Creative Scotland has closed its Open Fund for Individuals arts grant following the Scottish government’s freeze on releasing its £6.6m grant-in-aid budget, The Art Newspaper reports.
The Open Fund for Individuals was a funding programme that supported Scottish artists, writers, producers and others working in creative fields, providing funding for exhibitions, artist collectives and community workshops.
The grant, which had an overall annual budget of £5m, allowed arts practitioners to apply for between £500 and £100,000, and provided support for up to 24 months. Although the Scottish government has expressed its commitment to investing ‘at least £100 million more annually in culture and the arts by 2028/29’, it has been criticised for its lack of clarity on the issue.
Iain Munro, chief executive officer of Creative Scotland, has said in a statement: ‘Like everyone working in Scotland’s culture and creative sector, we understand the extreme pressures on public finances… but want to see longer-term budget certainty from the Scottish government, including the additional £100m announced in October 2023, details of which have yet to emerge.’
6 September: The Scottish Government has reinstated the £6.6m investment for Creative Scotland, Craft Scotland (an organisation supported by Creative Scotland) announced in a Facebook post. Within the investment, £3m will be allocated for reopening the Open Fund for Individuals.
In the meantime, a further 819 applications with a total asks of £11,893,366 have been made to the arts body after its closing date was announced. The organisation is ‘now considering how to work through the recent applications’.
