The Stage

Scots government unveils £5m recession fund for arts

Published Wednesday 24 June 2009 at 11:46 by Thom Dibdin

The Scottish government has announced details of a £5 million package of funds aimed at helping the arts and cultural sector through the current economic downturn.

The announcement was made first of a series of quarterly meetings to update the Scottish artistic community on the progress in establishing Creative Scotland. The new Innovation Fund is the first funding programme to be assigned to the successor body of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen.

Culture minister Michael Russell told a packed Royal Lyceum theatre in Edinburgh: “It is quite clear that we have to focus that fund in some way on the recession that we are facing, on the difficulties that the creative community has but we still have to make sure that new things happen.”

The new funds include £1.5m for the Digital Media Fund, which Russell emphasised is “available right across the creative sector. For people who have never thought of being involved in digital media, this is a new opportunity”.

A new £1 million Odd Fellows scheme has been created to support collaborations of artists from across different sectors, there is also a £1m support programme for entrepreneurs and a £750,000 rural innovation fund.

The series of meetings is Russell’s attempt to keep the Scottish artistic community on side during the passage of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Bill through parliament.

Published on May 28, Stage One of the bill needs to complete by December 17. Russell told the meeting that he is confident of it receiving the Royal Assent in the “first four to five months of next year.”

During the meeting Russell made pains to point out that Culture Scotland is more than an amalgamation of the two previous quangos. He also confirmed that he has been unable to persuade the Charities Commission to grant the new body charitable status.