‘Shouty’ artists obsessed with Scots independence
ALAN Bissett is a leading member of National Collective, a pro-independence group for artists and ‘creatives’.
According to its website, it was founded in 2011 by a small band of artists and writers based in Edinburgh.
Since then, it claims to have grown significantly across Scotland, ‘with over 2,000 members’.
It describes itself as ‘the non-party movement for artists and creatives who support Scottish independence’. The group says: ‘Our organisation was founded with the aims of arguing the positive case for Scottish independence and imagining a better Scotland.’
In a statement on the site, Bissett says: ‘National Collective is a great place for artists to come together and talk about the benefits (and possibly even some of the drawbacks!) of independence.’
Scots composer James MacMillan is among the group’s most outspoken critics.
Earlier this year, he said: ‘A visit to their [National Collective’s] website shows them to be young, shouty and completely unquestion- ing about their cause. Some worry that their black-and-white perspective on things may damage the quality of their work.
‘Some of their poetry seems risible and thin, and certainly light on nuance and subtlety.
‘Are they simply producing propaganda masquerading as art?’