COLLABORATION with business is becoming increasingly crucial for Scotland’s cultural sector – but most cultural organisations still find it challenging to forge successful partnerships with businesses, according to a new survey.

In total, 65 Scottish arts and heritage organisations of all types and sizes took part in the survey completed the survey, carried out by independent Scottish charity Arts & Business Scotland.

On a scale of zero to 10, participants were asked to rate how important they think it is today for their organisation to secure partnerships, sponsorship and funding from the business sector and how important they think such collaboration is likely to be for their organisation in three years’ time.

On average, respondents rated the importance of collaboration with business as 7.6, rising to 8.3 three years. Giving a score of nine or 10 out of ten, just over one-third of respondents rated the importance of such collaboration very highly, rising to more than half of all participants who predict such collaboration will become “crucial” or “near crucial” for their organisation in three years’ time.

Participants were also asked to indicate how difficult their organisation finds it to secure partnerships, sponsorship and funding from the business sector by choosing a figure between zero (impossible) and 10 (extremely easy).

The average rating from all organisations was 3.7 with only 12 respondents giving an answer higher than five. Organisations in the heritage sector appear to find successful collaboration with business comparatively more difficult, returning an average rating of 3.4 compared to an average score of four for those arts organisations contributing to the survey.

Arts & Business Scotland chief executive David Watt said: “With public sector funding under sustained pressure, these continue to be challenging times for the cultural sector. In this environment, it’s more important than ever for cultural organisations to find ways of forging successful partnerships with the business community to help make projects happen.

“The survey also shows that many cultural organisations still find it difficult to do.”