Creative Scotland is currently reviewing their funding and exploring new ways to support arts and creative activity.  They are doing this through a series of workshops and an online survey both open to individuals and organisations across Scotland.

What does this mean for you?  This is a chance to tell them what you want and what would make a difference to your practice.  It is also an opportunity to make sure craft in supported in an equal way to other forms of art.

Their online survey is short and simple, there is a 250 character limit on answers, and you can find the link below. They ask two questions.

What can Creative Scotland do for you?  In this they want individuals and organisations to give up to five ways or areas where they could help support you and creativity in Scotland.

The second question is – How should Creative Scotland prioritise and deliver its funding?  They ask you to consider your response to the first question and give five ways they could do what you need.

This is an opportunity to let them know what matters most to you and how they could do something differently.  For example, you could say you want them to enable you to have time to develop new work, and they could do this by providing a fund that would support this.

To help you start thinking about these questions here are a selection of the areas that have come up in recent workshops which debated both questions.  For the first question, discussion covered supporting practitioners at all stages of their careers, arts accessibility for all, enabling Scottish practice at an international level, and long term core support for individual practitioners as well as for organisations. Conversation around the second question led to suggestions of having a separate smaller fund for individuals, how funding is prioritised, multi stage applications with feedback, and funding for specific areas.

This is also an opportunity to feedback your views on funding for craft and you might want to include some of the points raised in the recent response by AAS to the Scottish Parliament’s Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee inquiry into the future of arts funding in Scotland which was drawn together from a survey of Members. You can find that here.  If you attended a workshop and this reminds you of other points you want to make you can also participate in the online survey.

It’s important that the people working in the craft sector make sure their needs are considered and our voice is heard.  Please take five minutes to think what would make a difference to you and/or funding for craft in Scotland – then tell Creative Scotland.

Deadline for responses is 31 July 2019.  

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/creativescotlandconversations