Rennie reveals “big city bias” in events and creative spending

Scottish Liberal Democrats have today revealed the disparities in arts and event spending across Scotland, urged the Scottish Government to encourage creativity in every corner of the country and called for stark differences in funding to be fixed.

Figures from Creative Scotland and Events Scotland reveal that last year:

• The City of Edinburgh received almost 28 times as much money per head from Creative Scotland as the least successful local authority, Clackmannanshire (£50.85 v £1.82).  
• Glasgow alone had more projects funded than 30 local authorities combined, with 510. Clackmannanshire had just three.
• Event Scotland figures reveal East Lothian council recorded the highest event spending per head with £18.75, while South Ayrshire recorded a spend of £0.  
• In the Fife local authority which contains Mr Rennie’s constituency, the spend per head was 71p. This is five times lower than in Glasgow and half that of Edinburgh.

Creative Scotland is the public body responsible for funding creative industries in Scotland and distributes funding from the Scottish Government and National Lottery. Event Scotland is responsible for supporting and developing Scotland’s events industry.

Willie Rennie said:

“The differences in spending are stark. Some variation between different parts of the country is to be expected, but if you live outside of Scotland’s biggest cities you will be rightly feeling short-changed.

“Scottish government bodies should be promoting and encouraging creativity in every corner of the country.

“We should not expect the next great Scottish artistic talent to spring up from nothing. Not only that but the creative and events industries are also key parts of our economy and support many jobs.

“Spending by Creative Scotland and Event Scotland should be reviewed to end the big city bias and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to cultivate their talent and opportunities are not being missed.”