Chamber and committees

It is all culture.

I have two questions, which I will ask very quickly.

Sorry about that. Good morning, everyone.

Iain, you said that, of the 28 organisations that were unsuccessful in getting multiyear funding, 13 are on a development stream to try, I assume, to build up future applications and so on. I am interested in hearing more about that. I am also interested in your comment that multiyear funding is not the only part of the process and in hearing more about the support that you give organisations to secure external funding.

Let me give you some examples, although you are probably aware of them already. When a witness from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra came before the committee, they talked about the idea of an endowment. When I said that that was a great plan and asked them to talk about such new ideas, they said, “Well, we have not worked it out yet.” What kind of support can you provide to develop other ideas that might be out there in the sector and help organisations secure some form of external funding?

That sounds fantastic. It is great to hear that that support is available for them to tap into and that they are able to look at other forms of finance, too, because it is frustrating for us when we get organisations coming here every year and telling us the same thing. It is good to know that there are other things out there.

I am also interested in hearing about the visitor levy. We know that, in its pilot, Edinburgh is looking at allocating 25 per cent of projected revenue from the levy to the culture sector. The issue has been brought up by many of the individuals who have given evidence; I know that it is up to each individual local authority to make that decision, but how do you, as Scotland’s cultural organisation, make that case to those authorities? After all, I know that you work with them at a local level. Do you say, for example, “There’s the Barcelona model” or “There’s the Amsterdam approach”? How do you make that pitch to local authorities and make it clear that such an approach could really help with their programmes to develop their local areas?

Okay, then. I will skip my question about the visitor levy.

Screen Scotland, which is part of Creative Scotland, is a shining beacon of what a successful organisation looks like. The fact that it is being allocated an extra £2 million points to its success.

Earlier, I asked Iain Munro about the organisation and he spoke about how important it is as part of the work that Creative Scotland is doing. It showcases Scottish talent and ability, and there is also the sheer involvement element, which is important for tourism. I have already used the example of walking down the Royal Mile and seeing Americans looking for “Outlander” locations. There is growth in that for us. How do you see us moving forward in that regard? Obviously, we are investing in that, but we can generate some income from it, too.

Alastair, you have just hit on my next question. Screen Scotland, which is one of your major successes, has created that sort of footfall; you only need walk up the Royal Mile to see American tourists wandering about various places shown in scenes from “Outlander”. Indeed, we members see them when we go back to our digs at night.

You have received an extra £2 million on top of your £2.5 million base budget for that, but I note, too, a 110 per cent increase in inward investment in film in Scotland. That seems quite incredible. I know that there is “Outlander”, and there are other examples such as “Batgirl”—Warner Brothers did decide to scrap it but, hey, Glasgow still got some success from the film actually being made there—and “The Rig”.

I am quite interested in the fact that every £1 invested in film effectively creates £12-worth of economic activity. Surely that is a perfect example of what we are talking about. Do we not need to support such activity and ensure that we create and develop that kind of screen tourism? After all, we seem to be punching well above our weight here in Scotland in that respect.

Thank you.

Good morning, cabinet secretary. I would like to follow on from what Jamie Halcro Johnston was saying about cultural regeneration as a tool to regenerate our town centres, villages and other areas across Scotland.

As you will be aware, I have already gone on at length about the fact that Renfrewshire Council has invested in Paisley, in particular in the town hall, the library and the museum, all of which are on the High Street, in order to try to create footfall in that area. There is also another issue, which is the fact that we have smaller venues—people looking to perform in a major venue will not go to Paisley town hall—and I note that, in your discussion with Jamie Halcro Johnston, you mentioned funding for smaller venues.

The Bungalow music venue, which was previously the Bungalow bar, has an interesting history. In the 1970s, it had all the major punk bands, because Glasgow City Council banned punk. For once, Renfrewshire Council thought that it was a good idea to make some money and encourage people to come to the town centre. How would venues such as that, which are smaller and of significance to the local area, go about engaging with Government in relation to funding? To be fair to the Government, it backed such venues during the Covid period, but they are struggling. They are doing well to get by, but there are still issues that mean that it is a bit of a struggle at times.

The Bungalow is quite interesting as it is a community investment company, not a for-profit organisation, so it ticks all the boxes with regard to the Government’s idea of investing in the future of culture.

I will move on to a different issue. One idea, which just about everyone who gave us evidence brought up, is for the Government to create a cross-portfolio fund, which would encourage organisations to look at things in a cross-portfolio way, too. The Scottish Library and Information Council gave a name to it: a culture and wellbeing fund. However, it could be broader than that. What are your thoughts on creating something along those lines?

Good morning. It is nice to see you all. I find myself in the strange position of agreeing with something that the convener said, which, as you will know if you have watched any of the committee’s proceedings, is quite unusual.