The Scottish public will have a chance to help shape the nation's new National Cultural Strategy, the culture secretary pledged last night.
Fiona Hyslop said that the conversation about the plan would be broadened after a meeting of nearly 100 writers, performers, directors, arts company executives, poets and film writers at the Glasgow Women's Library to discuss the SNP vow to establish the strategy.
Ms Hyslop said that several more consultations would take place before the strategy is written and the public would be able to take part in the next five months.
Issues she said needed to be discussed included cultural activity that exists outside the mainstream funded arts world, the issues of artist pay, and the impact of the losing EU funding.
Details about how the public will be able to take part in the consultation for the strategy have not yet been announced.
In Glasgow, the attendees were asked to consider what culture means in Scotland, and how a strategy might aid the cultural scene.
Attendees included staff from major institutions such as the V&A Dundee, the Edinburgh International Festival, Scottish Opera, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Celtic Connections, Creative Scotland, Scottish Ballet and others, as well as the composer Sir James MacMillan, the artist Jacqueline Donachie, the songwriter and writer Karine Polwart, the writer and director of the Royal Lyceum David Greig, and others.
Other attendees included the RSNO, Scottish Libraries, Arts and Business Scotland, Fife Cultural Trust, PACT, Glasgow Life, Y Dance, V&A Dundee, Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Celtic Connections, the writer and musician Darren McGarvey, known as Loki, the British Council, Sistema Scotland, Dundee Rep, SCAN, The Pier Arts Centre, Glasgow School of Art, Federation of Scottish Tehatre, the National Galleries, Event Scotland, BBC Scotland, The Common Guild, NVA and Feisean nan Gaidheal, among others.
In her opening speech, Ms Hyslop said various pressures were effecting the cultural world, from the impact of Brexit to pressures on public finding.
Ms Hyslop said she was clear that the strategy would not be a "top down" process, of the government dictating a vision to the arts world, but would try and involve the arts world in the formulation.
She said: "As the Scottish Government, we believe that culture lies at the heart of Scotland’s future, offering opportunities to experience life through a wide and enriching range of perspectives whether through, dance, literature and language, music, screen, technology, theatre, visual arts or through the objects we make and collect or the buildings and places we design, protect and cherish.
"The strategy must be underpinned by a shared vision that articulates the powerful and transformative effect that culture and creativity have."
She said the government was "open to new ideas and approaches about how the sector can be better supported, in a tight budgetary context."
She added: "Artists and freelancers too often experience challenging working patterns and uneven rates of pay.
"There are still too many instances of freelancers being expected to work for very little or for free.
"And for some, a freelance career is simply unsustainable unless they have some other means of support.
"The status of the cultural workforce and ways to improve their economic and social position is something that we are interested in exploring as the strategy develop."
Ms Hyslop said that the strategy would also look at the diversity of the sector.
She said: "It is only through the sector diversifying, and being inclusive and equitable itself, that audiences will evolve to more accurately represent society in Scotland today.
"And secondly, if we expand our view of what culture is, our understanding of people’s cultural lives will be greatly enhanced.
"We will see that people do engage with culture in a huge range of ways, formal and informal, traditional and emerging, and in ways that are highly visible to us and in ways that are more discreet and personal."
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "Engagement on a culture strategy for Scotland started yesterday with a meeting of around 90 representatives from across the culture sector.
"It was helpful to gather views from the sector at the very start of this process, as their expertise will help to define the strategy’s principles and scope.
"The feedback from this event will inform our plans for extensive further engagement over the next few months.
"We expect this to include public and sector-specific events across the country and will confirm details of these in due course.
"We will also invite the people of Scotland to engage in the conversation through a range of discussion channels."
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