Letters to the new First Minister and Cabinet Secretary
Last week we wrote to John Swinney, First Minster and Angus Robertson MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture to congratulate them on the appointment/continuation of their roles.
We also raised a number of current issues and queried the decision to remove the role of Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development.
The letters can be read below.
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Dear First Minister
I’m writing to congratulate you on your appointment as First Minister and to introduce myself as the Director of Culture Counts.
About Culture Counts
Culture Counts is a network of arts, heritage and creative industries organisations, advocating for the development and protection of culture as fundamental to our common future. Our members include Scotland’s major cultural representative bodies and networks, unions, National Performing Companies, Local Authority ALEOs, and many of the national companies, festivals and events. We work to represent the shared interests of our members to elected representatives and officials.
Over the past few years, we have engaged with Scottish Government on policy development. We have had close involvement in the National Planning Framework 4, Scotland’s Culture Strategy, the National Partnership for Culture’s Measuring Change Group, as well as the Government and Creative Scotland’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and our recovery. More recently we have contributed to the development of the International Cultural Strategy and have given evidence at the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee as part of their pre- and post-budget scrutiny work, both through written submissions and in person on behalf of our members. And called for £104million of investment for culture in the 2024-25 budget.
We are part of regular meetings between Scottish Government, Creative Scotland and Culture Sector Partners and we also work with members and committees of the Scottish Parliament. Culture Counts acts as secretariat for the Cross-Party Group on Culture and Communities, which focuses on the social value of culture as well as the Cross-Party Group on Creative Economy which focuses on economic impact.
Scottish Government changes
Whilst we welcome the continuity in retaining the current Cabinet Secretary, we were extremely disappointed to see the role of Culture Minister has been lost in the Cabinet reshuffle. The Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture has a significant remit and with the challenges currently facing the culture sector it is not clear why this role has been cut and does not demonstrate commitment to supporting the sector at this time of need. In addition, as Mr Robertson needs to be recused from key decisions that directly impact his constituency area, and where there could be a potential conflict of interest, this could leave decision making on key areas of culture in Scotland’s capital, unable to be taken within the portfolio. We would urge you to reconsider this decision and reinstate the Culture Minister role at this critical time.
Sector challenges
Culture Counts and sector colleagues have been warning of the perfect storm that faces Scotland’s culture sector for the past two years. We are now sadly seeing what a lack of investment with over a decade of standstill funding coupled with the impacts of Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic, high inflation, and the cost-of-living crisis really looks like.
Scotland’s culture sector is world class and attracts visitors in their millions every year. It supports jobs, generates income, drives innovation and has proven societal benefits from supporting health and well-being to social inclusion. However, the culture sector is a finely balanced and interconnected eco-system, so any losses have repercussions across the sector. Any organisation that disappears doesn't just leave a gap. It affects and changes everything connected to it. As cultural organisations fight for survival, we will see a growing impact on jobs, cultural services and in communities across Scotland. Large-scale contraction will have a systemic effect that can't be predicted or easily undone. Our artists, performers and freelancers are vulnerable, and some are choosing to leave the sector seeking more stability. Our reputation and ambitions as an international cultural leader are now at serious risk.
We warmly welcomed the Scottish Government’s commitment to culture, and to increasing investment in culture by £100million by 2028-29. There is no lack of understanding by the sector of the challenges of the budget however, there remains much to do to resolve the crisis and to ensure the stability and resilience of the sector. We would therefore call for the committed investment to be reconfirmed and brought forward at both the levels and pace that are needed.
The funding environment is extremely precarious with unprecedented pressures on Creative Scotland’s grants programmes. Levels of demand for the new Multi Year Funding Programme far exceed the funds available with no confirmation yet on what the budget will be. This year Creative Scotland will invest around £40million into regularly funded organisations, applications still under consideration for the next three years are sitting at £87.5million per year, suggesting that the result in October will be devastating for many. Those currently not in receipt of regular funding from Creative Scotland will have to wait until Autumn for decisions on grants starting in 2025 making this interim year incredibly tough, and for some, unsurvivable. We ask you to work with Creative Scotland over the next few months to address this significant gap in funding
Opportunities
Adequate investment and multi-year funding settlements have the power to reverse the impact of 13 years of erosion of culture budgets. The average spend on culture in other countries across Europe is 1.5% and Scotland’s investment of just over 0.5% of overall Scottish investment, finds it sitting near the bottom of these league tables. A target of at least 1% of budget allocated to culture would demonstrate its value is understood and provide the support at a level that will enable it to flourish and play a central role in people’s lives across Scotland.
Over a number of years, Culture Counts has built close and collaborative relationships with your predecessors, the Cabinet Secretary, and Scottish Government ministers and culture officials. I very much look forward to continuing this relationship with you as we work towards our shared goals. I would be delighted to meet with you to discuss how we can best work towards these aims.
Yours sincerely
Lorraine Anderson
Director
Culture Counts
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Dear Cabinet Secretary
I am writing to firstly congratulate you on your re-appointment as Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture.
We very much welcome the continuity of your role within the Portfolio at this challenging time. However, we were disappointed to see the role of Culture Minister has been lost in the recent Cabinet reshuffle. We have written to the First Minister to raise our concerns over commitment to the sector without a dedicated champion, particularly at this time of need. The scale and breadth of your remit, coupled with the current cultural challenges leave us concerned over capacity. In addition, potential conflicts of interest in your constituency, means some decision making relating to key areas of culture in Scotland’s capital will no longer be made within the Portfolio, if there is no Culture Minister to defer them to. Any further details on the loss of the Culture Minister role and a reconsideration of this decision would be very welcomed at this critical time.
On a related matter I am looking forward to participating in the Culture Fair Work Taskforce meeting for the first time tomorrow. This was to be co-chaired by the previous Culture Minister, but I understand with the loss of this role will not have a Minister involved beyond your attendance at the first meeting. This is of course disappointing for the reasons given above, but perhaps this is an opportunity to develop cross-portfolio working with representation from a minister from skills, employment, economy or equalities.
It was good to see you at the Connections and Partnerships: The Value of Culture in Communities event on Monday 20th May. Strategic approaches to developing cross-sector working and investment are vital, so this event was a positive first step. However, observations from Monday indicate we are we are still not getting the people we need to target into the rooms we inhabit. A different approach will need to be considered which involves a combination of political leadership to unlock barriers, as well as the culture sector going out directly to the rooms that other sectors are sitting in. We cannot rely on them to come to us any longer. We are happy to continue being involved in this area of work and look forward to hearing more on the next steps from the culture team.
As you are well aware the levels of demand for the Second Stage of Creative Scotland’s Multi Year Funding Programme far exceed the funds available with a shortfall anticipated of around £47.5million. There is significant concern from the sector that there is no confirmation yet of what the budget will be and that the decisions could be devastating for many. Those currently not in receipt of regular funding from Creative Scotland will have to wait until Autumn for decisions on grants starting in 2025 making this interim year incredibly tough, and for some, unsurvivable. We urge you to work with Creative Scotland over the next few months to address the significant gap in funding.
It was good to see the publication of the International Culture Strategy since we last met as well as a reversal of the cut to Bord na Gaidhlig impacting the network of Gaelic community development officers. Thank you for any interventions in this area.
We continue to offer our support to work with you to achieve our shared ambitions for Scotland’s culture sector and look forward to meeting again soon to discuss these opportunities further.
Yours sincerely
Lori Anderson
Director
Culture Counts