Just two weeks before Edinburgh’s streets start filling up with tourists headed for the world’s largest arts festival, SNP ministers have told Scottish arts organisations to brace themselves for deep funding cuts. Five key organisations (including Scottish Ballet and National Theatre of Scotland), which are granted £23m annually, have been asked to budget for a 10% reduction from next April. More than 50 organisations in total, funded by the newly established government arts agency Creative Scotland, will be affected by tightened government spending. Andrew Dixon, Chief Executive of Creative Scotland in charge of administering an overall budget of £60m, said, “We’ve just got to find some ways of weathering the storm and making every pound we put in go further.”
Published: 02-08-2010