Creative Scotland wholeheartedly welcomes the positive news of the substantial uplift for Culture, including Creative Scotland, in the Scottish Government’s draft budget announced today.
In 2025/26, Creative Scotland’s draft Grant-in-Aid budget from the Scottish Government will be £80m, up from £51.4m in the previous year. Included in this is an additional £20m, specifically for use in supporting the Multi-Year Funding programme and an additional £2m to support delivery of Screen Scotland’s strategy.
The Board of Creative Scotland will meet on 16 December to agree the final budget for Multi-Year Funding and a further update will be made following that meeting.
The final outcomes from the programme will be announced by the end of January.
Creative Scotland’s Chair, Robert Wilson, said:
“Today’s draft budget announcement by the Scottish Government is enormously welcome. The major boost to Multi-Year Funding and other activities opens up wider opportunities, and we are grateful to the Scottish Government for this significant vote of confidence in Creative Scotland and the creative and culture sector.
“This is especially positive in the light of the long-term financial challenges the sector has been dealing with and will enable people and organisations to once again look forward with more confidence.”
Background
Details on the Scottish Government draft budget: Scottish Budget 2025 to 2026 - gov.scot
Details on the Multi-Year Funding programme: Multi-Year Funding | Creative Scotland
The additional £20m provided for Multi-Year Funding gives us firm foundations of £54m to support organisations that are successful in their Multi-Year Funding application.
This budget does not impact on Creative Scotland’s role as a distributor of The National Lottery or the income it receives for this purpose which, in 2024/25 is £32.5m