THE Scottish Greens yesterday became the first party to launch a cultural manifesto for the Holyrood elections, pledging to raise an additional £65 million for the sector through a “tourist tax”.
An intermittent work scheme giving actors, painters, musicians and writers bursaries in between paid work, a watchdog to monitor gender balance on television and radio programmes and a commitment to increase drama, music and art classes in schools are among the key pledges in the document.
Senior Green party figures have previously spoken of their determination to lure voters away from its Yes campaign ally, the SNP, and its mini-manifesto on the arts Scotland Can Unleash Our Creativity, unveiled at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, underlined Finance Secretary John Swinney’s multi-million cuts to the budgets of the national performing arts companies and the national libraries and museums.
The Greens say they would reverse these budget cuts to the arts bodies by introducing a £4 visitor levy on air passenger duty. The manifesto estimated imposing the levy on visitors from outside the UK would raise almost £10m, with substantially more raised if the levy was also imposed on those flying to Scotland from England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Zara Kitson, MSP candidate for Glasgow and Scottish Green Party culture spokeswoman, said: “The Scottish Greens’ culture manifesto is rightly bold, going further than paying lip-service to protection of arts and culture as it exists.
“Our proposed intermittent work scheme demonstrates our commitment to investment in culture as core to Scotland’s economy, communities and quality of life. It is a step forward to ensuring artists have access to a means of living in a precarious working environment, and that their work is valued for its true worth and contribution to life in Scotland.
“There are currently about 174,000 people employed in the cultural sector and creative industries in Scotland – some 6.6 per cent of the workforce. Scotland can improve on this and continue to be a leader on the world stage, recognising that a thriving cultural sector is key to boosting tourism, innovation and knowledge exchange. We believe that arts, culture and sport are not optional luxuries – they are a profound part of the human experience.
“Through the arts we can represent our experiences, explore questions of national and personal and community identity and inspire people to fulfill their potential. Through sport we can ensure we have an active population – leading to healthier, more productive and less stressed individuals.”
The Greens estimate an extra £65m of revenue for the arts, including for the intermittent work scheme and extra funding for arts funding body Creative Scotland, could be raised through an overnight visitor levy, or tourist tax, which would impose a £1 fee per night per person on each hotel or bed and breakfast stay.
The manifesto said Visit Scotland figures for 2014 showed there were 64.29 million nights spent in the country’s hotels and if these were taxed at £1 per night this would raise £65m.
It added: “The cost of increasing cultural activities in schools is well within the figure of £65m raised with an overnight visitor levy, £20m of this can be allocated to this scheme and councils would have power to raise additional revenue by adjusting the levy rates.
“The cost of increasing funding to Creative Scotland is well within the figure of £65m raised with an overnight visitor levy. £21m of this can be allocated as funds ring-fenced for activities across the length and breadth of Scotland. Councils would have power to raise additional revenue by adjusting the levy rates.
“The cost of providing an intermittent work scheme for workers in the Creative industries is calculated at £24m.”
Last year leading scientists and engineers called for more support for cultural and creative learning in schools saying the subjects helped foster innovative thinking across the curriculum, including in science, maths and engineering.
Philipp Kukura, associate professor of Physical Chemistry at University of Oxford, said at the time: “True scientific progress relies as much on an excellent specific education as on creativity and an ability to think and venture beyond what appears to be correct and reasonable.”
The National View: It’s been a great 10 years for our national theatre
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