Val McDermid's fierce verdict on SNP's cuts to £19m culture fund

Ministers are being urged to intervene after the plug was suddenly pulled on millions of pounds worth of planned support during this financial year. Industry bodies have also hit out at the demise of one of the key routes to secure Creative Scotland funding.

McDermid said: “This is disgraceful. The culture sector earns not just hard cash but respect and admiration, at home and abroad. What else is this government going to dismiss as worthless?”

The arts agency has revealed it has also been forced to delay opening applications to key youth music initiatives after the Government put £1.8m worth of funding on hold. The cut represents around a fifth of government support for youth music initiatives handled via Creative Scotland.

Creative Scotland had planned to ringfence £3m of its promised £68m in Government funding for this financial year to support applications to its “open fund” for artists, which has offered grants of up to £100,000 for projects.

Despite the Scottish Parliament approving the restoration of £13.2m to Creative Scotland following cuts imposed last year, the arts body has had £10.65m worth of its promised budget either put on hold or cancelled in recent weeks.

The decision to close the open fund for artists has emerged days after Creative Scotland warned the Scottish arts industry was facing the prospect of “managed decline” for years if the Government did not urgently roll out an additional £100m it had promised for the sector.

In its announcement of the closure of the open fund for artists, chief executive Iain Munro accused the Government of “creating critical problems” by refusing to release Creative Scotland's full budget.

Kathleen Jamie, Scotland’s national poet, said: “Really? REALLY? We start alone, feeling our way. Writers, artists, composers. From an idea, a groping in the dark, a little funding comes huge success. This is Creative Scotland and the Scottish Government at their worst.”

Author James Robertson said: “I would not have been able to establish my career if I had been unable to apply to Scottish Arts Council – as it was then – for individual funding.

"The idea that individual artists cannot apply for funding from their national arts body seems to attack the very baseline of where arts come from. For writers, this is a disaster, and people right across the arts will feel they have been told ‘this world is not for you’.”

Writer Heather Parry said: There is no one to blame for this but the Government. I have watched as Creative Scotland heads and staff have repeatedly, for the last three years, practically begged for proper funding. This will be devastating for artists in this country and the government simply does not care.”

Writer Jen Stout, whose first book was published this year, said: “This is awful. I never could have written Night Train to Odesa without a grant from this fund, which allowed me to spend seven weeks focused on the book alone. Do we want to be a country where people actually write books? Or just well-off people?”

Writer Jess Brough said: “Millions flock to Scotland in August for its festivals while the Scottish arts sector is crumbling. How to wrap your head around that?

"The Scottish Government wants the glory of hosting some of the biggest international arts festivals in the world, but they're unwilling to support artists *in* Scotland contributing to the culture and nurturing their crafts.”

Literature Alliance Scotland, the Federation of Scottish Theatre and the Scottish Society of Playwrights have all expressed dismay at the closure of Creative Scotland's fund.

Playwright Morna Young said: “I’m horrified by the news that Creative Scotland is closing the open fund for individuals. It’s a lifeline for many artists and one of the few places left to apply for support.

"This will have devastating consequences, especially on the most vulnerable artists who are hanging on by a thread."

Theatre maker Jenna Watt said: “Freelance people and artists like me have had their agency taken away and it will be virtually impossible to make independent theatre and have a sustainable career."

Theatre director and writer Becky Hope-Palmer said: “Well and truly on the road to disaster in Scotland with this news. It's hard to see how we progress from here.”

Theatre producer and director Kate McGrath said Creative Scotland’s decision was “another devastating blow for the arts in Scotland”. She said: “Urgent action is needed to support Scotland’s artists and producers.”

Playwright, performer and director Isla Cowan said: “This is shocking and horrendous, and feels particularly acute when announced amidst the Fringe. Artists and theatre companies come from all over the world for theatre in Edinburgh in August, but our own Scottish theatre ecology is in a state of complete collapse.”

Theatre producer Kate Taylor said: “As an independent producer who works with many independent and self-producing artists, I am dismayed by this decision. This fund has been vital for this part of the culture sector, without which a diverse breadth of work could not have been developed.”

Playwright May Sumbwanyambe added: “Words can't express the far reaching negative consequences that closure of the open fund will have on Scotland's culture sector. I’m genuinely speechless at this not-so-slow-motion car crash.”

Filmmaker Laura Carreira, whose debut feature will premiere at next month’s Toronto Film Festival, said the closure of the fund was “unbelievable”. She said: “This is one of the key art funding programmes in Scotland and it’s being closed down indefinitely.

"It will also affect the most vulnerable – freelance and self-employed artists. They deserve more from the Scottish Government.”

Musician Aidan O'Rourke said: “This is really awful. This fund was the lifeblood to countless ideas. Where to turn to for this creative space now? Come on, Scottish Government, this isn’t the creative Scotland we want to live in.”

Singer Hannah Rarity added: “On a personal note, I was getting set to apply for essential funds from Creative Scotland for my third album. On a broader note, this is a terrible sign for the future of the arts and arts funding in Scotland.”

Composer Stuart MacRae said: “This is an absolute disgrace. Shame on the Scottish Government for their total failure to follow through on promised investment for the arts.”

Singer-songwriter Stephen McFall, who performs as Constant Follower, said: “In the age where music is 'free' and musicians live in poverty, without arts funding like this, there will be no arts. What are you doing Scottish Government?”

Moira Jeffrey, director of the Scottish Contemporary Art Network, said: “We are all devastated at this news. It’s impossible to imagine cultural life in Scotland without this support.”

Theatre company F-Bomb Theatre urged supporters to lobby their local MSP to call for the reinstatement of the open fund. It said: “Closure will disproportionately impact marginalised artists.”

A Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government already provides significant funding to Creative Scotland each year and will continue to do so.

“We have increased arts culture funding this year, as the first step to achieving our commitment to invest at least £100 million more annually in culture and the arts by 2028/29.

“The Scottish Budget continues to face significant challenges. We are considering the implications of the actions announced by the Chancellor on 29 July for our public finances, and the next steps required by the Scottish Government.”