Joyce McMillan examines the reasons why the relatively generous arts funding in Scotland is not making the impact it should.
There was a strange atmosphere of mixed emotions as the Scottish theatre community gathered at the Tron Theatre last weekend to celebrate the annual Critics’ Awards For Theatre In Scotland (CATS).
As ever, there was plenty of thrilling work to celebrate, as Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre picked up an armful of awards for one of the most exciting seasons ever produced there. Yet there was also an undercurrent of sadness and anxiety, following the recent closure of the Arches – until last week, one of the key powerhouses of Scottish theatre.
There was also a sense of insecurity and threat among many other companies at the Tron, including the Lyceum itself, hit by a 17 per cent grant cut in last autumn’s Creative Scotland funding round. This year, in other words, it feels as though Scottish theatre is at a dangerous corner, with a cold rhetoric of enforced economies and imminent cuts sending a chill across the landscape. And yet, this is a sector which has not, overall, suffered any major central government cuts in recent years, and which is – in real terms – almost twice as well funded as it was in the 1990s... Keep reading on The Scotsman
There was a strange atmosphere of mixed emotions as the Scottish theatre community gathered at the Tron Theatre last weekend to celebrate the annual Critics’ Awards For Theatre In Scotland (CATS).
As ever, there was plenty of thrilling work to celebrate, as Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre picked up an armful of awards for one of the most exciting seasons ever produced there. Yet there was also an undercurrent of sadness and anxiety, following the recent closure of the Arches – until last week, one of the key powerhouses of Scottish theatre.
There was also a sense of insecurity and threat among many other companies at the Tron, including the Lyceum itself, hit by a 17 per cent grant cut in last autumn’s Creative Scotland funding round. This year, in other words, it feels as though Scottish theatre is at a dangerous corner, with a cold rhetoric of enforced economies and imminent cuts sending a chill across the landscape. And yet, this is a sector which has not, overall, suffered any major central government cuts in recent years, and which is – in real terms – almost twice as well funded as it was in the 1990s... Keep reading on The Scotsman