A Culture Act for Scotland
Part of: Our work
The case for the development of new cultural legislation over the current Scottish Parliamentary term (2021-2026)
Navigation: Introduction | Briefings and evidence | Support for A Culture Act for Scotland | Principles of development | Frequently asked questions
Introduction
In the run-up to the 2026 Scottish Parliament Election, Culture Counts began building the case for the development A Culture Act for Scotland in the new parliament. The call for cultural legislation was supported across the cultural sector and recognised across the political spectrum - parties holding 85 of the 129 seats in the new Parliament made manifesto commitments to explore it over the next five years.
Scotland’s cultural and creative output is recognised and admired across the world. The sector makes a substantial contribution to the economy, to outcomes across public policy and to Scotland’s international standing and reputation. But there is a growing recognition that existing policy framework for culture is not enough to secure long term stability or to integrate cultural investment more coherently with Scotland’s wider policy objectives.
A clearer statutory footing could change the basis on which decisions are made. Instead of responding primarily to annual budget pressure, national and local government could align cultural investment more deliberately with priorities in health, education, community development and economic policy, and assess impact against agreed outcomes rather than short term financial constraint alone.
Briefings and evidence
Culture Spending Tracker, June 2026 Analysis
How cultural legislation could change the basis upon which investment decisions around culture are made.
How a Culture Act for Scotland could improve health and wellbeing outcomes and reduce NHS spend (February 2026)
Recent articles in the Scotsman (February 2026, March 2026) make the case for A Culture Act for Scotland to maximise the power of preventative spend in healthcare.
A Culture Act for Scotland: Strengthening and Enabling Local Democracy (January 2026)
Our partners at Community Leisure UK have produced a briefing on the potential for a Culture Act for Scotland to empower local authorities to recognise, value and protect their cultural infrastructure and services.
Learning from Wales and Ireland (January 2026)
We held an event with speakers from the Creative Ireland Programme and the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales to look at learning and lessons from recent cultural legislation in Wales and Ireland and to inform ongoing conversations about the opportunities and potential for A Culture Act for Scotland.
Learning from other countries' legislative approaches (November 2025)
This briefing provides an overview of approaches to legislating for culture taken in other countries and contexts, highlighting approaches and statutes in Finland, Lithuania, Ireland, Belgium (Flanders), Sweden, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Wales and Estonia.
Background Briefing - A Culture Act for Scotland (October 2025)
Support for A Culture Act for Scotland
Open Letter (January 2026)
On Burns Night, 25 January 2026, we sent an open letter to leaders and culture spokespeople of Scottish political parties, making the case for the development of A Culture Act for Scotland in the next parliament. The letter was signed by more than 70 of Scotland’s cultural icons and sector leaders.
The letter also featured on the front page of the Herald.
Voices of A Culture Act for Scotland
We’ve been asking people to tell us why they’d like to see A Culture Act for Scotland, and what the benefits could be from their perspective.
Principles of Development
A Culture Act would represent a substantive piece of public policy development. Its success would depend entirely on a process of development that is consultative, inclusive and ambitious from the outset. At this early stage, we have defined the following principles for that process of development:
Consultative - developed in collaboration with the sector, the public, and partners across related policy areas, and flexibly responding to the differing needs across the diversity of Scotland’s places
Inclusive - centring equity and recognising that opportunities to experience, participate in and create art are not experienced equally by all
Ambitious - celebrating the strength and breadth of Scotland’s cultural sector, and seeking to maximise the opportunities for it to thrive, for everyone, and for the long term
Frequently asked questions
We’ve prepared a handy FAQs document with some common questions about A Culture Act for Scotland.