Meeting of the Parliament 14 January 2025
I hope that the member will forgive me for not doing so. I have already taken a number of interventions and I want to share a lot of good news with those in the chamber.
Creative people play a unique and central role in shaping the democratic, diverse, open and innovative society in which we live today, generating ideas and innovation and imagining new futures. People who create have the right to earn a fair living from artistic and cultural professional pursuits and pathways that enable people to develop creative and technical skills in their chosen creative careers, and that should be open to all.
In 2021, gross value added in the arts, culture and the creative sector was about £4.511 billion. We know that the sector is also a significant employer, employing about 155,000 people in 2022. The Government understands that fair work first is a key driver for achieving sustainable, inclusive economic growth for the sector, which is why I established the culture fair work task force to support the sector’s aspirations in that area, with the aim of developing recommendations for a fair work agreement for Scotland’s culture sector by 1 June 2025.
Of course, cultural and creative participation should be nurtured from a young age, and an uplift in culture funding will enable the Scottish Government’s long-standing investment in the nationwide youth music initiative and funding of the world-class Sistema Scotland programme to continue.
Nurturing a strong current and future cultural workforce is essential to fostering growth in Scotland’s creative industries. The Government will increase funding for Screen Scotland’s successful production growth fund by £2 million in the next financial year to attract international investment and encourage large-scale productions to choose Scotland for shooting, post-production and visual effects. That additional support for Scotland’s growing film and television industries will provide even more opportunities for skills and talent to develop across a range of sectors.
Building on Scotland’s wider international reputation for cultural excellence and innovation, and to support the sector in its cultural and creative ambitions overseas, we will also scope the establishment of a support service for cultural export and exchange. The service will seek to build on current successes by developing connections, providing platforms and supporting cultural and creative organisations to develop the skills and capacity that are needed to work internationally.
Over the past number of years, I have heard repeated calls from many members here today, and from the sector, for an increase in Government funding for culture. Today, I have outlined our proposals to provide just that. It is now critical that members from all parties work together to ensure that that opportunity for transformational change is realised.
I very much welcome the ideas from colleagues across the chamber about how we collectively better serve and strengthen the sector. I look forward to hearing positive contributions to that welcome debate. I want to work with all members in all parties to realise our shared ambition for culture in Scotland. I very much hope that members from all parties will support the planned increase in culture funding through the parliamentary process in the coming weeks.
I move,
That the Parliament celebrates arts and culture in Scotland in all their diverse forms, past, present and emerging; recognises the transformational impact that they can have on people’s lives across Scotland; welcomes the economic contribution that the cultural and creative industries workforces make to society and the economy; acknowledges the importance of the community culture sector, and commends the innovative local organisations, in both rural and urban areas, for the work that they do to support participation in cultural pursuits; considers that a strong and successful culture sector is central to the prosperity of the nation; welcomes that, against a backdrop of cultural funding being cut by the UK Government, the draft Scottish Government Budget for 2025-26 increases frontline culture funding by £34 million, and believes that Scotland’s cultural communities can be supported to continue to develop and innovate in exhibition, performance and participation in Scotland’s artistic life.
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