Scotland

An employment tribunal has ruled 17 members of a former ensemble, which became insolvent suddenly last year, are entitled to a share of £30,350 compensation.

The Nevis Ensemble, which had a total of 19 fellows who regularly performed in care homes, prisons, schools and recovery groups, announced sudden insolvency in January 2023.

The charity, which launched in 2018 and gave almost 700 performances, said it was facing “severe funding challenges” and was “unable to deliver their activities” at the time of the closure.

It left the musicians they supported without a promised annual bursary of £11,000, paid in monthly £1,000 instalments.

The compensation awarded in the employment tribunal is for unauthorised deduction of wages, breach of contract and unpaid holidays.

Sam Dunkley, Musicians’ Union Acting Regional Organiser for Scotland and Northern Ireland said: “We are pleased that the Employment Tribunal Judgment has found in favour of the Nevis fellows and awarded compensation for losses suffered and for a protective award for the lack of information and consultation. 

“These musicians were dismissed with no notice or consultation process, leaving them in real financial peril and without the security they should have had.

“We hope that those engaging musicians take time to consider the impact of this finding and recognise employed musicians properly in their workforce, as well as following appropriate redundancy and consultation procedures when necessary.”

A total of 14 theatre and dance projects have received funding to tour communities across Scotland.

Among those receiving a share of £2m National Lottery funding through Creative Scotland’s Touring Fund for Theatre and Dance are Dogstar Theatre Company, based in the Scottish Highlands around Inverness, and Lyth Arts Centre, Scotland’s most northerly mainland arts centre based in Caithness.

Creative Scotland said the funding will enable a wide range of new and award-winning productions, such as modern adaptations of classic works, autobiographical pieces, musicals, physical theatre and spoken word performances, to visit small, mid and large-scale venues across 2024 and 2025. 

Paul Burns, Creative Scotland’s Interim Director of Arts, said: “We’re delighted to be announcing recipients of the seventh round of funding to support makers and programmers of some of Scotland’s best theatre and dance. 

"Featuring new and familiar names, this stellar line-up of shows is ready to hit the road and weave their magic with first-time and seasoned audiences in a whole host of settings.”  

An Elgin councillor has branded Creative Scotland’s allocation of funds in the county of Moray “astonishing” after it emerged that 93% of grants went to a single postcode.

Of the almost £2.26 million awarded in the region since 2020, nearly £2.1 million went to organisations in the IV36 Forres postcode area, according to the Local Democracy Reporting service.

Sandy Keith, the Labour councillor for Elgin North, said: "It’s absolutely astonishing that there’s not one penny for Elgin, and we’re supposed to be building a cultural quarter here.

"Did nobody notice that most of the money’s going to one postcode?"

A representative on behalf of Dance North Scotland, Findhorn Bay Arts and Universal Hall Promotions said: "Yes, these organisations are based in Findhorn and Forres. However, all three organisations work tirelessly to ensure that the wider Moray community benefits from the arts... [They] offer services that reach across the region and have cultural impacts that reach much further afield."

A spokesperson for Creative Scotland said: "In our continued drive to grow engagement with arts and creativity and to help build more diverse, equitable and sustainable cultural and creative communities for the future, we’re in the process of developing revised processes for distributing our funding to individuals and organisations.

"We’d recommend anyone wishing to apply for funding to get in touch with us and find out what support is available to them."

This article has been updated to include a response from Dance North Scotland, Findhorn Bay Arts and Universal Hall Promotions.