When did creativity start to predicate itself on cash?
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I read how professional practitioners of The Arts in Scotland are “bewildered” at having to apply for and justify their funding on a project by project basis as opposed to the guaranteed revenue funding to which they have become accustomed.
“Bewildered”. Really? I read elsewhere that nationally business funding for the arts is down by 17 per cent and private funding by 13 per cent. In other words – you can’t get a job, your mates won’t help you out, you have to go on the dole but you object to signing on each week. Correct me if I have it wrong.
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Hide AdIn many areas of Scotland one in three children are living in what is termed “absolute poverty” according to Child Poverty Action Group. We are in an appalling and enduring economic recession and spending cuts are drawing blood from housing, education and health. Do The Arts consider themselves above these petty practical problems?
The new Creative Scotland terminology – “investmenting” in the arts – sounds marvellously positive. However, as they are ploughing in upwards of £50 million a year and getting nothing back but a warm glow and the satisfaction of knowing that Morningside has a new production of Macbeth to discuss, they might want to think about finding a new stockbroker.
One could argue that for a proper return on their “investment”, Creative Scotland might think about looking further afield in the arts. You want perfectly pitched vignettes of Scottish working class life? Try early Billy Connolly. Howls of rage against the machine? Jerry Sadowitz. Fascinating insights into the marginalisation of the gay community in working-class Scotland? Rhona Cameron – on the page or on stage.
But I digress. The joy of lyrical surrealism in spoken word and song that was Ivor Cutler received no grant. Nor the creative forces that sustained Alasdair Gray through the 20 years it took him to write Lanark.
When did creativity start to predicate itself on cash? While you are whining about your lost “guaranteed revenue” you might want to consider plugging the gaps with a little passion.