Scotland Tonight: Scotland's arts sector faces existential crisis as funding cuts threaten survival

Scotland’s arts sector is facing an existential crisis.

Funding cuts, short notice on crucial financial decisions and an increasingly competitive atmosphere are straining artists and arts organisations across the country.

Micah Mackay, a writer, artist, and fundraiser for organisations such as An Tobar and Mull Theatre, spoke to Scotland Tonight about the mounting challenges facing Scotland’s artistic community.

She says the core of the problem is a lack of a supportive infrastructure to enable long-term planning and is now calling for urgent action from Creative Scotland and the Scottish Government.

Creative Scotland, the public body charged with distributing arts funding, has faced sharp criticism from artists, industry leaders, and even local communities who feel increasingly abandoned by the very institution meant to support them.

Micah highlighted the impact of the delay to Creative Scotland’s upcoming multi-year funding announcement – now scheduled for January 2025 – as a pressing example of these difficulties.

She said: “We have a whole 2025 year to plan and programme, but how do we do that without knowing what money we’re getting? There’s no way of putting in a long-term plan when we’re given days to figure out how to use money – or if we’re even getting money.

The recent closing and reopening of Creative Scotland’s Open Fund brought these issues to the fore.

In what Micah describes as a poorly communicated move, Creative Scotland closed the Open Fund this year after an in-year funding reduction, causing uproar in the arts community.

Although the decision was later reversed due to public pressure, the situation left a backlog of applications that threatens to destabilise the sector even more.

The Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow is just one of the many victims of the arts and culture cash crisis as it will close its doors for good at the end of this week.

“We’re now in a situation where there are so many applications that Creative Scotland received in that very small period before they closed the fund,” explained Micah.

“It’s created absolute havoc. It feels like arts organisations and artists are living on a day-to-day basis. There’s almost no ability to think long-term because we’re not supported to think long-term.”

In response to the crisis, First Minister John Swinney announced the Scottish Government has launched a formal review of Creative Scotland’s approach to funding.

The review aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Creative Scotland’s funding processes and address the broader issues that have arisen from the rapid adjustments to funding.

Swinney has emphasised the Scottish Government’s commitment to the arts, pledging that “the government is acutely aware of the crucial role that arts and culture play in Scotland’s identity and economy”. The government also reinstated funding to the Open Fund after the initial cut.

In addition to the review, the Scottish Government has been working with Creative Scotland to create a more structured funding timeline and improve communication with artists and organisations.

However, as Micah and others have pointed out, the delays in budget decisions are still taking a toll on the sector’s ability to plan for the long term and many in the arts community remain sceptical.

“I think it’s also that the sector itself is getting incredibly toxic,” Micah said. “The levels of competition with artists competing against each other for funds create an environment that is just not conducive to collaboration or inclusivity, the things that we really say the arts are about.

“If we’re going to say the arts are about those things, we need a system that lets the arts be about those things.”

The disruption is taking a huge toll on individual artists, many of whom live with the constant uncertainty of when they will receive their next paycheque.

Some of Micah’s colleagues have been forced to rely on universal credit due to the irregularity of funding, despite having long-standing careers in the arts.

“Not knowing if you’re going to get that grant you applied for is so, so draining,” she said.

“You have this whole workforce that is constantly undervalued, who have to survive on these little pots of money and the hope that they’re going to get something from somewhere. It’s not a life.”

The mental toll, especially on underrepresented artists, is another growing concern.

Micah recalls a recent panel event where an underrepresented writer raised concerns about the lack of diversity in arts leadership, only to be told they needed to “do their time”.

This attitude, Micah argues, is emblematic of a broader cultural issue in the arts sector.

She said: “Why should the people at the top be so happy to see those just trying to make a living beaten down constantly? We’re supposed to be empathetic, understanding, and inclusive. If those attitudes are at the top, then we are none of those things.”

Even well-established events like the popular A Play, A Pie and A Pint at Glasgow’s Oran Mor, which has been running since 2004, are waiting on a funding decision.

The event’s future isn’t in serious jeopardy but staff share concern about the dwindling sector.

Brian Logan, artistic director and CEO of A Play, A Pie and A Pint said: “We can’t do any planning beyond March 2025, which is very close. Most organisations would start planning at least a year in advance and many decisions five years in advance.

“We’re now at a point where we’re very close to the end of our existing funding agreement – not knowing what is going to be there the following day.

“It feels like you’re making what should be pretty routine planning on a floor that is constantly shifting and undulating.”

The timing of funding announcements and the Scottish Government budget cycle has only intensified frustrations.

Micah is one of many artists calling on Creative Scotland and the Scottish Government to “clear up their strategic vision” and engage in meaningful dialogue rather than “politicking.”

For Micah and her fellow artists, the message is clear: they want recognition not as “political chess pieces” but as people contributing to Scotland’s cultural landscape. With the sector at a tipping point, many are left wondering if meaningful change will come before it’s too late.

A Creative Scotland spokesperson said: “The financial challenges facing the culture and creative sector in Scotland have been well reported and the continued roll out of the promised additional £100m is clearly needed.

“We await the announcement of the Scottish Government’s planned support for culture, including Creative Scotland’s settlement, in the draft budget statement on 04 December.

“We do not, as yet, have any details from the Scottish Government on their proposed review of funding for culture, including Creative Scotland.”

Watch Scotland Tonight Spotlight On… The Arts Funding Crisis on STV and the STV Player tonight at 10.40pm.