Hansard

I congratulate Claire Baker on her new appointment.

I am sure that we have all attended some local winter festivals in recent weeks, and we are now looking forward to the Burns season. As the cabinet secretary said in her motion and as is shown in the evidence she gave in her speech, the winter festivals are hugely important on a national and international scale, especially in terms of the visitors that they attract and their contribution to the economy and as a celebration of Scotland’s unique culture. The cabinet secretary is also right to point to the important influence that they will have in Scotland’s year of food and drink and the various other themes in forthcoming years. We need only look at the impressive financial benefits of the hogmanay season to see the importance of that influence.

Winter festivals are also important to local communities. They can often provide a major community focus in areas that might not always have the same degree of economic and social advantage, and it is entirely appropriate to mention the vast army of volunteers, which Claire Baker has done in her amendment, who do so much to enhance the cultural experience in their own small town or village. Many events would not happen without them, and it is important that we support them in whichever part of Scotland they are.

Several times in the past, the cabinet secretary has spoken about the intrinsic value of culture for its own sake. I agree, as do the majority of commentators who make it their business to explore Scotland’s cultural activity. Some interesting articles and papers have been written in recent weeks, including over the Christmas period. I have been struck by some dominant themes that they contain.

First, if the referendum year created divisions in the arts world, as it did elsewhere in society, it also fired up a new intellectual debate in Scotland. That is incredibly healthy—it can be the theme through which we look at the celebration of our winter festivals.

Our artists have a great many interesting things to say about culture, especially on how the evolution of a nation’s culture can come about only through healthy self-criticism and freedom of expression. That is important. The cabinet secretary said that we must ensure that winter festivals are more accessible and meaningful for all. That has very much been a desired aim of our winter festivals. However, there is a broader issue on which to reflect.

The underlying theme concerns financial constraints. Local authorities, which often run our winter festivals, are under fire because they sometimes have to make difficult choices about how to prioritise their spending. Some have been criticised because they have chosen schools, social care or roads spending above spending on cultural bodies such as libraries and museums.

We should not forget—I am sure that the cabinet secretary is not in a position to forget—that, although Creative Scotland was able to disburse £90 million in its recent round of funding grants, the bids that came in were for well in excess of £200 million. Although that shows the extent of people’s cultural aspirations, there is a danger that, in some cases, some of the smaller events cannot be afforded.

That raises issues about resources and it flags up a tension in the arts in Scotland, which is that valuing the arts for their own sake, which is so important, sometimes does not sit easily with financial management. We need only read passionate comments from the film industry or listen to artistes in our orchestras and choirs to know how strongly people in the arts feel that tension.

That point was very much taken on board by Janet Archer—and the cabinet secretary—when Creative Scotland was trying to get over its problems two years ago. Those tensions remain—they are real tensions. Some of them are financial and some are about economic management.

It is an interesting time in Scottish culture because people have new ideas that are flourishing. To bring all that together, we need a seriously coherent strategy with overarching themes that interact with industry, tourism and lots of other businesses. That is an area that we must consider because it is a real challenge for the cultural sector. I hope that the Government can take that very seriously.

I move amendment S4M-11976.1, to insert at end:

“, but believes that in order to provide the greatest support for winter festivals, along with all other cultural activity in Scotland, there needs to be a fully coherent arts strategy that provides arts bodies, both local and national, with the integrated support and funding priorities that they need in order that Scotland can enhance its cultural reputation both at home and abroad”.