Arts sector in Scotland at risk of ‘death by slow cuts’, leading figures warn
Arts leaders in Scotland have warned that the sector is facing “death by slow cuts” because of a lack of clarity over funding, with delays and funding shortfalls meaning some major institutions could be at risk of temporary closure within months.
Shona McCarthy, who is stepping down as the director of the Edinburgh festival fringe in 2025 after nine years, called for clarity from the Scottish government – not just on funding but also its wider arts policy.
“What is happening here is death by slow cuts,” she said. “Not just the funding situation but the policy environment that’s been created. There’s this attitude that the festivals are going to rock up and just happen every year. And they’re really not.”
During the Covid-19 pandemic, many in Scotland praised the government’s response, as several institutions that had never received centralised arts funding were able to get support. But there has been a chaotic funding environment since, figures told the Guardian.
The sector welcomed a pledge by the former first minister Humza Yousaf in October last year to pump an extra £100m into the arts by 2028.
But in August this year, partway through the Edinburgh fringe, the arts funding body Creative Scotland announced it was closing the open fund for individuals, which supports artists, musicians and writers, “due to lack of clarity regarding longer-term funding”.
A wave of protests at the fringe followed, as well as an open letter and petition, leading to a U-turn, which came less than a year after a £6.6m budget cut to Creative Scotland was reimposed even though it had been reversed earlier in 2023.
The situation has started to affect the viability of some of Scotland’s best-known arts institutions. Glasgow’s CCA, which began life in 1974 as the Third Eye Centre, announced it was to close in December until March 2025 because of “significant financial uncertainty”.
The Herald argued that arts funding was “drowning in a sea of neglect”, while Creative Scotland itself warned that the country’s arts sector faced a period of “managed decline”.
Beth Bate, the director of Dundee Contemporary Arts, said the delay in the announcement of Creative Scotland’s multi-year funding settlement, which was pushed back from the end of October to the end of January, was exacerbating the situation.
She said: “We’re faced with an almost impossible task of having eight weeks to get our budgets and our business plans in order ahead of the new financial year. There are many organisations that won’t be able to get signed off as a going concern because we have not only no idea what level of funding we’ll get; there’s no confirmation we will get funding at all.
“We’ve lost all that time to be able to properly plan and be able to deliver.”
Related: Scottish arts sector appeals to ministers over ‘devastating’ budget cuts
Bate called for clarity on the funding situation in Scotland and for the government to follow through with its commitment to increase arts funding by £100m. “They’ve continued to give really warm, supportive words to the sector … but we need to see that backed up by real action and real commitments,” she said.
“They say they’re going to be giving £100m to the culture sector over the next 10 years, but we have no idea how and when that’s going to be delivered.”
The Scottish culture secretary, Angus Robertson, said the sector was “an integral part of our identity as a country”.
“We await the chancellor of the exchequer’s budget announcement on 30 October which has a hugely significant bearing on the Scottish budget. Following that, we will be able to set detailed budgets for the coming financial year including for the culture sector,” he said.
“I will continue to work in collaboration with Creative Scotland and the sector over the coming months to ensure stability until Creative Scotland have sufficient clarity to be able to announce the recipients of their multi-year funding awards.”
