Creative Scotland to provide £200m in funding after government boost

Creative Scotland will provide £200m in funding to 251 organisations after a government boost over the next three years. This makes it the largest portfolio of cultural organisations ever to be supported on a multi-year basis.​

In addition, 13 other organisations will be supported by a £3.2m Development Fund, with a view to them joining the Multi-Year Funding portfolio in 2026/27.

Among those organisations is Aye Write, Glasgow’s book festival, which was forced to cancel its 2024 festival due to an unsuccessful funding application to Creative Scotland. The new round of funding will see them receive £87,500 every year for the next three years.

This is the first time organisations are being offered a multi-year funding commitment, with half of those receiving the funding being supported over the three years. Those organisations which have an existing regular funding from Creative Scotland will receive an average uplift of 34% in their funding in 2025/26, increasing to an average of 54% from 2026/27.

Creative Scotland added that the portfolio "provides significant support to Scotland’s local and national economy, through direct employment, by creating opportunities for freelancers and by supporting individual artists and creative practitioners of all types".

Robert Wilson, chair of Creative Scotland, said: “This is an extremely positive moment for culture in Scotland, bringing with it a renewed sense of stability and certainty to Scotland’s culture sector. 

“Thanks to the vote of confidence in the culture sector, demonstrated by the recently announced budget from the Scottish Government, Creative Scotland can offer stable, year-on-year funding to more organisations than ever before. I’m pleased that this funding will increase further from next year, enabling even more fantastic artistic and creative work to be developed here in Scotland.  

“Stable, long-term funding for as many organisations as possible is the underlying principle of the Multi-Year Funding programme, and we are delighted to be able to bring it to fruition. This funding means that we are able to bring so many new, community-focused organisations into the portfolio, while also providing significant increases to those more established organisations which have been on regular funding for so many years. 

“I’m also pleased to be able to offer 13 further organisations significant amounts of development funding, to enable them to come into the portfolio in its second year.

“This signals a significant moment of positive change for Scotland’s cultural community and I hope that after the deeply challenging time of lockdown, and the difficulties that have faced the sector in the subsequent years, that now is the time that we can look forward with confidence and the Scottish culture sector can get on with what it does best which is producing outstanding art and creativity for everyone to enjoy.”

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