funding, resist in-year cuts to Creative Scotland and reverse this devastating situation, which disproportionately targets our already fragile freelance community.”

A statement from the Literature Alliance Scotland, the country’s biggest publishing network, said it had “no prior warning” about Creative Scotland’s decision.

It added: “We are extremely worried about the impact that it will have on writers in Scotland and about the anxiety and instability that it will create in the sector.

“The open fund for Individuals has been one of Creative Scotland’s key funding programmes, supporting a wide range of activity initiated by artists, writers, producers and other creative practitioners in Scotland.

“We call on Creative Scotland and the Scottish Government to rethink this decision and to engage with individuals and organisations in the literature sector to ensure that writers and other artists are not deprived of the funding they need to continue their valuable creative work, and that those who find themselves already in a difficult position are not pushed further into crisis.”

A spokesperson for the government said: “The Scottish Government already provides significant funding to Creative Scotland each year and will continue to do so.

“We have increased arts culture funding this year, as the first step to achieving our commitment to invest at least £100 million 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 29 July for our public finances, and the next steps required by the Scottish Government.”