About the SAU
Objectives
At the present time, the SAU‘s top priority is to engage with the Scottish Government and Arts Council on the formation of the new Creative Scotland agency.
The SAU were strongly vocal during the Cultural Commission’s research period that followed the First Minister’s noted speech of St.Andrew’s Day 2003. The Commission’s final report two years later gave us cause for optimism, but with the publication of the Draft Culture (Scotland) Bill at the end of 2006 that hope has been replaced by grave concern.
Creative Scotland as proposed in that bill seemed like nothing more than a second Scottish Enterprise with an emphasis on “creative industries”. The concept of “Cultural Entitlements” also appeared flawed, particularly as those requirements were being placed on local authorities that are increasingly delegating their cultural provision to charitable trusts (fifteen in Scotland and counting!). Our full, formal response to that bill can be found in our Documents Centre.
The May 2007 elections and the formation of the new Scottish Government resulted in the bulk of the bill's content being quietly dropped. However Creative Scotland is still set to take over from both the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen in 2009 and we will be working to ensure the result is a culture wherein artists are valued and able to negotiate for the rightful presentation and delivery of their own creative output with confidence, and the arts are valued throughout the community for their intrinsic worth as well as their social or economic benefit.
