Fears of Scottish arts and culture cataclysm
Leading artists unite to express grave concerns over Brexit fallout
SCOTTISH artists and performers are warning of a potential apocalypse for the industry over Brexit.
They are united over fears that a loss in EU funding and potential movement restrictions spell disaster for international festivals and productions with many artists unable to perform here.
The director of Edinburgh International Book Festival Nick Barley warned that many Scottish festivals “depend for their very lifeblood on international performers”.
He said the reputation of Edinburgh’s festivals would be “substantially damaged”.
The chief executive of Creative Scotland said they had real concerns about the impact of Brexit on Scotland being able to work internationally on future projects.
Mr Barley said writers around the world already viewed Britain as a “diminished” nation. He fears “the damage is already done”.
THE nation is days from the “meaningful vote” on Brexit. But for the world of arts and culture, it is not only meaning that needs to be found amid the sound and fury of Brexit, but reassurance over a series of funding and movement issues and, perhaps, a way forward.
There is growing alarm and uncertainty over what exit from the European Union means for artists and the arts in Scotland – in particular, how exactly it will affect the movement of ideas, artists, arts companies and international collaborations.
The Scottish cultural sector is reported to have benefited from at least £59 million in European funding over the last decade, with more than 650 projects receiving help. One arts figure, appalled by the prospect of Brexit and what it could mean for the cultural world in Scotland, has started the process of establishing a new body to advocate for Scottish artists in Europe.
Claudia Zeiske, a German arts director who made her home and raised her family in northeast Scotland, is the driving force behind Deveron Projects, the cultural organisation based in the Huntly, Aberdeenshire.
Deveron Projects has, over the years, helped change the face of the town: artists have residencies there, students intern there, a town song has been created by Mike Scott of The Waterboys, and contemporary art works are scattered in 65 locations, under the rubric of “the town is the venue”.
Now Zeiske is working on an ambitious project: a new body to help represent Scottish artists in Europe, after Brexit, and whatever form it takes. Her plans, still in their early stages but already fortified by a steering group and the subject of several discussions, were quietly unveiled at the Royal Scottish Academy in a session chaired by Creative Scotland’s visual arts director, Amanda Catto.
Zeiske has spoken to more than a dozen cultural institutions about the project, and is determined to drive the idea forward: the establishment of a kind of roving cultural ambassador for Scottishbased artists in Europe. With the UK leaving the EU, the director sees the new body as a way of continuing to make Scottish culture’s voice heard on the continent.
At the moment, she is calling the project the Scottish Cultural Representation in Europe and it would, if backed by Creative Scotland and the Scottish Government, help Scottish artists work in the EU after Brexit.
“I want it to be a sort of actual representative,” she said. “It would not be a building, but something more mobile, something that could work in different countries, not a big building in Berlin or Brussels, but a body that could move to different places where needed.You need someone to co-ordinate and run it, and I think it should be artist-led and driven.”
Even though it’s early days for her plan, Zeiske has a good idea what its function would be. “Depending on the outcome of Brexit, it could help keep doors open with existing networks and open others. It would be an alternative to the British Council, which is based on trade and other Government interests. Our interests would be more community orientated looking to collaborate with a wide range of people and professions.”
Movement, freedom and collaboration: these are repeated words that come up when the cultural world discusses Brexit. The ability to, largely, move around Europe and work with artists, companies, festivals and other organisations is a key part of the infrastructure of the cultural world. It is not a perk of being in the EU for artists, festivals and companies: it is core to their artistic existence.
Travel, visas, and the ease of artistic collaboration are real factors. Another is the potential loss of access to funding from Creative Europe, the EU culture body powered by millions of pounds in funds, and which earlier this year unveiled a series of projects it is funding in Scotland.
This week, Nick Barley, director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, said the situation was potentially dire, and damaging for both Edinburgh’s festivals and culture in general.
He said: “For visitors coming from outside the European economic area, there’s unquestionably been an increase
Writers around the world tell me they regard Britain as a diminished nation, by reputation Nick Barley, Edinburgh International Book Festival director
Working internationally is key to ensuring Scotland remains a successful and distinctive creative nation connected to the world Iain Munro, interim chief executive of Creative Scotland
in the number of refused visas in recent years. And if that same process applies after Brexit, then it is inevitable there will be an increase in temporary visas declined from European visitors as well. And if that’s the case, then that’s going to be damaging for all festivals and arts organisations that wish to have exchanges with artists, musicians, writers and so on coming from Europe.
“The consequences of that are difficult to measure, but it seems clear to me Edinburgh’s festivals, specifically, depend for their very lifeblood on international performers – it is Scotland on the international stage – and if we cannot have an international stage then Edinburgh’s festivals will no longer be the same thing they have been. That’s not to say the festivals would die, but their reputation would be substantially damaged.”
Fiona Robertson, director of the northeast’s Sound festival, has already warned of the chilling effect of Brexit on international collaborations. The festival has worked with partners in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and elsewhere. Robertson has said: “We have huge concerns Brexit could impact on our ability to commission new work such as this.”