SCOTTISH ministers are under pressure to carry out a “root and branch review” of arts funding body Creative Scotland, following the resignation of the quango’s CEO.
Janet Archer yesterday announced that she was moving on after five years at the helm.
Her time in charge of the organisation will likely be remembered for the controversies from earlier this year when a number of cuts were made during the crucial Regular Funded Organisation spending round.
Companies like Catherine Wheels, the Scottish Youth Theatre, Birds of Paradise and the Dunedin Consort all initially lost out.
Two Creative Scotland board members resigned over the furore.
Over the weekend, Culture Republic, the national audience development agency, said that lack of income was forcing them to close.
That followed the announcement from last month, when arts firm NVA, who also lost funding, said it would close in September.
Archer’s resignation followed a damning assessment of the row by Holyrood’s Culture Committee.
In a 12-page letter, the committee’s chair, Joan McAlpine, told Archer that MSPs believed “Creative Scotland’s handling of the regular funding decision-making process in relation to touring theatre and dance companies fell well below the standard that is expected from a non-departmental public body”.
In a statement, Archer said: “It has been an honour to work closely with, and to serve Scotland’s artists and creative communities over the past five years in my role as chief executive of Creative Scotland, and to help many thousands of people produce and share work.”
She added: “I’m pleased that in a difficult public financial context, Creative Scotland managed to work closely with the Scottish Government to secure an additional £19.8 million funding for 2018-21 for Regularly Funded Organisations to replace the unexpected steep downturn in National Lottery Funding, as well as an additional £10m annual support for Screen.”
Creative Scotland said Archer’s deputy, Iain Munro, will take charge until a new chief executive could be appointed.
Scottish Labour’s culture spokeswoman, Claire Baker, said “it was clear” that there needed to be changes at Creative Scotland and added that the Culture Secretary must now use the opportunity “to carry out a root and branch review of the organisation to ensure that it can regain the confidence of the industry”.
Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop released a short statement, simply saying: “I would like to thank Janet Archer for her five years’ service and achievements at Creative Scotland and for her commitment, contribution and passion in supporting Scotland’s culture and artists and wish her well for the future.”
Robert Wilson, the new chairman of Creative Scotland ordered a review of the entire organisation last month.
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