Creative Scotland-funded project pays artist to work in undertakers

CREATIVE Scotland is under fire again - for funding a project which is offering an artist £300-a-day to work in an undertaker's.

The residency at an undertaker's offers the winning artist a £6,000 stipend plus expenses. Picture: Jon Savage

The lucky artist will receive £6,000 plus expenses for a 20-day residency at a funeral home, helping those who deal with the dead “explore their own journey”.

The government-funded agency caused a storm earlier this year when it awarded an artist £15,000 to live in Glasgow for a year.

An advert for the undertaker project was posted on the Arts and Business Scotland website, titled: “Artist in residence (Creativity at Work Opportunity)(Contract).

The advert stated: “This residency would suit a storyteller, writer or wordsmith who would help staff of the organisation to explore their own journey in this caring but emotionally taxing profession, giving them a voice through a new medium.

“The end product would hopefully be an honest, heartwarming and insightful piece of work with real engagement from all, demonstrating to the workforce that they bring to the business who they are and not just what they do.”

It adds: “This could be a challenging but rewarding opportunity to engage deeply with stories of dealing with bereavement on a day to day basis.

• READ MORE: Creative Scotland defends funding artist to stay in Glasgow

“The business hopes that the residency will help to unify its workforce in a commonality of compassionate care and experience.”

The artist will also be provided with “space” and “appropriate working conditions” as well as travel and related expenses.

Glasgow-based painter Peter Gillies, 35, believes Creative Scotland give too much money to the “select few”.

He auctioned off 70 paintings and worked full time in a stained glass studio for a year to self fund his current artistic visit to Japan.

He said yesterday: “I’ve given up wasting time looking at Creative Scotland anymore. It’s a shame that’s the situation, but I’m not wasting my time bashing that brick wall.

“I had a artist networking evening recently and with 70 Glasgow artists in the room not one had applied for any kind of funding, or applied/taken part in a residency.”

A spokesman for Taxpayer Scotland said: “Art is always allowed to be bonkers, but this is beyond the pale.rank 1 - gnb

“There’s no reason to use tax money to run arbitrary ideas. It makes a mockery out of artists. “

He added: “We should not be using public money in this way.”

An Arts and Business Scotland spokeswoman today refused to identify the firm of undertaker’s taking part in the project because “not all the staff know yet and it’s a sensitive subject”.

She added: “This is a taxing, emotionally-draining journey through the artist and we’re not ready to disclose that information yet.”

Scottish heritage: for stories on Scotland’s people, places and history >>