Cera Murtagh considers the current outlook for Scotland's culture and creative industries
For anyone who believes culture in Scotland is the preserve of an artistic elite without any real relevance to the national economy or the political agenda, they had better reconsider. The arts, by their very nature, may be subjective and abstract but at a commercial value of over £4bn a year to the Scottish economy, this sector is anything but soft, fluffy or trifling. With the creative industries predicted to overtake the financial sector as the most valuable element of our national economy, culture presents an enormous economic potential to Scotland – a fact of which the SNP Government appears to be aware and is keen to harness.
At 4 per cent of the Scottish economy, the creative industries employ 60,000 people in Scotland. What’s more, their value is rising rapidly, having expanded by almost a third in the five years between 1999 and 2004 and it is tipped to grow by about 10 per cent in the coming years. Net job creation in Scotland’s creative economy during these five years, at over 29 per cent was much faster than for the economy as a whole at 7.4 per cent and accounted for near a tenth of the increase in the number of people in work in Scotland. The world-famous Hogmanay festival, worth more than £35m to Edinburgh’s economy, is just one indicator of the level of revenue culture delivers in Scotland, also home of the world’s largest arts festival. Despite this positive picture, the majority of musicians in Scotland live on less than £15,000 a year. The need for a national strategy to capitalise on these profits and support those generating the wealth at the grassroots is vital.
But when it comes to culture, nothing is black and white. Culture is a multi-faceted and infinite concept that resists definition. It means different things to different people and different art forms are certainly not attributed the same value by everyone. It is a discipline that can only flourish under conditions of creative autonomy and free rein.
All this considered, it cannot be ignored that the majority of artists are entrepreneurs too and need to be recognised and supported as such – not only for the individual artist but also for the national economy. Policies are clearly needed to ensure that Scotland realises this opportunity, retains and reinforces the talent it is endowed with and allows it to grow
Policies are clearly needed to ensure that Scotland realises this opportunity, retains and reinforces the talent it is endowed with and allows it to grow 
. But how does a government legitimately intervene to promote the economic aspect of the arts without being accused of encroaching on creative freedom and compromising artistic excellence? How do you create policy and legislate for something that is so fundamental but has no agreed definition, purpose or value? In trying to satisfy the intrinsic and the instrumental purposes of culture, the Government has one complex job on its hands. So one year on, how is the SNP Government managing this precarious task?
With the SNP’s obvious position on the constitutional question and matters national, culture provides a useful platform to subtly advance the autonomy agenda. One way the SNP is cleverly wielding cultural policy towards this end, deliberately or by the by, is through broadcasting. Fulfilling a manifesto commitment, the First Minister has set up the Scottish Broadcasting Commission to investigate television production and broadcasting in Scotland and evaluate how effectively it serves the Scottish public. Chaired by the BBC’s former head of news and current affairs Blair Jenkins, people like former Labour First Minister Henry McLeish and playwright and former Green MSP Chris Ballance make up its membership. The independent commission is tasked with making recommendations to the Scottish Government, identifying matters for the Parliament to consider and advising action for other organisations. As a pivotal medium of culture, broadcasting is central to delivering the arts to the people.
Research recently commissioned for the body found significant dissatisfaction amongst the Scottish public towards news coverage north of the border with 53 per cent preferring to see a one-hour Scotland-based evening news programme and 82 per cent in favour of a dedicated Scottish channel. Poll findings like these could see the SNP move closer to achieving its manifesto goal of seeing a ‘Scottish Six’ news service created. Distinctive broadcasting mediums are thought to create a stronger national identity and greater Scottish broadcasting services would presumably provide a stage for more indigenous Scottish art.
With the three tongues of English, Scots and Gaelic in use, language is an element of culture Scotland is particularly rich in and one the Government has been relatively active in promoting. Since taking office, it has initiated a study of the Scots language to raise the profile of the language. In a bid to put the language on a more official footing, it has published its National Conversation white paper in Scots and is even incorporating it along with Gaelic in the new schools curriculum, Curriculum for Excellence. According to guidance for teachers, use of Scots words like ‘aye’ and ‘ken’ are no longer to be scorned in the classroom but accepted and pupils will study more literature in the dialect. Michael Hance, Director of the Scots Language Centre is impressed with the Government’s moves so far. He says: “There’s been great progress since the SNP came into government. We’re particularly pleased with the way Maureen Watt has taken on board our concerns about the Curriculum for Excellence and delighted that Linda Fabiani has commissioned the audit on Scots.”
On the Gaelic front, the Government has dedicated £7.5m of funding to help safeguard the language. The funds were allocated specifically for Gaelic education, projects in the National Plan for Gaelic and Gaelic broadcasting. It is backing the development of a Gaelic digital television station, Gaelic Digital Service with £12m funding.
A major plank of the SNP Government’s culture policy under minister Linda Fabiani has been cultural events and festivals. Perhaps as much a tourism drive as a cultural one but the minister has been eager to maximise the significance of Scotland’s national days in the minds of those at home and abroad and to capitalise on that. Eager to give the national day the same kind of international renown as Ireland’s St. Patrick’s Day, to encourage people to participate in the celebrations, the Government made 60 top visitor attractions free of charge. St Andrew’s Day last year also marked the beginning of the much marketed Scottish Winter festival running until Burns night. It is hoped that celebration of national festivities will foster a greater sense of national identity and Scottishness.
Promoting distinctive Scottish arts is a recurring theme with the SNP Government, reflected by Fabiani’s recent announcement of the ‘Edinburgh Festival Expo Fund’. As laid out in its manifesto, the Government is allocating £6m over three years to sponsor home-grown talent in the Edinburgh Festivals. The funding is designed to support new productions, events or exhibitions involving Scottish-based participants that premier at the Festival.
As well as a certain degree of ‘keeping it Scottish’ another defining feature of the SNP’s cultural policy is, ironically, an international focus. The cultural image we project to the world often helps us define how we see our own culture and realise the cultural assets we have to offer. Internationalism is clearly an important strategy of the SNP Government in its bid to heighten Scotland’s prominence in the world and gain equal status in the international arena with other independent countries, not to mention allowing Alex Salmond to look statesman-like in the process.
Marketing Scotland abroad is central to this approach. Scotland Week, formerly Tartan Week, was attached great weight this year by the First Minister who visited New York to proudly represent the nation. Last autumn the Government awarded £195,000 to the National Theatre of Scotland to tour America with performances of Black Watch and The Wolves in the Walls.
Likewise, the Scottish diaspora is accorded great significance. The two international networks for people with Scottish connections, Globalscot and Global Friends of Scotland are to be given greater focus and the links between the two strengthened, the First Minister recently told Holyrood magazine. Global Friends of Scotland, a Scottish Government initiative to promote Scotland culturally around the world is to have greater synergy with Globalscot, a more business-focused Scottish Enterprise network of over 900 business leaders. The idea is to promote Scotland in a more all-encompassing comprehensive way abroad and maximise the benefits of the Scottish diaspora from every angle. Great emphasis is also being placed on the Homecoming Scotland year, set for next year, the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns. Running from Burns night to St. Andrew’s Day, the programme aims to attract people of Scottish descent around the world with a series of events that showcase Scottish culture. As part of its drive to present a more attractive image to the world, the Government has also dropped the ‘Best wee country in the world’ slogan replacing it with the simple ‘Welcome to Scotland’.
Amidst some impressive initiatives, however, money remains an issue for Scotland’s culture. Always seen to get a raw deal and be pushed to the end of the queue for public funds by those involved, many cultural bodies are facing serious financial pressures. The most notable of late has been the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD), Scotland’s only music conservatory and one of its two drama schools. The academy is now facing a budget deficit of £600,000 next year following a pay award for lecturers. This threatens its intensive course in acting, theatre management, stage design and lighting and the drama school’s “conservatoire” with closure. Cuts to funding like this will reap serious damage to Scotland’s artistic legacy, according to campaigners lobbying the Government, potentially depriving Scotland of the capacity to nurture talent and produce the next generation of James McAvoys and Robert Carlyles.
Likewise, Hance of the Scots Language Centre highlights funding as a serious obstacle for the future of Scots, despite the Government’s progress on the language: “However, the language is facing a bleak future because decisions made recently by the Scottish Arts Council will lead to the destruction of the Scots infrastructure. We’re working very hard to persuade the Government that they should find ways to support the two key Scots organisations that have had their funding withdrawn. It may be that the only way to do this is to fund Scots directly.”
But probably the most significant action taken so far by the Government to reform the cultural landscape in Scotland has been the introduction of the Creative Scotland Bill. The legislation primarily merges the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen to form a single cultural development body, Creative Scotland. Launched in March, the Bill is currently going through Parliament and Creative Scotland is at a transitional stage, but planned to be up and running by 2009. The rationale behind the new body is to establish a framework fit for the twenty-first century that will reflect the evolution of the arts, such as new digital art forms and the convergence of various arts.
Creative Scotland’s functions, laid out in the Bill, are basically to promote understanding and appreciation of the arts, to support and develop talent, realise the value and benefits of the arts and support creative skills. It will carry forward the work of Scottish Screen and the Scottish Arts Council by providing funding and support to creative practitioners. It will also be expected to play a key advisory role in the development of Scottish culture - to provide advice and support to creative individuals, organisations and enterprises as well as to Government ministers. The body should provide strategic leadership and a central focus for the creative industries, according to the Government. It is also tasked with maximising the economic benefits of the arts as well as the social and cultural benefits. This is a fairly broad and general remit at this early stage, but what real difference will the new amalgamated body make to the arts in Scotland?
The woman leading the move, Anne Bonnar, Transition Director of Creative Scotland is enthusiastic about the potential for change the new organisation offers. She says: “Creative Scotland as the lead agency for the sector will have a key role to accelerate growth in Scotland’s creative economy. At present 60,000 people are employed across the sector contributing £4bn each year. There is opportunity for further growth in the sector and the new agency will play an important advocacy role as well as providing advice and support to ensure that Scotland keeps pace with the global ‘marketplace’ for talent and creativity.”
Amongst the creative scene, Creative Scotland has met with mixed reactions. Jan McDonald, Vice-President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh welcomes the Bill for its cross-disciplinary approach to the arts. She says: “We in the Royal Society of Edinburgh welcome the Bill. In fact we thought in light of the way the arts are evolving, having fewer divisions in terms of policy and funding will be of great benefit. Almost every art form overlaps with another, for example, film and video with theatre, performance with the visual arts, and so on, so therefore, the merger of the functions of Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen is happening in tune with evolution within the arts themselves.”
Likewise SNP MSP and member of the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee, Rob Gibson believes the Bill will be a boost to Scotland’s creative industries. He comments: “A single development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland is desirable. This does not mean it will be the sole funder but it can take a strategic overview of Scotland’s creative prospects. The Bill enables this to happen.”
Some other reactions are not quite so positive. One of the criticisms being levelled against the Bill is Creative Scotland’s expanded remit from that of the former two bodies combined but without a corresponding increase in funding. As it stands, the planned budget over the period of 2008 to 2011 is £50m, £50.9m and £48m in cash terms.
Lorne Boswell, Scottish Secretary of the cultural industries’ trade union, Equity is not convinced of the need for a Bill and is apprehensive about the funding issue in light of transition costs which will be run up in the formation of Creative Scotland. These costs, not expected by the Government to exceed £700,000 each year for the next two financial years, have been under-calculated, according to Boswell. He says: “As a trade union official, my primary concern is for my members’ ability to earn a living. The costs of transition of the new body will fundamentally come out of the pool of funding available for arts and the creative industries. And these costs have been wildly underestimated by the civil service. The arts will sustain an absolutely massive hit as a result and from that perspective and that perspective alone, we don’t support the Bill.”
McDonald of the Royal Society of Edinburgh also highlights this as key concern. She argues: “Well, funding is the real problem. The society supports the expanded remit of Creative Scotland…The experimental and bold strategy is welcome. Innovation encourages creative development. But with the budget that’s been allocated at the moment, it will be difficult to be as bold and innovative as government seeks to be. At the moment, the funding goes down after three years. That’s a pretty negative message.”
Bonnar responds to these concerns, saying that the body will look at new alternative methods of funding. She explains: “As a new agency, Creative Scotland will look to attract new and additional funding to support the creative economy as a whole. Creative Scotland will look at alternative funding models such as trusts, loans and private investment as well as traditional grants.”
Culture has always defied rigid definition and this is one of the issues of contention with the Bill. Whilst some within the sector argue that the absence of a definition from the Bill is an omission, others, including the Scottish Government, believe defining culture would be restrictive and counter-productive.
An issue which commonly rises to the fore when the Government gets involved in the arts is artistic autonomy and this Bill has been no exception. After an overwhelming concern for the ‘arm’s length principle’ amongst the consultation responses to the former administration’s Draft Culture Bill, the SNP Government made greater provision to protect the sector from ministerial interference. The Bill allows Scottish ministers to make grants to Creative Scotland and to determine the use of some of this funding. It stipulates, however that ministers cannot give directions to Creative Scotland in terms of artistic judgement.
However, for some, these provisions don’t go far enough. The Bill’s emphasis on realising the economic benefits of the arts has also sparked some concern. Boswell states: “The Bill doesn’t sufficiently establish the ‘arm’s length’ principle and we in Equity would like to see that principle reasserted. In recent years funding for the arts has been focused on organisations with social objectives and that is not the best way to nurture the arts. The reason for funding then ceases to be the art in and of itself but becomes what we want the social outcome to be.”
Rob Gibson MSP disagrees: “The freedom to support a wide range of modes in the modern creative industries scene is vital. The Bill makes this possible. It is not prescriptive as some would wish. I feel that the balance between economic activity and ‘art for art’s sake’ can be struck. I want to see Dr Holloway being much clearer about the ‘non-economic’ sector of the arts. It fits many criteria of the Scottish Government, smarter, healthier, greener, etc. I think that ‘art for life’s sake’ must be a priority of the CS.”
Enterprise expertise is a crucial factor which Creative Scotland must provide if it is going to achieve its aims of boosting the sector. An aspect of the changeover that is not yet fully clear is the transfer of the responsibility for creative industries from the enterprise agencies to Creative Scotland. Will Creative Scotland have industry expertise to offer the arts?
Will Creative Scotland have industry expertise to offer the arts?
At the moment there are no plans for the budgets or staff to be transferred from Scottish Enterprise to the new body.
For Pauline McNeil, Labour MSP and Convenor of the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group on Music Creative Scotland, this could be a positive development for the creative industries but she has concerns over the music industry’s ability to access enterprise expertise. She warns: “If Creative Scotland is going to encompass all of the creative industries including contemporary music, they must ensure that this body has commercial expertise and a strong connection with enterprise agencies. It would be the worst of all worlds if contemporary music was lumped in with Creative Scotland without access to enterprise capability. If the SNP care at all about the music industry, they will ensure that this does not happen.”
Bonnar explains that the transition team are in dialogue with the enterprise agencies but it is too early to say where it will lead. She says: “Creative Scotland will focus on ‘talent, content and excellence’, priorities which no other agency has. Both aspects are of vital importance - Scotland has talent across both areas and there are increasing opportunities for co-operation and collaboration – CS welcomes that dynamic and has already established positive and productive relationships with Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. We’re at the early stages of the passage of the Bill through Parliament and so there’s still lots to do to define how we will handle some of the important areas of future work with our partners.”
Given the immense value of Scotland’s creative industries, this is an asset that must be taken seriously, must be nourished and captured for the benefit of Scotland as a whole. The SNP Government is presenting an energetic agenda characterised by a focus on Scotland’s distinctive national identity, together with an outward-looking perspective, albeit amidst tight funding times. The new Bill has doubtless elicited some mixed feelings and caution within the arts sector. Whether it will reinvigorate the arts in Scotland and capitalise on their value, as billed to do, remains to be seen.
No one has commented on this article.
Related news items:
|
d.com is the premier destination for the political, public sector and business elite who come to the site for breaking stories and news coverage. Click onto political media watch for a summary and links of the best of the day’s political stories from other news providers or a review of the past weekends papers. 
