Creative Scotland has warned the country’s arts sector that they “will not be able to support as many organisations” as they currently do after a huge surge in demand for money.
More than 500 applications have been made for the multi-year funding, far more than the 350 who currently receive cash from the national development body for culture.
To fund all of the new applications would cost the quango £113m a year. However, Creative Scotland’s one-year budget from the Scottish Government, combined with National Lottery funding, is £96m.
The current cost of supporting 350 organisations on a multi-year basis is around £45m.
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Earlier this year, Creative Scotland’s Chief Executive, Ian Munro warned of major cuts for arts organisations.
He told MSPs he was “very concerned about the short and the medium and the long term future” of the sector and warned that a quarter to a third of organisations currently funded could be “at risk in the months ahead.”
The new Multi-Year Funding is for creative and cultural organisations, to support “core costs and their programmes of work” between 2025 and 2028.
It replaces the Regular Funding for Organisations (RFO) programme and elements of regular support provided through other funds.
That means that just about every major theatre in Scotland, as well the Scottish Book Trust, the Tramway in Glasgow, the National Youth Orchestras and the National Piping Centre, among many others, will have applied.
Any organisation hoping to make a bid for some money had to register their interest by last week.
In the latest update, Creative Scotland said the fact that more than 500 companies had done so provided “a clear indication of the scale of ambition and need that exists across Scotland’s culture and creative sector.”
“It is also a reflection of the rising cost of operations being experienced by cultural organisations due to increased inflation, the continued impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the need to address historic low pay issues through Fair Work First, all against a backdrop of standstill funding over a number of years.”
They warned that based on current levels of funding, “these figures also underline the fact that Creative Scotland will not be able to support as many organisations on a multi-year basis as we currently do, and the application process will be highly competitive.”
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Creative Scotland said they would “continue to advocate on a daily basis for increased funding for culture and creativity in Scotland, and this will continue as we progress through the Multi-Year Funding process with a view to maximising the budgets available to us to support the Fund.”
Organisations will be told whether they have made it through the first round of funding in February and will have another deadline for details, with final decision due to be in October 2024.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government provides significant funding to Creative Scotland, and we will continue to work with the sector to support its long term recovery from the impacts of the pandemic.”
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