Creative Lives broadly welcomes the Independent Review of Creative Scotland, which Angela Leitch CBE has carried out.

As a UK and Ireland-wide charity that champions community and volunteer-led creative activity, Creative Lives works extensively in Scotland. We are part of Creative Scotland’s Multi Year Funding portfolio, and submitted our own response to the Independent Review earlier this year. There are local creative groups in every community in Scotland, who contribute a huge amount to the cultural and civic life of the nation - and we are grateful to them for their help in shaping our response to this review.

As we know from our recent work in Glasgow, and current work in Dunfermline (where we have mapped over 100 creative groups), there is an interconnectedness across the Scottish cultural sector. The indivisible nature of everyday creativity from professional and community arts means that funding should be kept open and inclusive. We therefore echo the report’s recommendation that funding processes and decisions should be proportionate to the financial ask and organisational structure.

We also welcome the call for greater regional diversity and collaborative approaches. Our place-based work demonstrates the value of mapping local creative groups, building relationships with local authorities, and understanding community-specific challenges. The vast majority of self-organised creative groups are not dependent on public funding, but by resourcing our support and advocacy for the sector Creative Scotland is recognising the huge social, health and wellbeing benefits of cultural participation.

Creative Lives has always had a positive and constructive relationship with Creative Scotland, and we look forward to working closely with them as the recommendations from the review are implemented.