Funding for composer is ‘hypocrisy’
A leading Scottish composer who once described an arts movement backing Scottish independence as “Mussolini’s Cheerleaders” has been accused of “hypocrisy” after accepting a six-figure grant to stage a programme of his works later this year.
David Greig, one of Scotland’s most prolific playwrights has accused Scotland’s leading composer, Sir James Macmillan, of “hypocrisy” for accepting Scottish Government funding to stage a programme of his work at the Edinburgh International Festival.
Greig, artistic director of Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre, responded angrily to an interview with Macmillan in which he expresses pride at a forthcoming 60th birthday celebration of his repertoire.
The Scottish Government has provided direct funding of £150,000 to the EIF for five concerts of his work, including a brand new symphony.
Greig insisted he had no objection to Macmillan receiving government funding, but was surprised that Macmillan had been willing to accepted it given his “very public objections” to such initiatives.
Greig suggested Macmillan was guilty of “hypocrisy” in agreeing to part of the Scottish Government’s Festivals Expo programme when he had regularly railed against artists being “government stooges”.
Greig also recalled the composer comparing the National Collective, a cultural movement for Scottish independence, to “Mussolini’s cheerleaders.”
In the run-up to the 2014 referendum, Macmillan suggested National Collective, which Greig was involved with, was producing “propaganda masquerading as art”.
Writing in The Scotsman in 2014, Macmillan said there was “some justification in the anxiety about artists huddling together and snuggling up to government politicians”.
He also slated the SNP administration for “turning cultural endeavour into state propaganda” by instigating its own strategy for the sector.
However, in an interview for the EIF, which culture secretary Fiona Hyslop has shared on social media, the composer said: “I’m very proud that a focus like this is happening in my own country, especially at the Edinburgh International Festival, which I have loved
since I was a teenager.”
Greig said: “I’ve no objection to Sir James receiving money from the Scottish Government’s Expo fund. In fact, I totally support it. I merely expressed surprise that – given his very public objections to ’state art’ – that he should be willing to accept it.
“I hope he will continue to seek and receive funds from this and any future Scottish
governments. I whole-heartedly believe in government support for the arts.
“That’s partly why I support there being a strategy for such support.
“But, in the past, Sir James has spoken about young Scottish artists who accept government support, or who engage with independence as an idea, as if they are somehow acting in bad faith.
“I don’t think they are. I wish he would recognise that. During the indyref he called the young artists of National Collective ‘Mussolini’s cheerleaders’. If he feels the SNP are akin to Mussolini, I’m mildly surprised he’s willing to be part of their ‘Expo’.
Sir James was unvailable to comment on Greig’s remarks.