Creative Scotland on the defence

The Chair of Creative Scotland, Sir Sandy Crombie, has responded to an open letter co-signed by some of Scotland’s leading playwrights, raising fears that Creative Scotland’s new funding framework (AP253) will lead to “insecurity and misdirected management energies… rather than the proper administration of scarce resources.” Under the new system, two-year funding agreements for 49 of Scotland’s arts companies will come to an end in March 2013 when Creative Scotland’s ‘flexible funding’ (FXO) grant programme is abolished. The 49 will instead be required to compete for project funding from an open application Lottery-backed investment fund which will support anything from single one-off projects, to programmes of work over 1–2 years. Describing project funding as “a kind of limbo which may, just, be a defensible testing ground for young companies”, the authors say that it is “utterly unsuited to the flourishing of established artists and mature organisations”.

Defending Creative Scotland’s position, Crombie denies that the new system will mean ‘project by project’ funding for those who previously held grant commitments, but described it as an “opportunity to access greater resources over the same timescale as currently in place”. He further defends the decision to abolish the flexible funding programme in terms of its impact on those who were not previously in the core funding portfolio: “There are many organisations, groups, individuals and artists in whom we invest and who are not part of the FXO funding arrangement. Many of them have welcomed the opportunity now to have access to increased resources.” Meetings to help those affected by the change – which include “some of the most important theatre, dance, literature, music and visual art organisations that Scotland has to offer” – are already taking place, aiming to find the “right investment approach for their programme of work.”