Creative Scotland fund halted over government budget cut

Applicants to the fund, which supports artists, musicians, producers and writers in pursuing creative outlets, will still have work-in-progress applications processed.

It was set up to support projects, productions or periods of research and development for up to 24 months.

But new applicants now only have until 14:00 on 30 August to submit their funding proposals.

Creative Scotland announced that 361 organisations had collectively applied for funding of £96m and that 351 were deemed eligible to move forward to the next stage earlier this year.

That was whittled down to 281 organisations with a total ask of £87.5m.

However, the body warned that “due to lack of clarity regarding longer-term funding” from the Scottish government it expected to have just £40m available to distribute.

Leading figures in Scotland’s arts sector campaigned against the previous cut when it was announced in February 2023.

It was paused, but the Scottish government U-turned in September and reissued the 10% reduction in funding, with the promise it would be provided as part of the 2024/25 budget.

Then-first minister Humza Yousaf pledged an additional £100m for the arts sector by 2028 in October last year.

That was said to include the £6.6m that was cut and then reinstated.

Creative Scotland had planned to use about £3m of that alongside £3m of National Lottery income to pay for the Open Fund.