Scots music stars warn of ‘catastrophe’ over arts funding cuts

Scotland is facing a “cultural catastrophe” due to funding cuts, some of the country’s top musicians have warned the first minister.

More than 170 acts – including Paolo Nutini, Franz Ferdinand and Honeyblood – said in an open letter that cuts had sparked the worst crisis the industry has ever faced.

Creative Scotland has closed a major arts indefinitely over concerns about government cash.

The Scottish government said it provided significant funding to Creative Scotland and would continue to do so.

It has recently imposed emergency measures to halt “all but essential” spending to balance the books and help pay for public sector pay deals.

Creative Scotland announced last week it was closing its Open Fund for Individuals – which supports artists, musicians, producers and writers – to new applications after ministers were unable to confirm if £6.6m of funding would be released.

Musicians have joined a backlash from the arts sector, after 130 individuals and organisations urged the SNP administration to restore funding last week.

Biffly Clyro, The Proclaimers, Kathryn Joseph, Mogwai, Young Fathers, Dead Pony, Frightened Rabbit, Joesef, and The Twilight Sad are among those to sign the letter, sent by the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA).

It warned the lack of confirmed funding for Creative Scotland had “ignited the worst crisis that Scotland’s music and wider arts sector has ever faced”.

The letter said: “A cultural catastrophe is in process.

“It will lead to both direct and consequential job losses across an already underfunded sector, one which was disproportionately crippled by the pandemic and has yet to fully recover.

“The explanation that these decisions stem from emergency spending controls may reflect broader financial pressures, but they are devastating for Scottish culture, the economy and society.”

The letter called for artists and cultural freelancers to be treated with the “same respect” as workers in other sectors which have recently secured pay deals.

The musicians have called for the fund to be reopened with a £10.7m investment and a further £25m for cultural funding in the next financial year.

The SMIA notes the music industry was estimated to have generated £195m for the Scottish economy in 2018.

Alex Kapranos, lead singer of Franz Ferdinand, said: “This is a disappointingly short-sighted cut which will cost exponentially more than what is saved in the short-term financially.

“The arts are how a nation knows who they are. Without them we have an identity as two dimensional as the bottom line of a balanced account.”

SNP ministers have repeatedly said they are facing the most difficult financial situation since devolution, citing public sector pay deals, UK government spending cuts and inflation.

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “The culture secretary is in regular contact with the sector to discuss the issues it currently faces and how to address those challenges.

“We will continue to do everything within our powers and resources to protect our world-class arts and culture sector.

“We have increased arts culture funding this year, as the first step to achieving our commitment to invest at least £100m more annually in culture and the arts by 2028/29.”