FST is a member of Culture Counts and SCVO, and works with organisations across the culture and third sector. Many of these organisations are developing their own manifestos for the Scottish Parliament Election in 2026, which we support. We have linked to those below. In addition to those asks, we have identified three areas where were see a specific need within the performing arts sector in Scotland for our own manifesto. If you would like more information on how to use these asks to influence the upcoming election, please see our election guide.
1% for Culture
We support Culture Counts’ long-term ask for 1% of the Scottish Budget to be spent on culture funding. The average across Europe is about 1.5% of the national budget on culture, but Scotland typically only allocates about 0.5%.[1] We have welcomed the Scottish Government’s 2023 commitment to increase culture funding by £100m by 2028/29, but recognise that the sector will still be underfunded relative to many other countries. The performing arts can offer much across economic and wellbeing outcomes, but we require consistent, reliable support to deliver, including through a well-funded creative development body and local authorities able to invest in community arts.
Fair Work for Freelancers
The Scottish Government’s Culture Fair Work Taskforce is working on the application of Fair Work to the Culture sector, including freelance workers. There have also been leaps forward across the sector recently, such as through Lung Ha’s ‘Access and Creative Principles Toolkit’ to support working with disabled artists; the work of PiPA on supporting parents and carers in the performing arts; and the launch of the UK-wide Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority to improve safety. However, we know these advances are not felt by everyone in the sector, and freelance workers often bear the brunt of unfair working practices.
The performing arts sector is dependent on freelance work. Over 18,000 workers are supported by the theatre ecosystem in Scotland, and about 70% of theatre workers in the UK are freelance workers. The 2025 Big Freelancer Survey shows that, UK-wide, pay rates have been getting worse for theatre freelancers, with 44% being paid below the equivalent of the UK National Living Wage in 2023-24. We ask that all future advances in fair work include specific applicability to freelance workers, including clear frameworks for enforcement, to allow much more of our sector to feel the benefits of fair work.
Pathways into Performing Arts
As a sector, the performing arts relies on a steady flow of people at all points of their career, from young people entering the sector with the latest training, to those who have the breadth of experience needed to lead on complex projects. However, years of instability have led to a break in that career development path. Scottish Youth Theatre’s 2024 report, Foot in the Door, illustrated the gap between finishing training and getting professional work in the sector. In particular, 77% of respondents felt the cost-of-living crisis had harmed their career progression, in part due to being less able to take on lower paid, short-term, or precarious work. Geography was also a significant barrier, with a lack of early career opportunities outside the Central Belt and cities.
While the sector is working to address this through paid programmes such as SYT’s Trajectories and FST’s Bursaries, they are highly competitive and a long way from being able to meet demand, and do not cover all aspects of performing arts work. We ask for long-term financial commitment to establish much needed graduate/early-career schemes across the performing arts, with recognition that unpaid opportunities are exclusionary; and specific support for early-career performing arts practitioners in rural and remote communities. Investment in early-career creatives is a strong investment in the future of a thriving theatre sector across Scotland.
[1] The 2025/26 Scottish Budget included £238m for Arts & Culture, £76m for Historic Environment and Architecture, and £34m for National Records of Scotland. Together, these amount to 0.5% of the overall 2025/26 Scottish Budget.
Other Manifestos
Equal Media and Culture Centre at Engender – ‘Transforming Culture for a Fairer Scotland’ Manifesto