SCOTTISH actor Alan Cumming has alleged that Creative Scotland's closure of an open fund for artists was “intended to embarrass” the Scottish Government.
The Broadway and Hollywood star compared the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland, the public body for the creative industries in Scotland, to a “dysfunctional divorcing couple” over the handling of funding for the arts industry.
Cumming, who is the new artistic director for the Pitlochry Festival Theatre, spoke out ahead of the next round of funding decisions for the creative industries in Scotland, saying the community had been left “harmed, stressed and exhausted”.
In August last year, art bosses at Creative Scotland said they made the “unavoidable” decision to close the open funding to new applicants, warning the fund was going to run out of cash in the autumn.
The First Minister John Swinney later announced in his programme for government in September that Creative Scotland would get the financial support to reopen the fund.
“It was all so frustrating.,” Cumming said in an interview with The Scotsman.
“I don't understand the full machinations and I don't know who does, because we are not in those rooms.
“It seemed like that [open fund] announcement was intended to embarrass the Government and it worked.
“The Government has rightly responded. We need to look again at how money for the arts is distributed and how that function of government works. It is clearly a broken system.”
Cumming (below) had been among the leading Scottish performers to speak out over the closure of Creative Scotland's open fund.
At the time performers staged protests during shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and outside the Scottish Parliament before John Swinney announced £8.4m allowing the fund to reopen in October.
Cumming continued that it was “terrible” that people in Scotland's arts communities did not know if they would still have a job in the coming months following delays in funding decisions.
“I think of the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland as a dysfunctional divorcing couple,” Cumming said.
“All the artists are like their kids wondering if they are going to get any pocket money.”
He added: “I really do believe that the Scottish people and the Scottish Government understand the value of the arts.
“But, right now, the method of translating that into us getting the money to do our jobs is just not working.
“It feels really disrespectful to so many people who have dedicated their lives to the arts.
“People have been left hanging for the last three months. They are waiting to see if they're going to be able to continue.
“It's a terrible thing for everyone to be wondering if they're actually going to have a job.”
Creative Scotland has had to delay its next long-term funding programme several times since 2022 due to uncertainty over its future budgets.
Plans to announce the multi-year programme last October were delayed shortly after the Scottish Government announced a review into Creative Scotland’s future.
The arts body was allocated an additional £20m for the first year of the multi-year funding programme in the Scottish Budget in early December.
The Scottish Government has pledged to increase arts spending by £100m by 2028 and committed an additional £34m for culture in 2025-26, with a further £20m for 2026-27.
Cumming confirmed he has spoken to Swinney (above), who is also the local MSP for Pitlochry, and Angus Robertson, the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, after he was appointed artistic director for the Pitlochry Festival Theatre in September 2024.
He added: “I genuinely believe they are committed to what they have promised.
“I really believe the government appreciates the arts, understands their value to society and has the best of intentions.
“However, Creative Scotland is not serving the arts community well enough.
“Whatever has been going on, with all the machinations, and mummy and daddy fighting, has only harmed, stressed and exhausted people in our community.”
