Scottish arts companies face £8m loss as Creative Scotland switches funding

ALMOST 50 Scottish arts companies will lose £8 million in regular funding in a shift to one-off “project” support from lottery cash, they were told yesterday.

There were calls for “urgent clarification” from the Creative Scotland agency on the new system, with warnings that piecemeal funding was an “unsustainable model” for companies.

But Creative Scotland insisted yesterday that there would be a larger pot of cash available, with a £14 million increase in lottery funds that would more than compensate for government spending cuts.

The agency had launched a review of funding for 75 organisations that have benefited from “flexible funding” – grants running for two years from £55,000 to up to £300,000 for the biggest organisations.

In letters sent out yesterday, it told 49 organisations, from the award-winning Grid Iron Theatre to Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature, that they can bid for increased lottery funds “on a project or a programme basis”. Current funding will run out at the end of the 2012-2013 financial year.

Others including the Celtic Connections and Edinburgh Fringe festival, and St Magnus Festival in Orkney, were placed on annual agreements.

There was widespread concern yesterday that the new guidelines could prove confusing and frustrating, and with no stability year on year.