Scotland’s culture budget to fall by over £16m

Creative Scotland will suffer a cut of 3.6% under Scotland's new Spending Plans and Draft Budget for 2016-17, which allocates it £154m, down from £170m this year.

The five direct-funded national companies – Scottish Ballet, Scottish Opera, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and National Theatre of Scotland – will also see funding losses. They will share just £22.9m next year – a 17% cut from £27.6m in 2015/16. Although a reduced capital budget accounts for a significant part of this, the organisations will be facing 3% cuts in their revenue funding.

A spokesperson for the National Theatre of Scotland described their cut as having a “major impact” on their operating budgets, and expressed fears for the future: “ The fact that we are not being advised of subsidy figures beyond March 2017 makes our ongoing financial planning ever more challenging.”

Other government-backed cultural activity is also affected. Cultural Collections, a budget which covers the National Galleries, National Library and National Museum, will suffer an 8.5% cut worth £7.3m, though cuts to running cost will be only 1%. Major events and ‘themed years’ will see a cut of 25%, down to £2.4m. Although funding for Youth Music Initiative will be sustained at £10m, the total budget for other direct-funded arts activities is being cut by £2.9m, which could affect other programmes, such as Cashback for Creativity and Sistema Scotland.