Protests at SAC literature cuts

Scottish publishers have greeted with alarm the news that the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) annual £100,000 Block Publishing scheme, which has allowed them to apply for funding for multiple projects rather than for individual books, has been withdrawn. Instead, SAC has increased the amount of funding available to independent publishers by £40,000, to continue support for single-book projects. Publishers have pointed to the £200,000 annual SAC grant made to the support and development organisation Publishing Scotland, and asked why more money is not available directly to the literature sector. SAC’s Head of Literature, Dr Gavin Wallace, has written to all members of Publishing Scotland, saying that “alternative models of funding are being explored” as part of the development of Creative Scotland (see AP169). He writes that “it is wholly incorrect to link our grants to publishers to our flexible funding for organisations [of which Publishing Scotland is a recipient]… The decision to suspend the Programme fund was not taken lightly, but, following the SAC’s financial settlement, the Literature Department was asked to identify savings in its open funds.” He said that SAC recognises that the changes “may hamper forward planning, delay or even restrict certain titles for applicant publishers”, but that he had “decided to prioritise those funds which directly supported posts, rather than projects” in order to “safeguard a wider infrastructure for literature”.