Blithe spirit

Major restructuring, rejection by Parliament and howls of protest from artists’ groups do not seem to have dimmed Linda Fabiani’s enthusiasm or resilience. Scotland’s Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture has embraced the task of moving towards a new structure for funding the arts and the creative industries with gusto. She was born in Glasgow, and brought up in a Scottish/Italian family where opera and traditional music rubbed shoulders with theatre and cinema, and a few hours in an art gallery seemed “a natural way of spending an afternoon”.

The idea of abolishing the national arts council and replacing it with an organisation better suited to the future has been closely examined, but ultimately sidestepped, by the other UK nations. I asked Fabiani what makes it right for Scotland. She pointed to the Labour Government’s Cultural Commission of 2003, whose recommendations were rather disastrously rejected by the then Culture Minister Patricia Ferguson (AP107). The suggestion at the time that two new bodies should be formed was reformulated, and the idea of ‘Creative Scotland’, a merger between the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) and Scottish Screen, came into being.

New moves
The Scottish Nationalists, then in opposition, supported Labour’s plans and have carried them through. “We all felt quite strongly that in the new landscape that we now have – not just in terms of arts, culture, heritage, etc., but the way that for example creative industries are becoming the major part of the economy – there is an opportunity that must be grasped,” said the Minister. She refers in particular to the digital gaming industry, which is supported by Abertay University’s annual ‘Dare to be Digital’ competition. “SAC has done a lot of good work over the years, but we all believed within Parliament it was time for a re-look at it,” she added.
Creative Scotland has already hit several major stumbling blocks. The original parliamentary bill fell when, despite broad support for the project, MSPs rejected the financial memorandum, criticising it as “the weakest that has been produced in the current parliamentary session” (AP173). A new wheeze had to be devised. Bypassing the direct move into becoming a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB), Creative Scotland will first see the light of day as a limited company. The Chair has already been appointed – Ewan Brown CBE FRSE, Vice Chairman of the Edinburgh International Festival and Chair of Lloyds TSB Scotland until May 2008 – and board members are currently being recruited. Its new status as an NDPB will be conferred at a later stage.

Raised voices
Fabiani rather blithely dismisses the idea of launching “yet another consultation”, but has recently come under fire for failing to include the views of the artistic community in her plans. A letter condemning the Creative Scotland proposals was signed by 440 artists. “I can completely understand that [some groups] feel perhaps that the Creative Scotland Transition Team didn’t properly listen to their concerns. I’m happy to meet with all these groups and I’m arranging some meetings,” she said. Acknowledging that artists have the cultural health of the country at heart, and not just their own funding, she said, “I really want to meet folks and ask them to tell me what exactly they are concerned about”, and added that no formal request to meet the protesters had yet reached her.
There are wide-ranging concerns, including the broadening of the remit of the new body to include the creative industries, the cost of setting it up, support for the exploitation of artists’ work for commercial purposes and potentially damaging changes in funding. Fabiani dismisses a recent Times article suggesting that set-up costs would mount to £7m as “speculation”, but the Scottish press recently heaped opprobrium on the Transition Team for spending £100,000 on consultants. There is also extensive disquiet about the lack of real clarity over the roles of existing bodies in relation to Creative Scotland.

Cash in hand
Despite this, Fabiani remains positive to the point of breeziness. She denies that the arts might suffer financially. SAC has in fact planned grant funding up to 2011. “We shouldn’t get into the trap of thinking that the only funding for the arts comes from one source,” she chides, citing local authorities and new sources such as Proceeds of Crime funding allocated by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice as important providers. “There is a responsibility for the agencies to work together to get the best possible deal for the users, and that’s what I’m trying to achieve.” As one might expect of a nationalist, she adds, “We’re a fairly small country: surely we can work together for the benefit of the country.”
She claims she is working closely with Scottish Enterprise – the NDPB charged with supporting the development of the creative industries – and COSLA, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. She also speaks warmly of the work of Arts & Business and clearly supports the idea of increased recognition for private donors to the arts. “I personally believe we have not celebrated enough in this country those for whom the arts and culture in this country is so important that they wish to contribute.”

Waving the flag
Nationalist fervour for the arts has also been the cause of some concern. Bringing the major national arts companies directly under the remit of Parliament was looked on askance by some who felt that Government might get too much of a say in the work they produce. “If only!” exclaims Fabiani, bursting out laughing. Further, she rebuts the idea – expressed very strongly by Arts Council England chief Alan Davey (AP180) – that direct funding had created “a threefold increase in administration for the companies concerned”. “I don’t think that anyone in the management teams at senior executive level would feel we are over bureaucratic,” she insists. “The feedback I’m getting is that the relationship is excellent.” Certainly, the new National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) can do no wrong – a recent tour to the USA resulted in tickets being auctioned on eBay and a ‘Friends of the NTS’ organisation being set up in New York. The Scottish Ballet is currently in St Petersburg and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in India, all energetically waving the Saltire.
The eyes of the arts, education and regeneration sectors are focused on another Scottish initiative: Sistema Scotland, which transposes the Venezuelan idea of transforming the lives of the poorest children through orchestral playing to the Raploch Estate in Stirling. The results of this experiment are keenly awaited, but Fabiani is keen to stress that it’s not a quick fix for all social ills. “When you look at the wonderful success in Venezuela, that’s been built up over decades,” she says. But she has clearly been moved to see whole families – parents and grandparents – drawn into the joy of music making. Whether the new structure will fulfil Fabiani’s vision of families happily taking part in a reinvigorated Scottish arts scene has yet to be seen. She will certainly need to answer her critics and still the voices raised against her if she is to establish Creative Scotland as a credible force.