Scandalous arts organisation Creative Scotland has ‘failed’ amid serious allegations of mismanagement, government insiders say

Scotland’s embattled arts advisory body is to be disbanded after the Mail newspaper revealed serious allegations of mismanagement.

Culture Secretary Angus Robertson announced a “review” of Creative Scotland to “ensure its operations and structure best meet the needs of the cultural sector”.

The controversial £96million charity could be disbanded after a series of controversies, including a decision to fund an erotic programme, according to a report in The Mail.

In another development, funding for artists that had been cut was restored yesterday following a wave of criticism from artists who warned of an impending “crisis” for the sector.

The review, which will be the first since the public body was established in 2010, will examine the “roles and functions” of Creative Scotland.

The organisation employs nearly 150 people, including a 24-person board and a “senior leadership team” led by Iain Munro, who receives a salary of £125,000-£130,000 and has a pension fund of £470,000.

Full details of the review will be presented to Parliament “in the near future” and will involve “collecting views from individuals and organisations from all parts of the Scottish cultural sector”.

Last night a Scottish Government source said: “This will not be a review to fix Creative Scotland – Creative Scotland has come to an end.

“It’s a combination of factors – there were of course concerns that they wouldn’t be able to implement spending cuts, as other organisations have, and reduce funding for artists.

“The recent scandals were the final straw.”

The Culture Secretary also confirmed that “following a period of necessary due diligence”, Creative Scotland has now received funding previously allocated in the 2024/25 Scottish Budget, including £1.8m for youth music and £6.6m to reopen the Open Artists Fund.

Some 2,000 “deeply concerned” artists and arts workers have signed an open letter criticising ministers for a decision that threatens the “future of the arts” by failing to support independent artists who make up a large part of the workforce.

Last week, musicians including Biffy Clyro, Paolo Nutini, Franz Ferdinand, The Proclaimers, Karine Polwart and Mogwai joined forces to demand the “immediate reinstatement” of the Open Fund to prevent a “cultural crisis”.

Yesterday Mr Robertson said: “Scottish culture is renowned around the world and remains an integral part of our country and our economy.”

For the past 14 years Creative Scotland has played a significant role in supporting this role, distributing £65 million of public funding in the last year.

“Since then, the sector has faced a range of new and enduring challenges and now is the time to ensure that Creative Scotland’s remit and roles remain relevant, in line with our commitments to invest at least £100 million more per year in arts and culture by 2028-29 and to continually improve the performance of all our public bodies.”

Our investigation this weekend has uncovered serious concerns about alleged mismanagement at the organisation, leading to JK Rowling denouncing “illiberalism and cronyism”.

An author-help worker has been found to have tried to stop at least one bookstore from selling a book she deemed transphobic.

Arts activist Dr Rosie Aspinall Priest, a partner of a Creative Scotland official who helps make decisions on project grants, has accused playwright David Greig, artistic director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, of expressing support for allegedly transphobic views in social media posts while he was waiting for a decision on the funding.

Creative Scotland has also faced a series of withering attacks accusing it of being “secretive” and “ideologically driven”.

The review comes after Creative Scotland bosses said on Tuesday that confusion over “terminology” may have been behind an earlier decision to fund the erotic programme.

Creative Scotland bosses said the application for more than £84,000 in public funding did not make clear whether the programme would feature live sex – despite including STI tests for actors and mentioning “genital contact”.

Following a public audition and subsequent outcry over the programme’s content, Creative Scotland’s board announced that the applicant had breached the funder’s terms and that most of the funding would be returned.

The quasi-organisation’s head, Mr Munro, told the Scottish Parliament’s culture committee earlier this week that an internal review to establish what went wrong had found that the artist involved was largely to blame, as the scope of the project was changed after funding had been secured.

Last night Mr Munro said: “Creative Scotland notes its intention to review how it supports the sector, as announced by the First Minister in the Programme for Government, and we look forward to hearing more details.”

Scottish Conservative Party culture spokesman Alexander Stewart said the Scottish National Party government was “making Creative Scotland an easy scapegoat for its long-standing failure to support Scotland’s vital arts sector”.

He said: “If these reports (of the quasi-advisory body being abolished) are true, the Scottish National Party must set out clearly why and how it intends to replace Creative Scotland – otherwise suspicions will arise that this is merely a name change for cosmetic effect.”

“Angus Robertson must be clear about what these reports mean for our arts sector, which is crying out for certainty in the face of drastic budget cuts from the Scottish National Party.”