Following Creative Scotland’s announcement earlier this morning about the delay to the Multi-Year Funding announcements, with our colleagues at SCAN, FST have written initially to the Senior Leadership Team and Chair of Creative Scotland expressing concerns and making some practical requests on behalf of members.
We will keep you updated as regularly as we can on subsequent activities. As this is a fast-moving situation, if there is information you would like to share with us, please don’t hesitate to contact fiona.sturgeonshea@scottishtheatre.org.
The initial letter is as follows, and can also be downloaded using the following link:
Dear Robert, Iain and Dana,
Thank you for this morning’s email clarifying that Multi-Year Funding decisions will now not be available until January. We have now reached the anticipated cliff edge and organisations will need to take immediate, and in some cases significant, action to safeguard their futures.
As sector support organisations, we have been in consistent contact with our members and colleagues in the sector, and are receiving many concerns and questions.
We are asking you to take some simple immediate steps to share information and believe these could provide some reassurance and support in the coming weeks.
Please hold an online briefing meeting for all current Multi-Year Funding applicants to provide them with an update of anticipated steps and timelines for the Multi-Year Funding process.
Please ensure that every current Regularly Funded Organisation has an individual call with their lead officer in the next 14 days to ensure that Creative Scotland has clear, useful and up to date information about the implications of the delay and that organisations can be made aware of options and future timelines around transition plans and urgent support options.
Please hold an open meeting with all relevant senior staff and chairs of current RFOs to ensure that teams and boards have the opportunity for a shared baseline of information as they model scenarios, particularly around “going concern” issues.
Please initiate a process whereby those organisations who receive project or targeted funds can signal to Creative Scotland if they now consider themselves at risk.
We know a very complex range of factors is at play here, and while we understand the big picture around Scottish Government budgets is outwith your control, we think information flow and connection with the sector could have a significant role in helping colleagues across the sector understand, and deal with, the continued uncertainty.
We have reached a moment of unprecedented crisis and will work with you in every way possible to safeguard jobs and secure the future of our cultural organisations for their audiences, artists and employed and freelance workforce in communities across Scotland.
Sincerely
Fiona Sturgeon Shea, Federation of Scottish Theatre
Moira Jeffrey, Scottish Contemporary Art Network