Arts & Business Scotland (A&BS) chair Diana Murray has expressed disappointment following a 33% reduction to its Culture and Business Scotland Fund (CBFS), which incentivises cross-sector partnerships.
The cut was announced last month by the Scottish Government to a fund administered by A&BS, which matches business support for culture and heritage projects.
Murray has since written to ministers to express concern at this decision, stating that the fund is a catalyst for establishing mutually beneficial partnerships between businesses and culture organisations.
The loss of £100,000 to the CBFS - down by a third in 2022/23 from £300,00 to £200,000 - will "substantially diminish" the arts and culture organisations' contribution to the communities they serve.
As a result of the budget cut, the CBFS has been closed for 2022/23 and no further applications can be made for funding before April 2023.
Since its launch in April 2017, more than £2.5m has been invested in 149 cultural projects, with £1.4m of that investment coming from business - attracting £1.21 of business investment for every £1 of public funds distributed.
Murray commented: "It would be entirely reasonable for business leaders who want to invest in the country’s cultural vitality by partnering through the CBFS to think again about doing so with this match funding incentive being withdrawn - but I urge businesses to continue to support and collaborate with their culture sector partners.
"The CBFS provides an efficient lever for additional investment from non-public funds to support wide ranging cultural activities for the benefit of communities across Scotland.
"We are committed to working together to ensure that these laudable ambitions are not jeopardised going forward and that the business and public sectors’ confidence in the culture sector as a viable partner continues to grow."
David Watt, chief executive of A&BS, stated: "Unfortunately, this budget reduction will impact negatively on the fulfilment, scale, or ambition of cultural activities due to be delivered across the country.
"Applications to the CBFS from inspiring projects in North Berwick, Melrose, Leith, Nairn, Stirling, Dumfries & Galloway, as well as Edinburgh and Glasgow, will either receive reduced or no funding support.
"Many of those existing, and other potential future applicants have been in touch to share their concerns about this funding decision."
A&BS stated that it is working to ensure that the value and return on establishing creative partnerships for business is fully understood, in order to increase the commercial sector’s confidence and trust in the culture sector as a viable partner.
A&BS in an independent charity that exists to embed culture and creativity into business, a fact endorsed by the Scottish Government in its Culture Strategy for Scotland in February 2020, which stated that: "By investing in and strengthening culture, we are investing in the future cultural, social and economic success of Scotland."
Alistair Moffat, director of the Borders Book Festival, commented: "CBFS match-funding has provided a crucial injection of funds to tour festival, enabling us to initiate and nurture mutually beneficial partnerships with sponsors.
"The potential for CBFS match-funding has helped to secure many enduring partnerships, including three vital new local sponsors for us in 2021, a year in which several others had been forced to withdraw due to the impact of the pandemic.
"To hear, just four days before the 2022 festival, that this strand of funding is in jeopardy is a shock, not just for the sponsors and the festival, but the whole community, who came back in their thousands, to enjoy it in June."
Dr Simon Gage, chief executive of Edinburgh Science, added: "We hugely value the support A&BS has given Edinburgh Science Festival over the years by matching the funding from some of our corporate supporters.
"The lower than anticipated award for them from the government is regrettable especially at a time when cultural organisations are having to deal with uncertainty related to Covid and absorbing the impacts of inflation including wage rises."
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