Celebrating Scotland

'We believe that arts and culture have a central role in shaping a sense of community and civic pride in the new Scotland.'

This is a key element of Partnership for Scotland, the statement which forms the basis for the Scottish Executive's programme for the next four years.

Introduction

From Robert Louis Stevenson to Janice Galloway; Robert Burns to Sorley MacLean; Allan Ramsay to Elizabeth Blackadder; Niel Gow to Aly Bain; Mary Garden to Shirley Manson; Robert Adam to Charles Rennie Macintosh; Bill Douglas to Lynne Ramsay; Scotland's creative figures have profoundly influenced how Scotland and the Scots are perceived.

Scotland's culture belongs to all the people of Scotland. It belongs to anybody who creates, designs or performs: Scotland's writers and painters, architects and craftworkers, musicians and composers, actors and dancers and, more recently, film directors and television producers. It also belongs to all of us who enjoy films and plays; who listen or dance to music of any kind; who go to a museum or an art gallery or a library; who visit Scotland's many historic buildings or monuments, or appreciate its architecture. Today's Scotland is a rich mixture of cultures, which vary across its contrasting landscape and according to age and differing backgrounds.

As we turn a new page in Scotland's history, the Scottish Executive intends to prepare a national strategy to promote and develop Scotland's culture in the new millennium.

To do that we need to hear your views on how a cultural strategy can best achieve its aims. We also want your ideas on how to increase the opportunities for everyone in Scotland to draw on the resources of our culture - whether that is by creating, designing, performing or by appreciating and enjoying the richness of it.

I therefore hope that as many of you as possible will take the time to respond to this consultation document. We shall also be arranging public meetings in various parts of Scotland at which people can express their views and discuss them with each other. Scotland's culture belongs to all of us; let's all work together to shape it and help it thrive.

Rhona Brankin MSP,
Deputy Minister for Culture and Sport

'It is from Scotland that we
receive rules of taste in
all the arts'

Voltaire

'Well, everybody likes tae
huv a good time, a bit ay
enjiyment, ken?'

CelebratingScotland

A national cultural strategy is timely and necessary. The Charter for the Arts in Scotland, published in 1993, described the role of the arts in these terms, "Culture is the key component in defining human identity at individual, community and national level. Through our culture we seek fulfilment and pleasure and the sense of being a whole person and a whole people."

Such a strategy will recognise the richness and diversity of Scotland's culture and seek ways of making the fullest use of it - for the benefit of the nation as a whole and for its individual citizens. But a cultural strategy cannot be created overnight. There will be debate, argument even. We welcome that. But we want the process to be structured. It will be important to establish where we want to go and then to consider how we get there, remembering that there may be more than one way that reaches the right destination.

This short document is the beginning of that process. It sets out some key features and describes the scope of the strategy. It also poses some broad questions; not a comprehensive list, but questions which will form the starting point for development of the strategy.

The strategy will not be the property of the Scottish Executive or of the Parliament. It will belong to the people of Scotland. We therefore want you, the Scottish people, to let us have your ideas and suggestions for a national cultural strategy. You will contribute in different ways and with different levels of knowledge and experience. But whether you are an arts professional or an interested amateur, a large organisation or a neighbourhood group, a multi-national corporation or a small business, your voice will be heard.

When we have your responses, which we would ask for by the end of October, we shall then draw up more detailed proposals while discussion and debate continue. We aim to produce a strategy document by the summer of 2000. That will be a milestone but not the end of the journey. To be of use the strategy will need regular updating and revision. Only in this way shall we truly be able to celebrate Scotland and her culture in the millennial year and beyond.

'That's leisure tae me man,
likesay. Ah like tae see punters
enjoy themselves, ken?'

Irvine Welsh [trainspotting]

'Fad na bliadhna rè gach ràithe
Gach la's gach ciaradh dhomh
Is e Alba nan Gall 's nan Gàidheal
Is gàire, is blàths is beatha dhomh'

Deòrsa Mac Iain Deòrsa [George Campbell Hay] [Ceithir Gaothan na h-Albain]¹

'All year long each season through
Each day and each fall of dusk for me
It is Scotland, Highland and Lowland
That is laughter and warmth and life for me'

Translation from the Gaelic

KeyFeatures

A cultural strategy will recognise that:

Scotland has a distinct and valuable cultural identity

Scotland's culture has been enriched by European and wider influences; in particular in this century by those of North America and most recently by those of the Asian Sub-continent

Scotland's culture is dynamic and open to new influences

Scotland's culture is the culture of all of Scotland's people, not the preserve of particular institutions, classes, creeds, racial or linguistic groups

Scotland's culture will play an important role in the nation's economic and social development

Scotland's culture will help to broaden horizons and encourage the creative impulse in our schools and colleges

Scotland's culture can provide an opportunity for everyone to be involved in the life of his or her community

Scotland's culture can be the seedbed for new ideas and expressions of creativity that can form the foundations for the development of new artforms and creative industries

Scotland, through the promotion of her culture, can generate self respect, win the respect of others and contribute to civilised living

'I think Scottish writing has
contributed to the moves that set
up a Scottish parliament, but it did
that by being non-aligned and anarchic
and critical and all the things it is and I hope will remain'

Scope

A cultural strategy will embrace a wide range of activities: the performing arts such as music, dance, theatre; the creative arts such as painting, sculpture, writing, architecture, design, crafts, TV, film, photography, video; and leading edge developments such as multi-media and the whole area of new, exciting and economically important developments associated with Scotland's creative industries.

Likewise, a strategy will embrace the cultural heritage represented by our rich endowment of museums, galleries, libraries and the built heritage.

A strategy will be inclusive. It will pay attention to all the strands that make up contemporary Scotland, while giving due emphasis to Scotland's indigenous traditions. Gaelic and the Scots language will each have an important place, but other languages and their traditions will also have a contribution to make.

A strategy will also look to the future. Scotland's children and young people are those in whom the cultural and economic wealth of the nation are inevitably invested and, without excluding any group of the population, a strategy will have a particular focus on those to whom the future is entrusted.

Producers and Providers

Scotland's culture is a mixed economy: central and local government, public bodies, the National Institutions (the National Museums, Galleries and Library of Scotland), arts organisations, including the National Performing Arts Companies (Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Ballet and Scottish Opera), private business, voluntary groups and individuals. The bringing together of these players is vital if Scotland is to invest and develop its culture for the people of Scotland and the world.

Many of the products of the cultural industries are exported or sold to people from outwith Scotland. Festivals, such as the Edinburgh Festival (or Festivals) attract large numbers of visitors to Scotland. Many tourists visit museums and art galleries, as well as heritage sites.

Our libraries provide information to people all over the world. Many of the cultural industries are growth businesses, attracting innovative and creative people, and involving interactions with others in related fields.

'He canna Scotland see wha yet
Canna see the Infinite,
And Scotland in true scale to it'

Hugh MacDiarmid [A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle] ²

Scottish and International

The roots of Scottish culture lie in Europe, but contemporary Scottish culture including music, fashion, design, literature and film reflects a myriad of influences from the cultures of every continent. It will be important to retain access to international culture - music, literature, dance and screen based culture originating in Europe, America or elsewhere, and to maximise interchange with other countries. At the same time we need to maintain and strengthen our Scottish base, not in the interests of parochialism, but to nourish the particular as a means of giving universal expression to what is uniquely Scottish. Traditional music and Scottish literature are examples of the strength of our indigenous culture. We also need to recognise the information revolution brought about by new and rapidly expanding technology and how easily that crosses international frontiers and obliterates distinctions which only recently would have seemed indelible . We need to seize the opportunities which this presents to cultivate an interest in, and enthusiasm for, Scotland's culture amongst people of other nations.

The Gaelic language is unique to Scotland. Now spoken by some 70,000 people, it was for much of the present millennium spoken and understood throughout most of Scotland. It therefore forms an important part of Scotland's rich heritage, with a wealth of music and poetry and song. In recent years the Government has provided resources for Gaelic-medium education, particularly in primary schools, and for Gaelic broadcasting. As in other countries, public support for a minority culture is deemed necessary to enable those who speak and work in the language to transmit it to the next generations. We need to consider further means of strengthening our Gaelic culture.

The Scots language is spoken by many more people though there are no precise figures. Scots has been disparaged as a language for many years, but there has been a growing recognition that it is part of the richness of Scottish culture and that it is important for the expressive potential of children. There is general agreement that children in Scottish schools should have the opportunity to study and take examinations in Scottish literature, but there is less agreement about the extent to which Scots should be developed for this.

Resources

Government at both national and local level provide substantial resources for arts and culture. Businesses and individuals also support the arts through sponsorship arrangements and, of course, at the box office. The value of the "creative economy" to Scotland has been estimated at £5.3 billion and as sustaining 91,000 jobs. Amounts and the allocation of resources are inescapable elements of any strategy, although these questions arguably relate more to delivery than objective setting. Such financial and organisational questions are likely to feature more prominently as the consultation progresses.

'We'll speak wi a voice that is common but smert
Gaelic and Scots and English
- the lot!'

Questions

The following are some of the questions which arise. Posing them is not intended to inhibit or constrict responses in any way. They are, however, pertinent questions and views on them would be particularly appreciated.

What does culture mean to you?

What should be the aims of a cultural strategy?

How are these aims to be met? Do we have the right mechanisms and structures?

What should be the link between the National Institutions and National Performing Arts Companies and local authority provision?

How can Scotland's culture better exploit new technologies?

How can the arts and cultural industries be better linked with the commercial creative industries to their mutual benefit?

How can Scotland's creative output be better presented to the wider world?

How can Scotland's culture enrich our education system ?

How can a wider audience be gained?

What special emphasis should be given to indigenous elements whether Gaelic or Scots?

'We'll ken whaur we cam frae an whaur we ur gan
We'll aw hae a say each wumman an man'

Liz Niven [A Drunk Wumman Sittin oan a Thistle]

Responses

Responses to this consultation document can be made using the online questionnaire or can be sent by post to:

Arts and Cultural Heritage Division
Scottish Executive Education Department
Area 1A
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ

Responses can also be sent by fax to 0131 244 0353 or emailed to nationalculturalstrategy@scotland.gov.uk

The closing date for responses is 30 October 1999.

Under the code of practice on open government, any responses will be made available to the public on request, unless respondents indicate that they wish their responses to remain confidential.

Focus Group

A Focus Group has been established to oversee work on the development of the national cultural strategy and their views have been taken into account in the preparation of this consultation document. The group will continue to act as a source of expertise and a point of reference against which the course of this strategy can be charted. The present members of the group are:

John Archer
Chief Executive of Scottish Screen

Mark Jones
Director, National Museums
of Scotland

Magnus Linklater
Chairman, Scottish Arts Council

Bridget McConnell
Director, Culture and Leisure Services - Glasgow City Council

Donnie Munro
Development Director,
Sabhal Mor Ostaig

This document is available in English and Gaelic and additional copies in either language can be obtained from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Division by phoning 0131 244 0344. Enquiries about the consultation document should also be made to this number. These enquiries should be factual; it will not be possible to accept responses to the consultation paper or to enter into discussion with callers.

Footnotes

¹ from Modern Scottish Gaelic Poems by Donald MacAuley (ed), published in 1995 as a Canongate Classic by Canongate Books, 14 High Sreet, Edinburgh, EH1

² from Selected Poems of Hugh MacDiarmid (Carcanet Press,1992)