Leading Scottish arts company planning 'drastic' cutbacks and job losses

The company that runs both Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre has warned staff it may have to start rolling out redundancies unless its financial situation improves.

Liam Sinclair, executive director of Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre, warned of a potential "domino effect" of Scottish arts organisations collapsing before Christmas if their financial auditors were not confident they could continue as a "going concern" next year.

And he expressed concern the Scottish Government’s pledge to increase cultural funding by £25 million in the next financial year would not be enough to turn the crisis that is crippling the industry around.

Speaking at Holyrood’s culture committee on Thursday, Mr Sinclair said Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre had been invited to take two hugely successful theatre and dance shows around the world while they were being staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last month.

However, he added: “At the same time, myself, the board and the senior team have been modelling quite drastic financial implications for next year, with a cash flow in certain scenarios that does not work. We are therefore looking at a redundancy situation and what those different situations look like.

"We are being very transparent with our staff about that because that contract of honesty feels really important. We have been briefing them about those consequences.

"We are an incredibly confident sector. Our organisation is one of many who work with a whole range of freelancers that we could not do our work without. In the case of our activity at the Fringe, we are presenting Scotland to the world and are being absolutely recognised for world-class delivery.

“But behind the scenes, we are working on really quite drastic consequences that we genuinely feel have a probability to play out if there is not a stabilising of financial projections from the Scottish Government to Creative Scotland in the weeks ahead. We are really at a pivotal moment.”

Theatres, arts centres, festivals and arts organisations expect to hear next month on applications for long-term Scottish Government funding. However, Creative Scotland has so far been left without a Government budget for the three-year programme. 

Mr Sinclair said: "Most cultural organisations will either be in the middle of, or approaching the end of, their audit. If you have a 31 March accounting year, you have to file your accounts by the end of December. An auditor is going to ask what your going concern is based on.

“If going concern is based in any way on an annual funding commitment that is currently in question, there is a very real tipping point scenario that could start, quite quickly, to unravel this autumn in terms of going concern being questioned by auditors.”

Lori Anderson, director of arts industry collective Culture Counts, said there was a huge amount of uncertainty at present, with “positive rhetoric” from the Scottish Government not matched by genuinely new investment.

She said: “We all took a knock in the last few weeks when we saw the 10 per cent cut for Creative Scotland reinstated, which resulted in its open fund for individuals being closed, albeit it that is temporary and it is reopening.

"It is a very confusing message to the sector to say that the work is valued and understood, and that there is an agreed need for investment, and then make in-year cuts. There is most definitely a need to rebuild that trust.

"There is a huge amount of fear and trepidation about what lies ahead at the end of October, with Creative Scotland's hugely over-subscribed multi-year funding programme decisions about to be announced with a hugely oversubscribed and very large number of applications. There is concern that, come October, the cultural landscape of Scotland will look very, very different if we remain on standstill funding.”

Lyndsey Jackson, deputy chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said the country was at risk of losing its “powerhouse of creativity” within weeks without urgent action from the Government. 

She said: “Confidence is low at the moment because we have zero clarity. It's impossible to sort of be confident and step off a cliff if you've no idea what's through the fog. The whole sector is in that position.”

Caroline Sewell, regional organiser at the Musicians’ Union, said there had been “mixed messaging” from the Scottish Government over its support for the cultural sector, after funding was repeatedly cut and reinstated in recent years.

She said: “It's very confusing for a lot of our members and workers across the sector. It feels like a bit of doublespeak to say there's a promise of £100m coming down the road. We don't want to hear lip service and promises of jam tomorrow. What we do need is tangible actions. That will be when confidence is restored or rebuilt.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government is increasing funding to the culture sector by more than £15 million this financial year, as the first step on the route to investing at least £100 million more annually in culture and the arts by 2028-29.

“In 2025-26 we aim to provide at least an additional £25 million for the arts and culture.”