December 2008
Caledonia and Catalonia collaborate
The links between Scotland and Catalonia were strengthened today in a meeting between Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond and the President of Catalonia Jose Montilla Aguilera, held in Barcelona's Palau de la Generalitat. more >
Invitation to tender: 21st Century financing for the arts and creative industries in Scotland Study
The Creative Scotland Transition Project, the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen, in partnership with Scottish Government, would like to commission a review of financial investment mechanisms needed for investment in the arts and creative industries in Scotland in the 21st century. more >
21st Century financing for the arts and creative industries in Scotland Study – invitation to tender
The Creative Scotland Transition Project, the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen, in partnership with Scottish Government, would like to commission a review of financial investment mechanisms needed for investment in the arts and creative industries in Scotland in the 21st century. more >
November 2008
Culture year added £13m to Highland economy
The Highland Year of Culture generated almost £13m for the economy of the Highlands and Islands and created nearly 500 jobs, according to an evaluation of the year-long celebration. more >
Recession 'could hit' arts funding
During the good times hedge fund billionaires were happy to splash their cash on the arts, but in economic hard times will that sponsorship dry up? more >
Scotland bids to recover Olympic lottery cash
The Scottish Government has submitted a formal bid document to retrieve £150 million in lottery funds diverted from Scottish good causes to finance the 2012 London Olympics. more >
Whodunnit? Mystery over £3m prize to build new arts venture
A £3 MILLION award to build a new "creative and elegant" arts venue in Edinburgh was unveiled yesterday.
Competitive bids were invited yesterday to win funding for a new or refurbished arts space of "exceptional architectural and cultural merit" for Edinburgh. The winning project, to be built by 2013, could be anything from a concert hall to artists' studios.
more >
National arts body boss unveiled
Ewan Brown, the vice president of the Edinburgh International Festival, has been appointed to spearhead the creation of a new national arts body. more >
Chair appointed to Creative Scotland
The establishment of a single dedicated body for Scotland's arts and culture sector today gained further momentum as Ewan Brown was named Chair of Creative Scotland, the new publicly owned limited company which will be established. more >
October 2008
Scotland Live 2008 Launch
Culture Minister welcomes thirty international arts promoters to sample the best of Scottish theatre and dance. more >
Acclaimed singer awarded Gaelic Ambassador of the year at mod 2008 launch
Julie Fowlis, the acclaimed traditional singer and instrumentalist is the first recipient of the Scottish Government's new Gaelic Ambassador of the Year award (Tosgaire Gàidhlig na Bliadhna). more >
Hungarian minister holds talks in Scotland
Hungarian Minister of Education and Culture Istvan Hiller held talks with Linda Fabiani, Scottish Minister of Culture, Foreign and European Affairs on bilateral cultural cooperation. more >
September 2008
Introducing Tune Up 2008/2009
Tune Up, the Scottish Arts Council, National Lottery funded initiative that supports musicians to play in venues as far and wide as Scotland itself, is ready to hit the road with a new round of tours. more >
Inspiring Scotland's communities
Inspiring projects that will connect people and their communities through the arts and encourage long-lasting links between people, places and ideas are the next development of the Scottish Arts Council’s Inspire fund. more >
Cultural Diplomats visit Scotland
August saw a visit to Scotland by 15 Cultural Diplomats, organised by Visiting Arts in partnership with the Scottish Arts Council, with additional support from British Council and DCMS. more >
Platform for Success - Scottish Broadcasting Commission's final report
The Creative Scotland Transition Team welcomes the publication of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission’s final report, Platform for Success. We fully endorse the view that, “Broadcasting is important to the economic, cultural and democratic health of the nation.” more >
Swinton and arts world join chorus of disaproval for Creative Scotland
Leading figures claim that up to £7m will be spent on bureaucracy rather than artists. more >
Announcement at last, but future is still uncertain for arts ...
Yesterday's announcement about Scotland's new funding body for the arts posed as many questions as answers. more >
Failed culture plans resurrected
Scottish ministers will press ahead with plans for a new national arts agency, despite the proposals having been thrown out of parliament. more >
August 2008
Creative Clusters 2008: Draft speaker list announced
Creative Clusters 2008 will feature some fifty speakers from around the world presenting case studies and films, running workshops and taking part in debates, discussions and provocation sessions. more >
I do think we take festivals for granted
Last week, the minister announced the latest block of funding from the new Expo Fund, which has been designed to help promote Scottish artists in all the festivals, and also contribute towards the national and international touring of some of these acts in the future. more >
Glasgow gets city of music honour
Glasgow is aiming to build on its rich musical heritage after it was named a United Nations City of Music. more >
The vital difference between art and culture
There does not exist in Scotland, or anywhere else in the UK for that matter, a socially inclusive cultural framework that is understood by the cultural policy makers. more >
Culture drive: improving access to arts
A report published by consultants hired by the government showed that still too many people are excluded from cultural pursuits because public transport simply can't take them there. more >
Expo funding for ‘Made in Scotland’ Fringe Showcase
A new initiative, Made in Scotland, due to launch in 2009, will take the form of a curated showcase for Scottish-based performers to present and promote their best work at Edinburgh's Festival Fringe. more >
Absence of rigour and an explanation
The painful progress of Creative Scotland, the successor to the Scottish Arts Council, has been a cause for concern ever since the Bill to set it up was published. more >
The art of boosting growth
With the rainwashed streets of Edinburgh thronged with visitors darting in and out of the 40 participating galleries in the Edinburgh Art Festival (EAF), it might seem an odd time to query the capital's commitment to the commercial gallery sector. more >
July 2008
Alt-w: new directions in Scottish digital culture
The Scottish Arts Council has joined forces with Scottish Screen to support Alt-w, a fund for practitioners based in Scotland to make and develop new web-based or digital artworks, devices and creative applications. more >
Remembering Scotland at War
Museums Galleries Scotland has announced details of Big Lottery Funding of £590,000 for the continuation of a museums-led initiative that will see young people working with older generations in communitiy arts events across Scotland. more >
Youth Music Initiative funding gets up and coming young musicians into the studio
A pilot scheme is giving some of Scotland’s promising young bands the chance to work with professional recording studios to take their music careers to the next stage. more >
June 2008
Creative Scotland – Ambitious for Scotland
A statement from the joint board of Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen following the failure of the Creative Scotland Bill to progress. more >
Fears over ‘lost year’ for arts in Scotland
Creative Scotland, the new body designed to replace the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen, will go ahead as planned despite MSPs voting down the bill intended to form it last week, according to the culture minister, Linda Fabiani. more >
Investing in a Creative Scotland
An additional £5 million to set up a Creative Scotland Innovation Fund was announced today as the Creative Scotland Bill was discussed in the Parliament. more >
Plan for Creative Scotland 'confused and confusing'
Plans to create a new cultural body through a merger of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen have been sharply criticised by a Parliamentary committee which has found that the proposal lacks clarity and could end up creating confusion. more >
May 2008
Creative crisis: the arts world in revolt
It was meant to provide new focus and impetus for the arts in Scotland. Instead the Creative Scotland Bill has been called a political car crash. more >
Crooks' cash to boost cultural projects
Under the government's new CashBack for Communities programme, money seized from convicted criminals will be channelled into projects designed to increase access to cultural activities for youngsters in care. more >
Creative crisis: the arts world in revolt
It was meant to provide new focus and impetus for the arts in Scotland. Instead the Creative Scotland Bill has been called a political car crash. more >
Creative Disloyalty
An essay by Richard Holloway exploring the relationship between the artist and the state. more >
SNP breaks grants pledge to artists and writers
Review ordered to find alternative funding avenues for creative community. more >
Vague ambition puts Creative Scotland at risk of becoming another basket case
Creative Scotland is basically a good idea and keenly awaited. The worst thing that could happen after years of governmental paralysis and endless reports would be for it to raise expectations it is then unable to fulfil. more >
April 2008
Arts quango scraps £100,000 of grants to Scottish publishers
The Scottish Arts Council has quietly axed grants to about half a dozen Scottish publishers worth around £100,000, The Scotsman has learned. more >
Scottish Arts Council Flexible Application Process
The Scottish Arts Council has published the outcomes of its recent application process for flexible funding for 2009-2011. more >
Sport and arts to benefit from plan
‘Cashback for Communities’, launched two years ago, uses money seized from criminals to help sports and other organisations. more >
Culture body costs 'unreliable'
Cost estimates for creating Scotland's new arts body Creative Scotland have been branded vague and unreliable. more >
Scottish Arts Council publishes investment plans
The Scottish Arts Council has announced its plans for the coming year (April 2008 – March 2009). more >
Call for speakers in global debate on creative economy
Creative Clusters, the world’s leading conference on the creative economy, is looking for contributors for their next event, which runs from 17 - 20 November 2008 in Glasgow. more >
Creative Nation, Cultural Summit
The Scottish Arts Council has released audio recordings of speakers' presentations at the summit. more >
March 2008
New Identity for Museums and Galleries Body
The Scottish Museums Council is now Museums Galleries Scotland. The new identity and brand has been created to reflect the major role the organisation plays in the widening of access to and care of Scotland’s rich collections.
more >
New arts body embraces computer games
Creative Scotland vows to take technology under its wing. more >
Considering a Creative Scotland
If you're looking for interesting listening on your iPod or computer while you tend to other elements of your life, the Scottish Arts Council is at your service with this wonderful series of keynotes and conversations from their recent cultural summit. more >
Merged arts funding body will support best of Scottish culture
The bill that will abolish the Scottish Arts Council and merge it with Scottish Screen to form a new arts funding body for Scotland was introduced to parliament yesterday. more >
Culture group 'can rewrite rules'
The new legislation also dispenses with the much-lauded "arms length" principle which prevented culture ministers interfering with the artistic decisions of arts organisations. more >
Creative Scotland Bill published
A bill to establish a new body to support Scottish arts and culture has been introduced to the Scottish Parliament. more >
Funding support for the arts
The Scottish Government has renewed its commitment to a scheme that encourages private sector investment in the arts. more >
New body to sustain the nation's creative mind
Tomorrow I am addressing the Scottish Arts Council's conference entitled Scotland: Creative Nation. It provides a timely opportunity to look forward with anticipation to Creative Scotland, a new body with a vital task: to develop the country's creative talent and excellence. more >
February 2008
Let Scotland’s creativity flourish and be nourished
We've had charters for the arts, national cultural strategies and sons and daughters of both. We're on our seventh arts minister in nine years, and with each new incumbent comes a new tweak of the portfolio. more >
New body will change how arts are funded in Scotland
Support of the arts through state-funded grants could become a thing of the past when Scotland's new culture body, Creative Scotland, comes into being next year. more >
New body to sustain the nation's creative mind
Scotland's Minister for Culture, Linda Fabiani, outlines key points of her address to the Scottish Arts Council's conference 'Scotland: Creative Nation'. more >
Axed arts plan was attracting an extra £2m
The cultural co-ordinator scheme, aimed at increasing children's participation in artistic activities that was controversially axed last year by the Scottish Government, was attracting at least £2m in extra funding for youth arts. more >
Arts projects given £8m worth of inspiration
The Scottish Arts Council unveiled an £8 million lottery pot yesterday to fund 'inspiring' arts projects across Scotland. more >
Scottish Arts Council invests £8m for more, wider, better participation in the arts
The Scottish Arts Council has today (12 February) launched Inspire, a major new Lottery fund for the development of exciting, innovative projects to inspire and encourage the people of Scotland to participate in the arts and become creative, imaginative members of a confident, cultured nation. more >
Malcolm Chisolm on arts policies
I am astonished by the patronising and dismissive attitude displayed by the culture minister in last week's Sunday Herald to the legacy she inherited from her predecessors. more >
January 2008
Latest Set of Recognised Collections of National Significance Announced
A further ten collections from art galleries and museums have been identified as being of national significance under the Recognition Scheme. more >
Artists must brush up on business
Scottish artists might do well to worry less about the Muse and more about their business model. more >
Scotland: Creative Nation Summit
A national summit for the exploration, discussion, and debate of pertinent issues in the context of the development of Creative Scotland more >
English arts plan ‘applicable to Scotland’
Radical plans for the arts in England, which include scrapping admission charges to publicly funded arts for one week a year, are "totally applicable" in Scotland, according to the man who made the recommendations. more >
Impact Database changes address
The Impact Database, hosted by the Centre for Cultural Policy Research at University of Glasgow, has a new website address. more >
December 2007
Scheme to open the arts world to children is axed
A valued scheme to increase the participation of children in artistic activities is to be axed by the Scottish Government. more >
November 2007
Lasswade pupils beat out lessons
Midlothian children are literally having facts and figures drummed into them — and loving every minute of it! more >
£100m cost of keeping city festival in lead role
THE cost of keeping Edinburgh's festivals ahead of the growing competition in the UK and abroad has been officially estimated at more than £100 million. more >
Cultural debate is kicked into the long grass: again
It is almost four years to the day since the last First Minister claimed culture would now be at the heart of government. more >
Budgeting for a bigger profile in the world
Linda Fabiani: "We are determined to maintain and develop our rich cultural tradition". more >
Composer warns of 2014 games threat
Conservatives claim there has already been a £200m cut in funding for arts and heritage every year since 1997 - by raiding the National Lottery. more >
Don't get your fingers burned in bonfire of the quangos
While the Scottish Arts Council has been combined with Scottish Screen, rolled into a new super-quango called Creative Scotland and given an even bigger budget, sportscotland faces closure. more >
Arts council faces probe for breach of rules
Scotland's art funding body breached financial guidelines by giving a five-figure pay-off to its former chief executive. more >
'Freedom' pledge over new culture body
Scotland's new cultural funding body will be free from government intervention, the Culture Minister said in parliament yesterday. more >
Progress towards set up of Creative Scotland
Plans to establish Creative Scotland - the body that will support the country's creative practitioners and the Scottish Government's cultural policy plans were set out today. more >
October 2007
Bonnar to develop Scottish Arts Council’s replacement
Anne Bonnar, a former general manager of Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre, will oversee the creation of the organisation that is to replace the Scottish Arts Council. more >
Bonnar to develop Arts Council’s replacement
Over the next nine months, transition director Anne Bonnar will set out the aims and methods for Creative Scotland, the organisation that is to replace the Scottish Arts Council. more >
Director named to set up Creative Scotland
One of the country's top arts consultants has been appointed to manage the formation of Scotland's new arts funding body, Creative Scotland.
Transition Director for Creative Scotland project announced
Anne Bonnar announced as Transition Director in the establishment for Creative Scotland. more >
Recognising collections of national significance
A further seven museums and galleries collections across Scotland have been identified as significant to the nation under the government's Recognition Scheme, which helps to ensure important collections are identified, cared for, protected and promoted to a wider audience. more >
It's time to address a big area of concern
The visual arts are the object of great public interest. more >
Recognition Scheme funding for museums and galleries
The Scottish Government has announced that six museums and galleries have been awarded funding of £234,185 under a scheme that ensures important collections are identified, cared for, protected and promoted to a wider audience. more >
Creative Nation - Scottish Arts Council launches Cultural Summit
Scotland’s largest gathering of artists, arts organisations and delegates from the widest cultural sector will converge on Edinburgh next February. more >
September 2007
Merger Director Being Sought by Screen and Arts Board
A committee set up to pave the way for a merger of Scottish Screen and the Scottish Arts Council is next week to advertise for a 'transition director’, to help make the merger actually happen. more >
Council tax freeze first step to abolition
Among the immediate challenges for Scotland's new SNP government is the reforming of the government agencies that support the arts. more >
New session, new name as SNP sets work of government
The government will set up a new agency to promote the arts. more >
August 2007
Sky’s the limit for the Book of the Year
The Scottish Arts Council, in partnership with BAA Edinburgh and publisher Faber & Faber, is today (Friday) sending 1000 international passengers home with a work of art from Scotland. more >
Culture bodies attack powers in new bill
Leading cultural bodies have expressed fears over the future of artistic independence in Scotland in their official responses to the proposed Culture Bill. more >
Culture bodies attack powers in new bill
Leading cultural bodies have expressed fears over the future of artistic independence in Scotland in their official responses to the proposed Culture Bill. more >
Holyrood can light up the arts –but stand well back
One hundred days of SNP government, and the biggest achievement is not down to Alex Salmond. more >
Venezuela in Scotland launches today
Young people in Scotland will benefit from an innovative music programme developed in Venezuela. more >
Venezuelan project brings harmony to Scottish estates
A scheme begun 30 years ago in the barrios of Caracas is hardly an obvious model for social regeneration in Scotland. more >
December 2003
McConnell's 'cultural rights' agenda leads to delay of arts policy review
The launch of a long-promised review of Scotland’s arts policy has been delayed to reflect better the First Minister’s new agenda for "cultural rights". A consultation document, originally due to be published earlier this month, is being rewritten to "fully reflect" the themes of Jack McConnell’s St Andrew’s Day speech, officials say. more >
December 2008
Picture this...Young children and the arts
This international two-day conference, organised in collaboration with Children in Europe partners from across Europe, will consider the significance of the arts (encompassing all art forms) in learning, social and emotional development and communication. more >
November 2008
Creative Clusters 2008
We are delighted to announce that Creative Clusters 2008, which takes place for the first time in Scotland, will be looking at the creative economy from the point of view of the world's smaller nations and regions. more >
September 2008
Less Remote: The Futures of Space Exploration
For the first time, the arts and humanities have been officially invited into the professional space explorers global meeting place: The International Astronautical Congress in Glasgow. more >
February 2008
Creative Nation, cultural summit
This unique three-day summit will be a platform for exploration, discussion, and debate of pertinent issues in the context of the development of Creative Scotland. more >
November 2007
National Days: Summoning the Nation?
Celebrating, commemorating, communicating, contesting…an international conference on ‘national days’. more >
November 2004
Cultural rights
Part of the seminar series of the Centre for Cultural Policy Research, University of Glasgow. more >
August 2008
CCPR Impact Update August 2008
An update on research into the social and economic effects of arts, culture and major events. more >
Public Art Plan 2008/09
Outlines the Scottish Arts Council’s plan to develop and support public art during 2008-09. more >
May 2008
Public Support for Creative Industries
A report to the Scottish Government exploring best methods of support for Scotland’s creative economy. more >
CCPR Impact Database update no.14
A newsletter containing content that has been added to the Impact Database since the end of February 2008. more >
October 2007
Development of the Infrastructure and Support of Live Art in Scotland
Assesses existing approaches and models that support both emerging and established Live Art practioners, investigates examples of good practice from other countries and recommends improvements. more >
Development of the Street Arts Sector in Scotland
Explores the current status and future aspirations of the Street Art sector in Scotland and identifies opportunities for its further development. more >
January 2006
Quality of Life and Well-Being: Measuring the Impacts of Culture and Sport: Literature Review and Thinkpiece
In March 2005 the Scottish Executive commissioned Centre for Cultural Policy Research ( CCPR) to undertake research to define "quality of life"... more >
September 2005
Review of Culture in Scotland: Final Report of the Cultural Commission June 2005
The final report from the Cultural Commission, which was established in April 2004 to 'look seriously and maturely at [Scotland's] culture and decide the framework for its support in the future'. more >
January 2005
Local Authority Arts Conference Report (2004)
The main theme of this conference was 'cultural Rights and the arts community’s response to the
Cultural Commission'.
more >
The international who's who in cultural policy, planning and research >