Meeting of the Parliament 14 January 2025
I am delighted to open today’s debate on how the Scottish Government and members across the chamber can best support Scotland’s culture sector, so that it can continue to develop, innovate and, ultimately, thrive.
I have spoken to Parliament before about the intrinsic value and transformational potential of culture but, if members permit me, I will begin today by borrowing some words about the value of culture, which were crafted by our nation’s new makar—the accomplished and highly regarded multilingual poet, Peter Mackay. He wrote:
“Culture and art is the space in which accidents happen for the better, where things collide into each other to form something new and unexpected, where we take all that we have learnt from the past and use it to fail again, fail better—in previously unimagined ways—and in so doing make a space in which other people too can think about the world afresh.”
I thank Peter for expressing in an impactful way the unique power and vital nature of culture as a force that is essential to our development as human beings, communities and a nation on the world stage.
The Scottish Government’s culture strategy for Scotland recognises how central culture is to our country’s future prosperity and sets out a vision of a Scotland where everyone is able to live a cultural life of their choosing.