Investment in artists, innovation and flexibility was unveiled today (17 April) with the publication of the Scottish Arts Council’s £63 million spending plans for the coming year (April 2008 – March 2009).

Alongside a £6.2 million investment in awards, bursaries and commissions for artists, the Scottish Arts Council also confirmed £16.5 million in support for the ‘foundation’ of the country’s artistic community, including producers, promoters, festivals and national youth arts organisations, as well as organisations at the forefront of developing the arts.

Investment in innovation and flexibility will support 46 organisations for a further year at their present (£6 million) level, in addition to a further £4 million for a crafts commissioning agency, key performing arts promoters, venues and festivals, drama and dance touring and production fund, as well as the traditional arts.

The Scottish Arts Council will continue to prioritise four policy development areas: creative industries, international working, equalities and research which have been identified as the most important development areas covering all artforms.

New initiatives for 2008-09 include:

- £50,000 for Creative Apprenticeships
- £100,000 for creative networks and development
- £96,000 for a Disability Development fund
- Increases in funding to Edinburgh Art Festival and Glasgow International festival for the visual arts (+£16k & £25k respectively)
- £300,000 for education development in arts organisations
- £150,000 for creative development and recording

Continuing support for the Youth Music Initiative (nearly £10 million), arts and health projects (£180k), will this year be supplemented by £1.3 million from the Scottish Government’s Expo Fund to produce and promote the work of Scottish artists at 11 of Edinburgh’s world-renowned Festivals.

The first awards from the Scottish Arts Council’s Inspire fund, an £8 million fund which was launched in February to stimulate more, better and wider participation in the arts, will be announced in June 2008.

Jim Tough, Acting Chief Executive, Scottish Arts Council commented on the plan:

‘The Scottish Arts Council continues to improve and develop its relationships with the artists and organisations that remain our priority. We have focused our support on the artists whose creativity continues to inspire, challenge and entertain us and we are continuing with our work to introduce the flexibility to support artistic leadership and innovative ideas.’

The 2008-09 Business Plan was agreed by the Joint Board of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen at its March meeting. The Joint Board also agreed its overall commitment to 2009-2011 funding for organisations in receipt of flexible funding at a maximum of £6.9 million. The Scottish Arts Council is currently assessing 106 applications for this funding, with a total value requested of almost £15 million.

National Lottery funding will reduce from £15.2m this year (2008-09), to £12.7 million in (2009-10). A reduction of £200,000 within this year’s business plan will accommodate a contribution to the Olympic 2012 budget.

Following its 2006 Strategic Review the Scottish Arts Council focused on the following six priorities:

Priority	Budget 2007-8	Budget 2008-9
Increase the scope and quality of our support to artists	£4.73m	£6.22m
Secure the foundation of Scotland’s artistic development	£16.49m	£16.54m
Create flexibility to support the new and the innovative	£11.52m	£11.09m
Create opportunities for participation in the arts	£24.08m	£23.02m
Build a culture of co-operation with partners and the arts community	£0.10m	£0.24m
Make the transition to Creative Scotland	£0.00	£0.930k*

Within the spending announced above, over £2m will be invested in raising the international profile of artists based in Scotland by supporting showcases and opportunities to work abroad. We will also fund 18 arts development organisations to establish best practice in supporting people to make work, develop their practice and promote equality of opportunity (£3.2m).

We will continue our partnership with Missions, Models, Money to explore radically different concepts and ways in which the arts world can operate in order to become more sustainable.

*This year, 2008-09, is also a year of transition towards a new organisation, Creative Scotland. The joint board of Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen will redeploy 2% of our Government grant towards the cost of transition and like other public sector organisations will in addition seek cash releasing efficiencies.