Johnny Gailey argues that Creative Scotland’s new Annual Plan marks a major shift away from UK cultural policy, and may just display signs that the funder is beginning to understand the intrinsic value of culture.
Last Thursday, Creative Scotland published its Annual Plan for 2014-15. It’s a big year in Scottish society, and whatever the outcome of the September independence referendum there is an ongoing debate about the sort of country Scotland wants to be. While the current UK government continues to cut public funding and seek alternative resources, the Scottish arts agency’s plan seems to represent an explicit aim to build more public investment in culture. As such, it marks a major, albeit quiet, shift and divide between UK and Scottish cultural policy.
The scene was set for this ideological divergence early last summer. Maria Miller, at the time the UK’s Minister for Culture, delivered her misfiring first policy speech, setting out her belief that the arts “are fundamental to our success as a nation” and “at the centre of economic growth.” It was a message that allowed Fiona Hyslop, Scotland's Culture Minister, to adroitly respond the following week, seizing the opportunity to speak out as a member of a government that ‘understood’ culture and didn’t just see it in economic terms... Keep reading on a-n
Last Thursday, Creative Scotland published its Annual Plan for 2014-15. It’s a big year in Scottish society, and whatever the outcome of the September independence referendum there is an ongoing debate about the sort of country Scotland wants to be. While the current UK government continues to cut public funding and seek alternative resources, the Scottish arts agency’s plan seems to represent an explicit aim to build more public investment in culture. As such, it marks a major, albeit quiet, shift and divide between UK and Scottish cultural policy.
The scene was set for this ideological divergence early last summer. Maria Miller, at the time the UK’s Minister for Culture, delivered her misfiring first policy speech, setting out her belief that the arts “are fundamental to our success as a nation” and “at the centre of economic growth.” It was a message that allowed Fiona Hyslop, Scotland's Culture Minister, to adroitly respond the following week, seizing the opportunity to speak out as a member of a government that ‘understood’ culture and didn’t just see it in economic terms... Keep reading on a-n