Independent Review of Creative Scotland
An independent report considering whether the remit and functions of Creative Scotland remain relevant, evaluating how Creative Scotland delivers its functions, and assessing how appropriately and effectively Creative Scotland uses and distributes funding.
Annex D: Public support for Scotland’s art, culture and creative sector
Public support for Scotland's art, culture and creative sector comes from a complex matrix of local, national and UK public bodies to support a wide variety of art forms and activities. In addition to public funding many individuals and organisations rely on private support through trusts, foundations and philanthropic giving.
The Scottish Government’s funding of the sector is covered below. Other sources of public support include from the National Lottery,[129] some local authorities,[130] the enterprise agencies, VisitScotland, Skills Development Scotland and in the form of creative industry tax reliefs.[131] Given the complexity of the system and the remit of the Review, this is not a comprehensive list. It is provided to illustrate that Creative Scotland operates within in a support system fragmented by diverse funding streams and potentially competing priorities. For example a report commissioned by PACT, the UK screen sector trade body, suggests that producers based in Scotland are eligible for 14 different sources of public funding.[132]
The Scottish Government has allocated £205.3 million for culture in 2025-26 of which £20.5 million is allocated for capital support to cultural organisations.[133] None of the capital budget was allocated to Creative Scotland in 2025-26.
The Scottish Government funds the following public bodies (amounts, for 2025-26, are rounded below):
- Creative Scotland (£89 million)
- Historic Environment Scotland (£59.2 million)
- National Museums of Scotland (£28.7 million)
- National Galleries of Scotland (£21.2 million)
- National Library of Scotland (£17.8 million)
- Architecture & Design Scotland (£1.8 million)
In addition, the Scottish Government funds the following organisations directly on a yearly basis:
- the National Performing Companies: Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and National Theatre of Scotland
- Museums Galleries Scotland
- V&A Dundee
- Sistema Scotland
- Scottish Library & Information Council
- Scottish Maritime Museum
- Scottish Mining Museum
- Scottish Fisheries Museum
- Culture & Business Scotland (for the C&BS fund only)
Contact
Email: culture@gov.scot