Leaders must be persuaded to head off catastrophe

For those trying to balance the books and keep the lights on, Scotland’s arts scene has been in a state of crisis for four pretty bleak years now.

John Swinney’s decision to retain Angus Robertson as culture secretary may disappoint some who felt a new approach was needed to reset the Scottish Government’s frayed relations with the culture sector.

But there is a strong argument that the last thing the troubled industry needed was any more unnecessary upheaval.

Stability is a long-forgotten concept for most arts organisations as costs have risen while funding has remained standstill, with many workers moving on for better pay and conditions.

The next few months are the most crucial period for the cultural sector for six years, when Creative Scotland last announced a long-term funding programme.

Its next round, delayed by several years by the pandemic, will play a huge part in shaping the cultural landscape in the near future.

Given the importance of the programme, which is meant to fund work from April 2025, and a promise of decisions in October, it is astonishing that Creative Scotland has no real indication of its future budgets.

The government recently suggested it will have to wait until its overall budget is set in December, potentially pushing back decisions on theatres, festivals and arts organisations until January.

Sorting this mess out is by far the most pressing issue for Mr Robertson to make swift progress on with John Swinney and Kate Forbes.

Forced to prepare for another year of standstill funding, Creative Scotland is looking at a potential gap of around £47.4m to meet the current level of demand, without any clear guidance, as yet, on who or what to prioritise or protect.

Chief executive Iain Munro has spent months trying to persuade the government to set out its share of the overall arts funding pot for future years after repeated pledges that the industry would see culture spending “more than double” by 2028.

An initial announcement, which described the restoration of Creative Scotland’s funding after a 10 per cent cut as the “first step” to delivering on those promises, was an embarrassing let-down from the government.

Although the prospect of an additional £25m in the next financial year has been dangled, Creative Scotland still has no idea if or when it might see any of that.

But given its willingness to highlight its funding gap, Mr Robertson has a very good idea of what will be needed to secure the future of the sector.

The key question is whether he is able to persuade Mr Swinney and Ms Forbes to loosen the purse strings in enough time to avoid a cultural catastrophe.