Over 300 Equity members and supporters have staged a rally outside Holyrood today (5 September) to protest the Scottish Government’s ongoing cuts to arts funding.
Members of Equity paraded a giant pair of “Swinney’s Scissors” outside the Scottish Parliament to highlight the ongoing cuts to Scotland’s culture budget. Equity vowed to hold the Scottish Government to its promise to spend £100m on the arts over the next five years.
MSPs, who returned from recess this week, were greeted with a giant prop dubbed “Swinney’s Scissors”, representing the cuts First Minister John Swinney is choosing to make to vital public funding. Unions have proposed that that the Scottish Government tax wealth instead of cutting funding. A wealth tax on Scotland’s richest people could raise over £1.4 billion.
Speakers at the rally included Kirsty Miller, Equity Scottish National Committee; Roz Foyer, STUC General Secretary; and representatives from other unions and the wider cultural sector.
The rally was organised in response to Creative Scotland’s announcement that they would be closing the Open Fund for Individuals because of a lack of funding from the Scottish Government.
The Open Fund for Individuals is one of Creative Scotland’s key funding programmes. The £6m fund is vital in supporting activity initiated by artists, writers, producers and other creative practitioners in Scotland.
The latest round of cuts to Creative Scotland come after a £6.6m budget cut was reimposed on the public body in 2023. It also follows the recent Equity campaign that highlighted the sweeping reductions in local government funding for the arts because of austerity.
Coffins representing the death of the arts in Scotland.
Roz Foyer, STUC General Secretary addressing the rally.
