Stars sign up to fill Scotland's art 'void'

LEADING lights of the Scottish arts world last night launched an unprecedented attack on Jack McConnell’s cultural strategy, accusing the First Minister of allowing the nation’s creative spirit to "wither".

Fifty-five of Scotland’s best-known musicians, authors and artists have signed an open letter to McConnell in which they argue that "a void" has opened up where an arts strategy should exist.

The signatories include the composer laureate Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, authors Ian Rankin, Alexander McCall Smith and Alasdair Gray, and opera singer Jane Irwin.

Dozens of theatre directors, poets, critics and administrators have also put their name to the letter, which represents an unprecedented revolt against government arts policy.

They include poet WN Herbert, Sandy Orr, the former chairman of the Scottish Arts Council, John Wallace, the principal of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and Neil Murray, director of the Tron Theatre, Glasgow.

Their anger is rooted in the continuing doubts surrounding the future of Scottish Opera, which, critics claim, is being undermined by an "anti-elitist" agenda within the cabinet.

Fears are growing that the company is to be forced to sack more than half its staff because of limited resources. The uncertainty symbolises the current confusion over the role of the arts, the group declare.

Culture minister Frank McAveety announced last month that a review would be conducted into the funding of arts and culture over the next 12 months, headed by Scottish Arts Council chairman James Boyle.

Meanwhile, the group says it is "astonishing" that Scottish Opera, which sealed its international reputation last year with its performance of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, should be "starved" of resources at the very moment when it is achieving success. "What kind of encouragement does its treatment give to any other Scottish artistic organisation striving for excellence?" they ask.

The signatories are now demanding McConnell and McAveety prove they are committed to excellence in the arts.

Leading figures in the arts world have also complained that ministers are putting undue pressure on arts companies to spend more on education and "outreach" - going into schools and doing community work - leaving them with less time and money to devote to achieving excellence.

The group ask: "Are we really to expect that future generations are entitled only to the mediocre and that investment will only come if an agenda set by politicians is met?"

McAveety hit back last night, claiming that he had argued his entire professional life for "the fundamental worth of arts and culture". But the pressure is now firmly on him to find a solution to the Scottish Opera crisis which enables it to continue performing to its current high standards.

The current crisis emerged after the company’s accounts for the end of the year found that its deficit had increased to 5.2m. It is facing demands to repay a 4m advance on its 7.5m annual grant which it took earlier this year as a result of the difficulties.

Ministers claim that the company needs to keep within its budget and insist that it does not need extra cash to produce high-quality opera.

But supporters of the company point out that it is the poorest-funded opera company in Britain, lagging way behind the Welsh Opera Company, Opera North and English Opera.

One of McAveety’s predecessors as arts minister, Sam Galbraith, last week claimed ministers were pursuing an "anti-intellectual" agenda.

Last night, Mike Watson, another former arts minister, said that ministers should now extend Scottish Opera’s loan period to help it through the current crisis. "It is a short-term solution, but at least it would tide the company over until this latest review is sorted out."

In a lengthy statement issued to this newspaper last night, addressing the points made by the 55-strong group, McAveety stood by the Executive’s policy on the arts, quoting its many achievements, and also rejected claims of anti-elitism:

"Jack McConnell’s administration has delivered greater investment in the arts than ever before, has placed a culture minister in the Scottish Cabinet, established the National Theatre, funded free music tuition in primary schools, re-energised the National Galleries with capital investment in the Playfair Project, re-invented the National Libraries with digitisation and boosted the National Museums with the purchase of Concorde. These commitments are not mediocre, they are about achieving the best for Scotland.

"To dismiss these achievements, as your paper did last weekend, and accuse ministers of anti-elitism because we want Scottish Opera to be well managed and live within its means is absurd.

"This administration has delivered a much clearer strategic vision of the arts and culture in Scotland than ever before. The First Minister’s speech on St Andrews Day set out our approach, values and vision. The Cultural Commission will take that forward. It will provide more open access to the debates that need to take place and ensure that artists, arts organisations and the cultural sector generally set the agenda, rather than politicians.

"Government’s role in culture should be clear and delivered with a light touch. It’s not about telling people what to do with their lives; it’s about making sure the right infrastructure is in place that allows people the opportunity to choose.

"Tough choices always have been made about the allocation of resources.

Indeed, the signatories [to the letter] demonstrate the wide breadth of arts and culture in Scotland that require to be funded from the same envelope, albeit a larger funding envelope than has ever existed before."

However, Jamie McGrigor, culture spokesman for the Scottish Tories, said last night, in relation to the crisis engulfing Scottish Opera: "We need to have the ministers take responsibility and proceed with some stability of funding so the company can be confident in what they are doing. Scotland should be able to afford a national opera company."

Alexander McCall Smith added :"It is very distressing when you see one section of the arts attacked for being ‘elitist’, a terrible misuse of the word."

Sandy Orr, a former chair of the Scottish Arts council, added: "Do those taking the decision understand the consequences? Unforunately, the bravado of temporary office sometimes does things to people. They feel their blood rising - they should think very carefully about what they are doing in this case."