Exclusive:Doune The Rabbit Hole: Public funding support for doomed music festival revealed

Six separate grants were awarded by Creative Scotland

Organisers of the controversial Doune The Rabbit Hole music festival have secured more than £175,000 in public money from the Scottish Government’s own arts agency to help put on the event, it has emerged.

Creative Scotland has confirmed it provided six separate grants over the space of a decade to the event, which has come under fire from artists, performers and entertainment unions over unpaid fees.

This year’s festival was called off several days ago in the aftermath of a boycott call from the BECTU union, which issued a statement saying it was “actively now advising against working for, going to, or supporting” Doune The Rabbit Hole.

The vast majority of the £175,671 in Creative Scotland funding was secured for the event, which has been run by father and son Craig and Jamie Murray, over the last three years.

They have also announced the end of the festival for the foreseeable future.

The festival, which has been staged at the Cardross Estate near Stirling in recent years, secured £45,000 in both 2020 and 2021 after the event fell victim to Covid restrictions.

It was then awarded the same sum last year when the event returned for the first time since the pandemic.

However within months concerns were being raised by acts who had not been paid for their appearances at the 2022 festival.

However this year’s festival was due to return with Spiritualized, Alabama 3, Black Grape, the Asian Dub Foundation and the Thurston Moore Group in its line-up under plans to pay off more than £800,000 worth of debt from last year’s event.

In its statement last month, BECTU called on acts who had been booked to appear at the event to “seriously consider whether they want to play at a festival which owes so much money.”

Craig Murray, a former diplomat and blogger, has blamed BECTU’s stance for the demise of the event, which is now reputed to be in debt to the tune of more than £1 million.

A spokeswoman for Creative Scotland said: “Whilst Creative Scotland has no funding relationship with the 2023 Doune The Rabbit Hole Festival, we are saddened by the news that the festival has been cancelled.”Despite recent challenges, the festival has celebrated creative talent in many forms from local and international artists for a number of years.

"This news will not only be disappointing to the many festivalgoers, but also to the musicians, artists and suppliers who remain unpaid from the previous year.”

Creative Scotland said the £45,000 grant provided for last year’s event was ringfenced to support artists and performers appearing at a new stage at the festival.

The spokeswoman added: “The grant did not relate to the general support for the whole festival, where many performers and suppliers were not paid, but artists involved in Creative Scotland-supported activity did receive payment.”

A spokesman for Stirling Council said: “No direct financial support to Doune the Rabbit Hole has been provided by Stirling Council.

"We’re disappointed that the event is no longer going ahead as this has been a fixture in the area for some time.”