ROSEMARY Goring ("Reaction to Scottish Youth Theatre cut has been hysterical", The Herald, March 14) makes some valid points about the plight of the Scottish Youth Theatre (SYT) – particularly the hysterical nature of the discourse, the proliferation of other youth theatres and funding being dependent on quality rather than right – but I take issue with two points.
To suggest that “major national institutions” more often than not produce quality (let’s call it high art), whereas those “lower down the scale” more often than not produce something “closer to social work” (let’s call it low art) reeks of snobbishness. I have paid through the nose to sit through many a dirge produced by “major national institutions” whose audiences are predominantly professionals, retirees and widows, some of whom are obviously lacking in the sleep department.
And, similarly, to suggest that “lower down the scale” companies more often than not “benefit the community” rather than “produce or advance professional artists” is quite frankly false. Having worked for a variety of theatre-in-education companies throughout the UK, I know that they do both – and very often to a high degree.
State-sponsored funding of the arts is, indeed, a contentious issue (I’m in the more corner and, like Ms Goring, nonplussed about SYT) and politicians should tread cautiously before wading into the debate about who gets what, how much and when. That’s for Creative Scotland to decide.
My only wish is that more funding is made available and awarded to companies “lower down the scale” – particularly those based outwith Glasgow and Edinburgh. As it stands, the arts and funding of the arts is the inverse of Jeremy Corbyn’s election slogan: for the few, not the many.
Peter Callaghan,
41 Park Avenue, Falkirk.
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