Blog: Budgeting to save a global asset

Ahead of the UK budget Shona McCarthy, Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, reflects on the latest Understanding Scotland economy insights and asks our leaders to lift their heads up from the ongoing crises and take a longer view.

While both UK and Scottish Governments have much to do to address current suffering, the key to sustainable economic growth and wellbeing includes investing in our cultural capital. 

A report by the Lords Communications Committee recently stated that creative industries should sit at the heart of the UK’s economic growth plan and criticised senior politicians for failing to spot its potential.

Investment in culture, which makes up a tiny 0.8 per cent of the Scottish Government budget, has been steadily declining year on year, comparative to other UK nations. This is despite its obvious pre-pandemic economic contribution. The sector has been hit hard by the loss of European funding which has not been replaced at the same level by the new UK Government funds. A rumoured injection of £8.6m for Edinburgh Festivals in today’s budget will be a welcome boost.

In 2019 the creative industries employed over 90,000 people in Scotland with the previous year’s economic contribution measured at £4.6 billion in GVA and £4 billion in exports. But as the sector tries to recover from the debt and ravages of covid, sustaining this contribution and growing the culture and creative sector over the coming years, will require similarly sustained investment, something which does not look likely in the current climate.

Of course governments should be responsive to the electorate’s priorities. It’s no surprise that in the recent Understanding Scotland survey, people in Scotland placed the cost of living and anxieties about NHS performance high on the list when asked to name the issues that most concern them. But we also know from Creative Scotland research across Scotland that 84% believe that it is right that there should be public funding of arts and cultural activities in Scotland. 98% of the Scottish population engaged in cultural activity during lockdown. 93% believes that creative activity is essential for children and young people’s learning and well-being. Alongside addressing immediate concerns is it too much to ask that our political leaders keep their eye on the long game? 

Current challenges and the way governments respond will have long-term economic consequences. In the same Understanding Scotland survey over 60% of Scots said they were cutting down on leisure spending in response to rising costs. In terms of income this could be a knockout blow for those venues and creative practitioners already placed in jeopardy by the impact of the pandemic. As far as the Edinburgh Fringe is concerned I fear there is a sense that it will always be there. The Fringe began as a platform for inclusion and freedom of expression. And it is the very nature of its openness and inclusivity that has caused it to grow organically over 75 years to include more artists, more creatives, more voices from every walk of life and every nation. As we have seen with the plight of the Film Festival this year, we can’t afford to just take it all for granted.

It is astonishing to think the ticket-selling collective of Edinburgh’s Festivals in August are now equivalent in value to a FIFA world cup, and second only to the Olympic Games every single year. 

If cities were bidding now to host what Edinburgh delivers every August, there would be enormous competition.

If the arts were treated like a major sporting event, at least £100m of UK government investment would be on the table to cover the cost and supporting infrastructure. Even comparing, to the much smaller, Eurovision Song contest the UK Government pledged £10m to support the winning city.  

The Edinburgh Festivals are a UK asset, valued world wide which we need to treasure. The arts are a vital part of the UK economy and we need everyone to help us survive. 

ENDS

This article was published in The Scotsman on 15th March 2023

Blog: Behind the scenes at museums

by Shelagh Young, Engagement Lead, David Hume Institute

2nd September 2022  

If you've been dreaming of saving on your energy costs by swapping a wintry day under your duvet binge watching box sets for time spent sitting on a hard bench surrounded by dinosaur bones or mediaeval quern stones, bad luck, it's just not happening. 

No sooner had museums been added to the list of suggested warm refuges from the cost of living storm, up pops the Museum Association to dust off one of today's rarest artefacts - the simple truth. A lot of museums and heritage centres won't be open as often as usual because they can't afford their energy bills either. 

This matters.

Not just because a huge number of people need more than imaginary warm spaces as a defence against the dark parts of winter but because museums are incredibly important to the economy.

Alongside providing jobs they help drive tourism. 

The National Museum Director's Council states that 40% of visitors to the UK cite culture as their reason to visit, and 43% visited a museum or gallery while in the UK.  

They come to see the fascinating antiquities and that doesn't include us. But all old things need to be well looked after. If you've ever spent a night in the mildewed sheets of a damp caravan or thumbed the flyblown pages of a wrinkled vintage paperback you will already know that climate control is fundamental to the healthy preservation of stuff, not just people.  

Shorter museum opening hours cut some costs but climate controlled museum storage is a sophisticated and costly business which cannot be turned off without posing an existential threat to the heritage industry. 

Alongside uncapped unaffordable energy bills, which have reportedly risen by 400% for some institutions,  museums are seeing a reduction in donations and visitor numbers, both signs of growing public belt tightening. Without additional support we have to ask how long it will be before the cost of merely preserving collections, let alone enabling anyone to see them, outstrips the sector's ability to afford it? 

In a week in which health experts are warning that cold homes will damage the lung and brain development of children, it might seem odd to champion investment in the preservation of things. But a healthy economy including the arts, culture and heritage industries, is integral to maintaining public health. There is no better future to be built from ignoring the whole in favour of its parts.

Energy industry privatisation was likened to selling off the family silver. Looking at current energy industry profits, they’ve already turned our lost legacy into gold. Some would point to this as a sign that the private sector really does do the energy business better than public ownership ever could.

Whatever your view, it is surely far from ideal to forge ahead with policies that risk leaving many of the remaining national heirlooms too damaged to generate any income at all. 

---

For an insight into how people in Scotland are feeling about the rising cost of living take a look at the latest edition of our quarterly Understanding Scotland: economy research.