Scottish Government and Creative Scotland must return to drawing board after Rein sex film row - Brian Ferguson

The case for more support for culture has been undermined by the row surrounding the explicit film Rein

It is hard to avoid the conclusion that something has gone badly wrong inside the Scottish Government’s arts agency given the extraordinary description of an explicit film project it agreed to support.

No matter how many times I read it, it was still hard to believe Creative Scotland approved funding for a project looking for six performers to take part in “non-simulated” sex scenes, including people with “experience of sex work, particularly in porn contexts”.

It is clear that Creative Scotland has serious questions to answer about its £84,000 grant for Leonie Rae Gasson – a London-born, Glasgow-based director specialising in “interactive installation, live performance, participation and virtual reality”.

The prospect of her planned 45-minute multi-screen installation, Rein, offering a “raucous communal exploration of dyke sexuality” and “a magical, erotic journey through a distinctly Scottish landscape” may not seem that unusual given what is seen on stage and screen in Scotland.

But her website’s full description of how it would involve “intimacy co-ordinators with experience across film and sex work” certainly set alarm bells ringing.

The critical question is how much Creative Scotland knew about Gasson’s intentions when it approved her application. If it was given even half the details provided on Gasson's website, the agency will face huge questions over its funding criteria and policies.

However if, as Creative Scotland suggests, it was not fully aware of how explicit the project would be, it will call into question the robustness of its decision-making and the scrutiny of applications.

Leonie Rae Gasson was awarded £84,555 by Creative Scotland for her moving image installation project Rein. Picture: Julie Howden

The second scenario seems less likely given the well-known demands Creative Scotland places on funding applicants.

Gasson is far from an unknown quantity, previously working with the National Theatre in Scotland, and two Creative Scotland-funded dance organisations Dance Base and The Work Room, which are also supporting Rein.

She is likely to have been supported in line with one of Creative Scotland’s four key priorities – to champion equalities, diversity and inclusion (EDI). Its annual plan states “all Scottish society needs to be represented” if Scotland's cultural life is to be “sustained, refreshed, richer and more dynamic”.

Yet recent months have seen the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, the Lammermuir Festival classical music event, theatre company Cutting Edge, the Glasgow Jazz Festival, the Edinburgh Deaf Festival and music industry showcase Wide Days all turned down by Creative Scotland.

Scottish culture secretary Angus Robertson. Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

What needs to be addressed urgently is whether the EDI commitments both Creative Scotland and the Government have made around culture risk damaging the sector and confidence in how funding is awarded.

Creative Scotland has spent around 18 months lobbying for more Government funding for culture. Despite many warm words and pledges, the Government’s most significant action was to impose a 10 per cent budget cut last autumn.

With culture secretary Angus Robertson left to face a grilling from MSPs, Creative Scotland has significantly undermined its case – at the worst possible time. The clock is ticking down towards October, when it is due to decide on £87.4 million worth of applications from 285 organisations, more than double its available budget.

With Mr Robertson having now effectively cancelled the funding decision on Rein, it is clear that Gasson, Creative Scotland and the Government will all have to return to the drawing board.