YESTERDAY’S report on the arts came under ferocious attack from local authorities.
The councils described the long-awaited recommendations from the Culture Commission, chaired by James Boyle, the former controller of BBC Radio Four, as “dull, unimaginative, lacking in vision and self-serving”.
Their response came after the commission published its 124 recommendations, 29 of which will require new legislation in the Scottish Parliament.
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The commission called for a new strategy to tackle the funding gap and invest a further £100 million each year into culture in Scotland. The report also said that Scots should have “cultural rights” which would ensure that they could share in any publicly funded cultural activity.
It recommended national standards to raise the quality of provision in the arts, heritage, libraries, museums, galleries, architecture and the creative industries. Among other proposals were culture vouchers to be piloted in schools and the setting-up of two new companies, Culture Scotland and a Culture Fund, to develop culture nationally and internationally and fund the expansion of the sector.
The report also called on ministers at Holyrood to press their counterparts in London to set up a scheme of tax support for creative individuals. It said that there should be more funding for public libraries to buy quality books and recordings by publishers and labels, and by writers and musicians living in Scotland.
But Graham Garvie, arts spokesman for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla), described the report as “nothing more than a culture con”.
“The report moves Scotland not an inch forward and what is most frustrating is the boring predictability of it all. The more cynical among us in Scotland’s 32 councils could be forgiven for thinking that it is nothing more than a smokescreen, costing nearly half a million pounds of taxpayers’ money and taking over a year to come out with the answer they had in mind from the start,” he said.
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The extraordinary attack by Cosla can perhaps be explained by its belief that the commission is a super-quango that has not taken account of what councils are already doing in their local areas, and that some of the commission’s recommendations threaten the influence wielded by local authorities over their local arts and culture scene.
John Wallace, principal of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, defended the report, saying that its members had grasped a vision for Scotland’s culture which was “breathtaking in its scope”. He added: “It is a big vision, a bold vision and one which, if achieved, would set Scotland high amongst the small nations of the world. The report is the first to realise the totality and complexity of Scotland’s cultural fabric.”
The Scottish Executive said that it would study the commission’s measures. A spokesman added that the status quo was not an option as far as Scotland’s cultural scene was concerned.
Mr Boyle said the report did not intend to diminish the work of organisations such as the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen. The report does, however, recommend a review of the “national” status of Scotland’s arts bodies, suggesting they would need to comply with a set of requirements to retain their titles.