Hansard

I commend the cabinet secretary for bringing this debate to the chamber and I join her in praising the outstanding work of the national performing companies over the past five years during which, as part of their flexible, inclusive and democratic approach, there have been thousands of large-scale performances and numerous comprehensive educational events. The broadening of access to cultural output through community outreach projects and work with our educational institutions is essential in decentralising the national companies and opening up to a much wider audience what they have to offer.

In my speech, I will deal in turn with Scottish Ballet and Scottish Opera and—if I have time—with the orchestras and the National Theatre of Scotland. I start with Scottish Ballet partly because of a constituency connection with one of their projects that will become clear in a moment.

Since 2007, Scottish Ballet has performed in front of more than 330,000 people in venues ranging from big theatres to community halls. It has set the standard for partnership working as a means of bringing ballet to new audiences and has operated in conjunction with English National Ballet, National Dance Company Wales and National Galleries of Scotland. Such an approach encourages cultural bodies to share ideas, create new performance formats and ensure that content is kept lively, fresh and relevant to today’s audiences.

For example, March this year saw the culmination of a project that was being run by Scottish Ballet and National Galleries of Scotland. “Desire”, which is an innovative performance event that was created by the gifted students of Telford College in my constituency, and Broughton high school, which serves a large number of young people in my constituency, sought to convey complex and emotional themes based on Scottish Ballet’s new production, “A Streetcar Named Desire”. It was a great opportunity for young dancers and choreographers and is an example of just one of the many ways in which our cultural institutions are adapting the manner in which they work in order to encourage new talent from all backgrounds. The students of Telford and Broughton should be proud of their accomplishments, and I hope to see many more such initiatives that encourage exceptional standards of performance and ambition in our young people and set a precedent for the future endeavours of our national performance companies.

Outreach projects are also instrumental in introducing young people to opera, and in challenging preconceptions about who opera is for and what opera is about. As a fan, I have always felt that politics and opera go hand in hand, just as opera and love so often go hand in hand. We certainly see love and politics come together in “Tosca”, which I look forward to seeing in a few weeks. Opera is a celebration of life and human relationships in specific social settings, and is often presented in a manner that transcends the years, with themes that are eminently relevant to the most contemporary of settings. Of course, as in politics, operas sometimes end in tragedy.

Before I leave that theme, I recommend a superb book about it by Anthony Arblaster called “Viva la Libertà!: Politics in Opera”, which is one of the best books I have ever read about politics. I warn Annabel Goldie that its political approach is slightly left wing, but I am sure that she would still enjoy its coverage of all the great operatic composers.

Apart from its major production, Scottish Opera also conducts an annual primary schools tour, which is one of our longest established and most popular education programmes, in which about 10,000 children each year see the performances. The operas are tailored to the young audience and their narratives convey advanced themes, such as environmental awareness, the creation of the universe and the need to protect the earth’s natural resources. By entering an inclusive process of artistic expression with a young audience, Scottish Opera’s primary schools tour aims to help children to garner a sense of self-fulfilment, confidence and self-esteem, which is so vital for maximising interest in opera as an art form and for reassuring young people that it is relevant to them.

We have heard mention of Scottish Opera’s initiatives for younger people. Many of us heard about “SensoryO” on the radio this morning, and reference has been made to the “BabyO” programme for even younger young people. I congratulate Scottish Opera for all that. It has enjoyed five years of direct funding from the Scottish Government and it is in good order. I am sure that the same can be said of the other national performance companies.

I see from the clock that I have only one minute left to cover the orchestras and the National Theatre of Scotland. I give all due respect to them.