ARTS funding from the UK Government will be passed on in full to the Scottish sector, Nicola Sturgeon said.
The First Minister welcomed the “significant” £1.57 billion funding package announced on Sunday evening, with £97 million made available to the Scottish Government through the Barnett formula.
The funding will be on top of a £10m pot revealed by the Scottish Government on Friday for the sector.
Speaking at the daily coronavirus briefing, the First Minister said: “We very much welcome the announcement from the UK Government last night of a significant package of financial support.”
Sturgeon said she is exploring how the funding from the UK Government will work and will be engaging with those in the sector about how the money could best be spent.
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“I want to give an assurance today that the funding announced last night by the UK Government will be passed on in full in Scotland to our arts, culture and heritage sector,” she said. “I hope today’s news together with last week’s announcement from the Scottish Government will provide people working across the sector with some optimism about the future.”
Responding to questions from journalists, the First Minister confirmed the £10m of extra funding will be added on top of the £97m from the UK Government, taking the total cash injection to £107m.
The First Minister added: “Arts and culture and heritage is important in every part of our country – not just our cities, but literally in every corner of our country – and it’s important that this funding supports arts and culture in every part of our country and we’ll be determined to make sure it does.”
Sturgeon said the Scottish Government is “still considering carefully” the return of live events that would supports arts and cultural venues. She added the funding will allow ministers to provide “much more support” to venues, including helping them to stay afloat until live events are given the go-ahead.
The First Minister said: “We found out about this funding last night so we’re working to get clarity on the different strands of that and we will want to have some engagement with the arts, culture and heritage sector here in Scotland to make sure that not just every penny of it goes to businesses and freelancers in those sectors but that we get the structuring of that support right.
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“Arts and culture is such an integral part of not just our economy but our well-being as a society and therefore we have a duty to support it as much as we can.”
Scottish Conservatives culture spokesman Maurice Golden welcomed the funding.
He said: “The Scottish Government must now follow suit and use this extra money to support Scotland’s successful cultural sector and secure the future of our globally recognised arts industry.
“Our dynamic cultural and arts organisations have taken a huge financial hit as a result of coronavirus and this money could be a lifeline for many. The Scottish arts sector makes a staggering contribution to our economy as well as our cultural well-being.
“This funding is just part of the package of measures rolled out by the UK Government to support all sectors of the Scottish economy through this pandemic.”
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