Hansard

I join others in paying my condolences to the loved ones of Scott Williamson.

We can rightly be proud of our culture in Scotland. From the songs of Robert Burns to the poems of Dame Carol Ann Duffy, this nation has produced some of the greatest cultural works, which have made an invaluable contribution to not only our nation but the whole world. That legacy lives on; however, we must also recognise the huge contribution that today’s cutting-edge creators make at home and abroad.

Our screen sector brings millions of pounds to the Scottish economy, as do our video games makers. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland has just been ranked, yet again, in the top 10 performing arts schools in the world. I therefore fully agree with the cabinet secretary that we can be proud of our international cultural reputation. However, I hope that the cabinet secretary will agree that the only way that Scotland’s culture sector can continue to have a strong international offering is by having a strong domestic cultural ecosystem to support it.

Scottish Labour notes the publication of the Scottish Government’s international culture strategy. We largely agree with its sentiments, and it has many welcome aspirations. However, as the Campaign for the Arts has said, the “Inspiring Connections” strategy

“suggests a dispiriting disconnection from the reality in Scotland right now: access to the arts is gravely at risk due to years of underinvestment in Scottish cultural organisations.”

Its analysis shows that,

“Despite the Scottish Government’s pledge last year to ‘more than double’ investment in culture ... this year’s culture budget is actually 6% smaller in real terms than it was in 2022/23.”

Rightly, the Campaign for the Arts has said:

“Organisations can’t run on warm words – they need cold cash, or they will cease to exist.”

On that, the strategy lacks substantial costed proposals—perhaps because it was informed by a consultation and round tables that were held last summer, before the First Minister’s announcement in the autumn.

The strategy also fails to include the words “soft power” anywhere in the text. The culture sector is unrivalled in its soft-power capabilities for brand Scotland. Clear recognition is needed of that.

That brings me to the issue of festivals, which is one of Labour’s areas of focus for the debate. The Scottish Government rightly states in its strategy that festivals are “a key cultural asset” for Scotland. That is absolutely true. Our festivals bring in hundreds of thousands of visitors every year and give creators the chance to make connections with producers from across the globe.

However, right now, many of our festivals are in crisis, despite the Government promising to double arts and culture funding. In the past few weeks alone, Glasgow’s Aye Write literature festival has, regrettably, called off its plans this year because it could not secure funding from Creative Scotland. As Darren McGarvey said, Aye Write is a

“big date in the literary calendar in Scotland”

that makes literature “accessible” and “affordable” in Scotland’s largest city. That should be a major wake-up call for all of us, and it should be a major wake-up call for the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government should be doing everything that it can to get Aye Write back up and running.

The Edinburgh Deaf Festival—the only festival of its kind in Scotland—has also announced that it is in jeopardy for the same reason. What sort of message does it send out to the world if we are closing the book on book festivals and festivals for disabled people are under threat?

The effects of the crisis in funding are affecting festivals of all shapes and sizes all over Scotland, as we have already heard. I mentioned the Edinburgh International Festival earlier. Fran Hegyi, its executive director, told the Parliament:

“It is extraordinarily difficult for any organisation to manage 16 years of flat funding, irrespective of how well it is run or of other sources of income that it might have. I have worked in the industry for coming up to 30 years and I have never known it to be as difficult”.—[Official Report, Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee, 11 January 2024; c 18.]

If that was not enough, as we have heard, this weekend, Shona McCarthy, the chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, announced that the fringe is becoming almost “impossible to deliver” because of a lack of funding.

To be fair to Meghan Gallacher, those quotes are not playing up fears; they reflect the reality of the situation that our festivals face right now. The Scottish Government is happy to use countless pictures of the fringe festival for its glossy brochures, but it has still not provided core funding to support it, despite the UK Government providing support.