Exclusive:Warning over ‘bleak’ future for culture after budget falls ‘far short’ on funding promises

Fears over loss of ‘much-loved cultural organisations’

Scottish culture chiefs have warned the troubled sector is facing a “bleak” future with the loss of “much-loved” arts organisations as they accused the government of falling “far short” of delivering on a promise of vital additional funding in its budget plans.

A leading industry body has accused ministers of failing to respond “at the pace or levels needed” to prevent a “tipping point” for long-standing venues, festivals and events.

It has published new analysis suggesting that spending on culture has slumped to just 0.51 per cent of the Scottish Government’s budget – which is believed to be one of the lowest figures in Europe.

Eilidh Loan's hit play Moorcroft, which was originally commisioned by the Tron Theatre in Glasgow, toured Scotland this year. Picture: Mihaela Bodlovic

In the run-up to the Scottish budget, Culture Counts had urged the government to bring forward as much as possible of an extra £100 million it has recently promised for the sector over the next five years.

Culture Counts has warned that many organisations are “approaching a cliff edge” due to a significant gap between the level of need and available funding for the national arts body, which is due to make key long-term funding decisions next year.

It does not yet have a government budget for the long-awaited programme, although Deputy First Minister Shona Robison has pledged to allocate “at least” a further £25m for arts and culture in 2025-26.

It has received applications from 361 cultural organisations worth around £96m per year, but only has around £40m in its current budget.

Culture Counts has called for a rethink of arts funding from the government to end prolonged standstill support, which has seen Scotland slide to 28th out of the 34 European nations.

Earlier this year it called for £104 million to be ringfenced for culture in the next financial year alone to ease the immediate costs crisis, which is said to have put one in three organisations at risk of insolvency in the short-term.

Culture Counts argued for this to become a new “baseline level of investment” in the arts, with an “overriding ambition” of reaching one per cent.Instead, the government sparked fury across the industry by reinstating a 10 per cent in Creative Scotland's budget in September and ordering the use of financial reserves which had been ringfenced to help organisations unsuccessful in their multi-year funding bids.

Within weeks of the cut being revealed by the Scottish Parliament, First Minister Humza Yousaf pledged at the SNP conference that the party would “more than double” arts spending by 2028.

This month’s draft budget saw spending on culture increase by £15.8m, to £196.6.

However £13.2m of this has simply restored Creative Scotland’s budget to the level it was before September’s cut and offset the impact of raiding its reserves to avoid passing on cuts to 121 different organisations in this financial year.

Edinburgh’s festivals, the National Theatre of Scotland, the Federation of Scottish Theatre, Publishing Scotland, the National Trust for Scotland, the Scottish Contemporary Art Network, Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland and the National Library of Scotland are all represented on the board of Culture Counts, which works with around 70 different organisations.

In a letter to Mr Yousaf, Deputy First Minister Shona Robison and Culture Secretary Angus Robertson just before the budget announcement, Culture Counts director Lori Anderson said the promised additional funding “provides the potential to stabilise the situation in the short term, and in the longer term to rebalance the gap caused by a decade of standstill funding, enabling the cultural sector to fulfill its enormous potential and work towards our shared goals.”

However she added: “Many core parts of the culture sector are approaching a cliff edge with the transition to Creative Scotland’s new multi-year funding model.

"Their recently published figures show a significant gap between the level of need and available resources.

"Without urgent intervention, Scotland stands to lose a number of much-loved cultural organisations, with 900 jobs being at immediate risk.

"By delaying, we run the risk of allowing key parts of our cultural infrastructure to be lost, which could significantly damage our international reputation. Rebuilding will be much more costly and labour intensive in the long run, than acting to stabilise the situation now.”

In a new analysis of the impact of the budget proposals, Ms Anderson said it was unclear how Creative Scotland could take "difficult decisions" on funding applications without knowing what its future budgets would be.

She added: “Culture Counts urged the Scottish Government to bring as much as possible of this £100mil investment forward into the budget for 2024-25, to prevent the tipping point that many organisations and artists stand to face next year.

“Given the warnings that have been made regarding the scale of the crisis facing the culture sector, the ongoing cost crisis and the future levels of demand for funding, the announcement falls far short of the investment levels called for, and does not even represent one fifth of the £100m investment promised, which is not being delivered at the pace or levels needed.”

Ms Anderson said cuts to the government’s constitution, external affairs and culture budget had seen it drop to 0.52 per cent of overall spending in the current financial year.

She added: “Proposed for 2024-25 is a budget representing 0.56 per cent of total Government spending. This appears to show little progress in terms of the percentage allocated to the portfolio.

"If we are to consider the funding allocated only for arts, culture and heritage, the percentage to culture of overall government spending is even bleaker at 0.51 per cent for 24-25.

“We have consistently called for investment in culture to be increased to one per cent. Our long-term goal continues to aim for one per cent of overall government expenditure towards culture. This will bring us closer to levels of investment across Europe, where the average is 1.5 per cent.”

Speaking after the draft budget plans were announced, culture secretary Angus Robertson said: “This has been the most challenging budget to be delivered under devolution.

“Scotland already faced a precarious financial situation, caused in part by the war in Ukraine and Brexit, with high inflation putting significant pressure on households, the economy and public finances.

"This was compounded by an autumn statement that prioritised a tax cut over providing the investment we need in services and infrastructure, leaving Scotland’s finances in a worst-case scenario.”