Investing in our world-famous culture
Andrew Murray Scott [Scots Independent, July 2026]
With our new Scottish government moving forward, culture is one of five areas of activity overseen by the new Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee while election defeat for Angus Robertson means his successor, Mairi McAllan, inherits our landmark commitment to increase cultural investment by £100 million by 2028/29.
This commitment to ‘more than double’ our arts and culture spending was made by Humza Yousaf in 2023 after a media campaign led by lobbying network Culture Counts which also acted as secretariat for the previous Culture Cross-Party Group at Holyrood. Our commitment is being met with the most recent budget announced by the outgoing Shona Robison adding an extra £28 million, bringing our annual culture budget to £381 million, 16% larger than in 2023-24. Addressing the parliament, Shona said:
“It is through our songs and stories that we best express ourselves and best understand ourselves and our place in the world… in art, in dance, in laughter, in music, in the shared experience that is a concert or a festival. Scotland is richer because of our world-famous culture, and this government stands full square behind our fantastic creative sector.”
Culture Counts’ call for a Scottish Culture Act to lock in this long-term funding is supported by SNP, Greens and the Conservatives. In 2025, Scotland’s cultural investment was supporting 70,000 jobs in the creative industry sector, 3.4% of all employment while a recent report indicates that for every £1 of our culture spend, there is an £11.08 return in terms of health, wellbeing and productivity. Fantastic added value!
Other headline SNP commitments include establishing Scottish Screen as a standalone agency, combining the Register of Scotland with the National Records of Scotland, piloting a Scottish Artists’ minimum income scheme and introducing a Youth Culture Pass worth £200. Scotland has so much culture and therefore increasing demand for subsidy that a statutory Culture Act might help to regulate the budget and avoid unexpected funding rows. Anxiety about secure funding can often lead to pre-emptive public campaigns to pressure government. There are many cultural icons such as national museums, theatres, galleries and festivals whose increasing costs must be met, and much excellent cultural activity whose existence is precarious without subsidy. We will need to encourage wider and more diverse forms of support including patronage, sponsorship, crowd-funding, co-operative ventures, support from trusts and foundations, philanthropic giving and event merchandising alongside direct public subsidy.
There is a separate question of how much of the culture funding is consumed by quangos, arts administration bodies, lobbying groups and advocacy networks, including Culture Counts which itself receives Creative Scotland funding, and scores of partly-funded SCIOS, charities and ALEOS (Arms-length external organisations). To fulfil our ambitious commitments and allow more of our investment to go directly towards artistic endeavour and widening participation in creativity rather than box-ticking bureaucracy, we will need to be open to new thinking and transparency around funding as we move, hopefully, towards independence. But at least we know that for now investing in our rich and world-famous culture is making devolved Scotland a better and brighter place.