Leading figures claim that up to £7m will be spent on bureaucracy rather than artists
By Edd McCracken

THE Scottish arts world has united to denounce the government's plans for the establishment of Creative Scotland, the nation's new cultural body, describing the scheme as "crazy", "devastating", "contradictory" and worthy of "a revolt".

Leading lights including the actress Tilda Swinton, professor Seona Reid, director of the Glasgow School of Art, the author James Robertson, Mark Cousins the film-maker, Marc Lambert, chief executive of the Scottish Book Trust, and the poet Ron Butlin have all savaged the proposals.

Of most concern to writers, actors, film-makers, theatre producers and artists is the cost of merging the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen to form the new umbrella body, Creative Scotland.

All costs of the merger will come out of the new body's budget. The arts world is now warning that this will take money away from the arts and artists.

While no firm figure has been established for these costs, it is believed that it will significantly exceed the £700,000 originally stated by the government. It has been reported that one financial model being considered puts the costs at £7 million.

Oscar-winning actress Swinton is leading calls for a significant rethink. She said she was "deeply disturbed" that Scottish Screen and the Scottish Arts Council should pay for the transition costs, and expressed concern about the quality of advice being offered to the government.

"As a Scottish citizen and arts worker I object to the huge hole that will be left in our cultural life by this diversion of funds," she said. "This £4m to £7m bombshell would mean that cultural and arts funding in Scotland will be devastated in the next few financial years and would constitute a dangerously unpopular policy for a Scottish government to implement. Our fear is that this proposed course indicates a lack of practical, intelligent and informed advice available to our executive."

She described the proposals as "a short-sighted crippling of our creative output for the sake of centralist managerial convenience" and called on the government to "see beyond parochial national housekeeping towards our international identity as a culturally responsive and innovative nation".

Swinton recently staged a film festival in Nairn, funded in part by Scottish Screen. The event's co-founder, film-maker Mark Cousins, also attacked the diversion of funds from the coffers of Creative Scotland to pay for its formation.

"I am furious and many of the senior people in the film industry are furious," he said. "Scottish Screen gave the Nairn Film Festival a small sum of money, but an incredibly valuable sum of money. If the money available for film decreases in the next year or two, the Nairn festival is exactly the sort of thing that wouldn't be supported. And that would be terrible."

Cousins called on the government to foot the bill for Creative Scotland, adding that there would "be a revolt" by Scotland's art world "if the government doesn't pay for the transition costs". He went on: "The arts and cultural world did not call for this marriage, some of us think its a bit of a shotgun marriage. Then to charge the costs is a complete scandal. It will absolutely devastate the cultural provision in Scotland for the next financial year and maybe beyond."

Professor Seona Reid, director of Glasgow School of Art and former director of the Scottish Arts Council, said that if the government didn't pay the transition costs it would instantly alienate the country's cultural community.

"The set-up costs are quite significant, and to say they are going to come away from the arts and screen industries for organisational needs seems to me, from a strategic perspective, to be illogical," she said. "An agency that doesn't start with the support of the sector it is going to represent and serve will have a hell of a difficult time in its early years to make that up. Creative Scotland has a hill to climb anyway, but it will be a particularly steep hill if the sector is alienated by the method of its establishment."

Leading figures from the world of Scottish literature also called on the government to pay for Creative Scotland.

"This is an act of policy on the part of the government, and if they wish to create a new organisation with a new policy, then that should be borne by government," said Marc Lambert, chief executive of the Scottish Book Trust. "The arts sector has suffered enough, and is starved of real investment as it is."

Edinburgh's makar, Ron Butlin, described the government's current plans as "dangerous". "The whole thing is set up for the good of the artists, so if the end result is the artists get less money, it seems to defeat the object," he added.

Acclaimed author James Robertson added: "Creative Scotland shouldn't have a detrimental effect on what it is being formed to do: supporting the cultural life of the country. If the net effect is to do the opposite, then it strikes me as not a very clever way of going about things."

Some in the arts world, however, believe that enough money has already been spent on Creative Scotland. Bob Last is an Edinburgh-based film producer currently working with Oscar-nominated animator Sylvain Chomet. He said he would be "incensed" if more public money was spent on the new body.

"I think it would be wholly inappropriate for further funds to be provided for the transition costs," he said. "If it is, say, £5m, then Creative Scotland has to prove that it is £5m more effective than the existing organisations. And if its not, then why is it happening? It's the litmus test. It would be a bail-out before it even starts."

One reason why the cost of forming Creative Scotland has escalated into the millions is because there is still confusion over its exact remit and form, according to Stuart MacDonald, head of Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen.

"There is an impasse and great uncertainty," he said. "I don't think they can work out the distinction between the cultural industries, the bits that need subsidy, and the creative industries, which are all about economic development. It's incredible."

He added that this confusion is starting to affect the next generation of artists and creative individuals.

"It's ironic that at a time when Scotland is burgeoning and the creative industries are enjoying great success, there is huge confusion in the agency that is supporting that success.

"It seems entirely contradictory. And it's not helpful for all the emerging talent coming out of Scotland's art schools."