Creeping cuts are preventing Scottish creatives from achieving recognition

By Garvit Nama on Unsplash

Over the summer, controversy arose after Creative Scotland announced that they would be closing their Open Fund, which was a key stream of income to Scottish creatives such as musicians, writers, producers, and other creatives. This was, however, reversed in September, but this still poses a future threat. Financial issues like this have been affecting Scotland’s creative industry for some time now, whether it be venue closures, funding issues or cost of living.

The open fund was available to creative individuals and they were able to obtain up to £50,000 from Creative Scotland to further their creative endeavours. In August 2024, they announced that they would be closing their fund due to “lack of clarity regarding longer-term funding.”

This prompted an outcry from the public, leading to protests at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, an open letter signed by Paolo Nutini and The Proclaimers among others. This was coupled along with a petition sent to the Scottish Government.

In an open letter written by Jo Clifford, she said: “Your government is destroying the cultural sector in our country.

“I hope I don’t need to convince you how destructive this is to our economic wellbeing and to our future as a country.”

These outcries led to the Scottish Government announcing a review of Creative Scotland, and they then granted the organisation £6.6 million, allowing them to re-open the fund in September.

In the review announced by Culture Secretary Angus Robertson, he said: "With the sector having faced a number of new and enduring challenges since then, the time is now right for us to ensure Creative Scotland’s remit and functions remain relevant.

“In the meantime, I'm pleased to confirm release of £1.8 million to Creative Scotland for youth music, and another £6.6 million, which includes £3 million towards its Open Fund and £1 million for Screen Scotland.”

The Scottish Government has vowed to grant £100 million to the arts and culture industries by 2028/29, but could this be the case?

The future of Scottish creativity is up to the Scottish government to decide whether to keep funding the industry.

I find myself asking the same question every time I see anything to do with Scotland’s creative sector. The Scottish Government has the power to make a change and increase funding, the question is, time and time again, will they? This article is overly familiar with this question, hopefully after reading, you will be on the same page as me and the rest of the young creatives in this country.

Beth Bate, director of Dundee Contemporary Arts, said: “They’ve continued to give really warm, supportive words to the sector … but we need to see that backed up by real action and real commitments

“They say they’re going to be giving £100m to the culture sector over the next 10 years, but we have no idea how and when that’s going to be delivered.”

This is not the only creative institution facing financial distress. The Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA, based in Glasgow) announced they would be closing for four months due to “financial uncertainty”. The CCA will be shut from December until March next year, to allow them time to recover financially.

With many arts venues shutting down across Scotland, decreasing funds and more, is there a future for Scottish creatives? The Music Venues Trust (MVT) published figures showing that 125 venues across the UK decided to discontinue hosting live music in 2023 due to financial issues. These either shut down because of the cost-of-living crisis or the decline in nightlife economy after the pandemic.

In another set of figures published by MVT, bands are playing less and less venues on UK tours, often skipping small towns. Bands are now only seen to be playing 11 shows on tour compared to 1994, when this number was doubled.

Many come from rural areas in Scotland, meaning that if they want to perform or attend a gig, they must travel quite a distance. It’s rare to see a musician play anywhere but Glasgow or Edinburgh nowadays.

Due to these creeping cuts, many artists struggle and remain undiscovered as they face uncertainty themselves, whether it be opportunities, financial circumstances or more. Without changes in funding, continuous closures and setbacks, it is looking unlikely that Scotland's arts and culture sectors will survive.