The Stage

MSPs dismiss plan to replace Scottish Arts Council

Published Tuesday 27 September 2005 at 12:20 by Nuala Calvi

Proposals to scrap the Scottish Arts Council and replace it with two new bodies covering funding and promoting the arts have been roundly rejected by Scottish MPs and the country’s culture minister.

In a debate on the report by the Cultural Commission, which was set up over a year ago to review cultural provision in Scotland, minister Patricia Ferguson admitted the current infrastructure was no longer fit for purpose but said she was “not convinced” that the commission’s solution was the right one.

She also refused to endorse its recommendation to increase cultural spending to 1% of the executive’s budget, adding: “We would have to cost whatever we plan to put in place, so we cannot give such commitments ahead of time. I question some of the arithmetic in the commission’s report. I also point out… that the cash available to cultural bodies in Scotland has risen from £120 million to £180 million from 2000. That does not include the cash being spent by local authorities.”

Her sentiments on the future of the arts council were echoed by MSPs from the other main parties. Michael Matheson, SNP, said: “I agree with the minister that the commission went wrong with its preferred option for structural change in the sector. Its proposal that there should be two competing bodies - one dealing with funding and another dealing with priorities - is a recipe for conflict and simply would not work.”

But he also pointed out that the commission’s report highlighted the chronic underfunding of the cultural sector in Scotland and urged the executive to make a swift decision. “In the past six years, we have had a national strategy, two reviews and a commission, so it is understandable that the cultural community is somewhat sceptical about whether there will be any effective change now,” he said. “We need decisions to be made about what will happen and we need the minister to take action and show leadership.”

The response from parliamentarians leaves the future of arts funding in Scotland uncertain, following the £600,000 review. In the meantime, several of the Scottish Arts Council’s core-funded organisations have had their funding applications brought forward by a year, in what is believed to be a reaction to the report.

Eddie Jackson, former chair of the Federation of Scottish Theatre, said: “We all agree with the sentiment that the outcome of the Cultural Commission is unsatisfactory, that their top line proposal to set up two organisations was never going to work. I’d hate to propose they do it again but at the very least the executive have to provide an alternative solution. But unless they are also committed to the commission’s headline proposals on funding, we aren’t going to get anywhere.”

A spokesman for the Scottish executive said a full response to the review would be issued at the end of the year.