Anger as children’s theatre is hit by cuts

Creative Scotland has been accused of making a mockery of an official Year of Young People by cutting support for children’s theatre – despite receiving millions of pounds of extra funding from the Scottish Government.

Companies said they are “devastated” after being suddenly stripped of funding, weeks into the £2 million initiative. There is also mounting anger that companies working with disabled performers have been targeted.

Other theatre companies affected by 100 per cent cuts in a shake-up of the quango’s “regular funding” scheme say they are now facing closure.

The quango has been awarded an extra £16m a year in by the government – although £10m is ringfenced for the screen sector and the remainder is making up a shortfall in lottery funding.

The quango is funding 20 new groups from a £99m funding pot. Children’s theatre companies Catherine Wheels and Visible Fictions, and Birds of Paradise and Lung Ha, who work with people with learning disabilities, are among 20 companies losing out.

A spokeswoman for Catherine Wheels said: “We’re devastated. Our company has been at the heart of establishing high-quality children’s theatre, to a standard which has earned us, and Scotland, the reputation as world leaders. We are being penalised for our success.

“In the Year of Young People, Scotland is the now the only country in Europe without a regularly funded children’s theatre company, an embarrassment for a progressive nation.”

A spokeswoman for Visible Fictions said: “We are saddened to longer be in this network. This decision leaves Scotland with no regularly funded children’s theatre organisations as we enter into the Year of Young People.”

A spokeswoman for the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival said: “These companies have helped build Scotland’s reputation for excellence in the young audience sector and they are now being put in a position where they will struggle to create work.”

The Scottish Society of Playwrights said: “Catherine Wheels and Visible Fictions are internationally celebrated pioneers of theatre for young people in Scotland. In the Year of Young People, this is hugely disappointing.”