Still time to pull Scottish culture back from brink after Humza Yousaf’s undelivered funding promises - Brian Ferguson

Eleventh-hour campaign may be needed to avert catastrophe

One question has been at the forefront of my mind since it became increasingly clear that Humza Yousaf’s time in office as First Minister was coming to an end.

There is unlikely to be a swift answer as to whether his departure will make it more or less likely the extra investment in culture promised by the First Minister will materialise.

But the question will no doubt be weighing on the minds of those running organisations ahead of one of the most critical periods for the industry in modern times.

First Minister Humza Yousaf during a visit to the Thistle Foundation in Edinburgh. Picture: Robert Perry/Getty Images

Even before Mr Yousaf announced his resignation, Creative Scotland was already facing a £47.5 million black hole to meet demand for long-term funding when key decisions are made this autumn.

The sense of impending doom across the cultural landscape is, of course, a far cry from October last year when Mr Yousaf triumphantly announced his Government would “more than double” its investment in culture.

Given the pressure to respond to a growing “perfect storm” of budget pressures, rising costs and reduced income crippling organisations, his intervention should have been the moment to kick-start a real cultural recovery.

With Creative Scotland’s government funding hovering around just above the £60m mark in recent years, and the government spending more than £194m in total on culture in 2023, the First Minister’s pledge appeared, at least initially, to be the moment the sector had waited for. If only things were that simple.

The Girls of Slender Means is currently being staged at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. Picture: Mihaela Bodlovic

Right from the outset, the promise to deliver an additional £100m, made in the same speech at the SNP’s conference, not only did not add up but it came up well short of what should have been on offer.

Mr Yousaf’s promises were also accompanied with a crucial caveat that they would be delivered within five years.

However, importantly, this covered the period of Creative Scotland’s long-awaited “multi-year funding programme”, which will play a huge part in shaping the nation’s cultural landscape.

Hopes of clarity over how much the Government would commit to this programme dwindled with its Budget announcement in December.

Edinburgh International Festival director Nicola Benedetti with First Minister Minister Humza Yousaf and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, honorary president of the Fringe Society at the Scottish Government's festivals reception. Picture Andrew Perry

Instead, there was a vague promise of £25m of the £100m being delivered in 2025/26 – the first year of Creative Scotland’s programme – but with no confirmed detail of what its share would be.

Even worse, the Government has suggested that restoring Creative Scotland’s budget – quietly cut by 10 per cent weeks before Mr Yousaf’s speech – somehow represented the “first step” to delivering on his promises.

The most pressing issue for Creative Scotland now is whether it will have any idea of its future budgets before it has to decide on that vital funding programme in October. All the indications I’ve had recently have suggested that this will not be the case, even though that very scenario is the one Creative Scotland has been desperately seeking to avoid for the last two years.

It is inexplicable and insulting for the Government to continually talk about “additional funding” for culture and yet fail to set out how this will be rolled out in future years.

In hindsight, it would have been better not to dangle the prospect of additional funding if there was never an intention, or the resources, to actually deliver on those promises.

But there is still time to pull the industry back from the brink and all to play for over the coming months.

Given that those arts spending promises are enshrined in several key government cultural visions, along with the clear cross-party support for the arts in Holyrood, averting catastrophe is perfectly possible. In fact, it is also essential to avoid a monumental PR disaster for the Government.

But it may require a big 11th-hour campaign to pressure those with the power to do so.