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Scotland's National Cultural Strategy

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Our first national cultural strategy points the way for the Executive's policies for culture over the next four years. We shall work with a range of partners to implement the actions identified in the strategy and continue to pay attention to what people say. Better information about the quality and effects of opportunities, activities and events will guide decision-making. Taken together, this information will also enable us to evaluate the quality of provision nationally and to take stock of the progress of the strategy. We shall report progress to the Scottish Parliament on an annual basis.

 

Summary of strategic objectives, key priorities and supporting actions

Strategic Objective 1:
Promoting creativity, the arts, and other cultural activity

To promote the development of creativity, participation in the arts and other cultural activity we shall act to achieve three key priorities:

1. Facilitating a climate supportive to those working in the cultural sector
2. Enhancing Scotland's creative industries
3. Celebrating excellence in the arts and other cultural activity.

 

Key Priority 1.1

To facilitate the development of a climate supportive of those working in the cultural sector we shall:

  • Audit the availability of opportunities for training and continuing professional development for those working in the cultural sector, to identify areas which require further development
  • Improve access to advice, relevant business skills and training for those working in the cultural sector
  • Review existing forums for gathering the views of those working in the cultural sector about ways in which national arrangements might be adjusted and improved
  • Create opportunities for networking amongst those working in the sector to stimulate sharing of experience and good practice, and the agreement of common objectives.

 

Key Priority 1.2

To enhance Scotland's creative industries we shall:

  • Work to promote the contribution of new technologies to the cultural life of Scotland, in partnership with Scottish Screen, the Scottish Arts Council, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
  • Work with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to assure the contribution of the broadcast media to Scotland's cultural life, to include plans to capitalise upon the opportunities afforded by developments in digital technologies
  • Support the development of Scotland's film industry through supporting Scottish Screen's development of a Film Charter for Scotland and the exploration of the feasibility of establishing a film studio
  • Investigate the feasibility of building on existing work involving a range of bodies to establish a national product design network.

 

Key Priority 1.3

To celebrate excellence in the arts and other cultural activity we shall:

  • Investigate the feasibility of identifying national centres of excellence in traditional arts
  • Enhance existing structures and arrangements for recognising achievement in arts and cultural activity
  • Take steps to develop a national theatre for Scotland
  • Identify and promote the national roles and responsibilities and realise the full potential of the funded companies which work across Scotland
  • Promote partnerships by public and private bodies which support the production of the highest standards of cultural work.

 

Strategic Objective 2
Celebrating Scotland's cultural heritage in its full diversity

To celebrate the diversity of Scotland's cultural heritage we shall act to achieve three key priorities:

1. Promoting Scotland's languages as cultural expressions and as means of accessing Scotland's culture
2. Conserving, presenting, and promoting interest in and knowledge of Scotland's history and cultural heritage
3. Promoting international cultural exchange and dialogue.

 

Key Priority 2.1

To promote the languages spoken in Scotland as cultural expressions and as means of accessing Scotland's culture
we shall:

  • Continue to support, where demand is sufficient, Gaelic-medium pre-school and primary education
  • Examine the feasibility of a centre for the languages of Scotland covering Gaelic and the varieties of Scots which could incorporate the Scottish National Dictionary
  • Ensure that through their initial training and continuing professional development, teachers are well prepared to promote and develop all pupils' language skills
  • Continue to support the production of education resources which encourage language diversity and learning about all the languages spoken in Scotland
  • Establish an action group to consider how the languages and cultural traditions of Scotland's ethnic minorities can be supported and how their contribution to Scotland's culture can be recognised and celebrated.

 

Key Priority 2.2

To conserve, present and promote interest in and knowledge of Scotland's history and cultural heritage we shall:

  • Initiate a national audit of collections in the museums and galleries, beginning with the 'industrial' museums
  • Support the development of education services, including the production of digital and other education resources, in museums, galleries and sites in the care of Historic Scotland
  • Review the existing statutory framework relevant to museums and galleries, and consider the case for a comprehensive national framework
  • Increase access to collections by means of ICT, including securing the future of SCRAN
  • Review current library legislation to ensure that it is appropriate to the 21st century
  • Support the National Library of Scotland in its aim to become a 'hybrid library' maintaining its traditional print-based functions while developing its ICT facilities to meet the demands on a modern library of national and international importance
  • Encourage new partnerships in both public and private sectors, and further collaboration within the library sector to include the exploitation of ICT and the development of policies for national collections, particularly in relation to Scottish material

 

Key Priority 2.3

To promote international cultural exchange and dialogue we shall:

  • Promote the establishment of an Internationalisation (Go and See) Fund to support inward and outward travel by individuals and companies working in the cultural sector to learn, exhibit, screen or perform in other countries
  • Build upon existing initiatives and joint working by relevant bodies such as SAC, the British Council, Scotland Europa, Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Trade International and Scottish Screen to develop opportunities to promote Scotland's culture abroad
  • Maximise the benefits of existing international links, including town-twinning, to widen cultural access and understanding
  • Seek opportunities to promote Scotland's culture abroad
  • Set up a Ministerial Task Force to promote cultural tourism as part of the New Strategy for Scottish Tourism
  • Collaborate in joint cultural activity or projects with other European regions/member states, to access EU Culture 2000 funding and to influence EU policy for culture.
  • Ensure that Scotland attracts international events

 

Strategic Objective 3
Realising culture's potential contribution to education, promoting inclusion and enhancing people's quality of life.

To promote social inclusion and to enhance the quality of people's lives through realising the potential of culture, we shall act to achieve three key priorities:

1. Promoting and enhancing education and lifelong learning in and through arts, culture and heritage
2. Developing wider opportunities for cultural access
3. Maximising the social benefits of culture.

 

Key Priority 3.1

To promote and enhance education and lifelong learning in and through arts, culture and heritage we shall:

  • Recognise and celebrate schools as centres of creativity
  • Commission Learning and Teaching Scotland to work with SAC to prepare practical advice for education authorities and schools on the particular contribution that cultural activity can make to forging links with communities, and to promoting pupils' achievement, knowledge and skills, self-esteem, creativity and inclusion
  • Identify the contribution that cultural activities can make to promoting literacy, in the context of the work of the Adult Literacy Task Force
  • Reinforce support for the National Grid for Learning, Learndirect Scotland and other lifelong learning initiatives through the Public Library IT initiative and SCRAN
  • Work with education authorities to maximise opportunities for instrumental tuition in schools, free to those unable to pay
  • Pilot posts as school co-ordinators for heritage, arts and culture, and fulfil the commitment to have sports co-ordinators in every secondary school in 2003
  • Ensure that the value of where in the school experience is provided in future reviews of teachers' initial training and continuing professional development.
  • Ensure that the potential contribution of culture is recognised in community learning.

 

Key Priority 3.2

To develop wider opportunities for cultural access we shall:

  • Progressively improve access to museum, gallery and library collections for all groups.
  • Establish a national 'portal' website with information, links and discussion forums on Scotland's culture
  • Measure and report progress in reducing cultural exclusion because of disability, location, age or economic or educational factors and report on progress in meeting new standards
  • Encourage all national cultural bodies to establish junior boards of young people
  • Encourage the development of the Public Library Network
  • Promote activity throughout the country by companies with national roles.
  • Recognise the power of popular music-maing to engage young people in cultural activities

 

Key Priority 3.3

To maximise the social benefits of culture we shall:

  • Promote community-based cultural and sporting activities in the context of Social Inclusion Partnerships, to include a wide range of activities
  • Audit all public support for arts and culture in terms of its social benefits, including its planned contribution to social inclusion
  • Conduct robust evaluations of the contribution that cultural and sporting activity makes to urban regeneration in the context of existing projects, and identify and disseminate features of good practice
  • Increase the numbers across all communities taking part in voluntary activities, including cultural activity, in line with the Active Communities Initiative and Millennium Volunteers
  • Investigate the feasibility of extending New Deal to a wider range of cultural and sporting development and training and identify the contribution that Modern Apprenticeships can make to developing young people's skills in cultural and sporting activity.

 

Strategic Objective 4:
Assuring an effective national support framework for culture

To ensure that the national support framework for culture is effective we shall act to achieve three key priorities

1. Developing a national framework of support for cultural provision, appropriate to the 21st Century
2. Focusing on improving the quality and management of cultural provision
3. Targeting funding to achieve clear priorities.

 

Key Priority 4.1

To develop a national framework of support for cultural provision appropriate to the 21st Century we shall:

  • Ensure that continuing reviews of existing national cultural bodies take full account of the objectives set out in the National Cultural Strategy, to include an early review of the work and roles of the Scottish Arts Council
  • Work with COSLA and others to promote effective local partnerships between groups of local authorities and key local bodies to provide a wide range of local cultural activities in line with local priorities
  • Embed cultural strategies within the local community planning process and within community learning plans, forming links with key local agencies
  • Increase recognition of the potential contribution of the cultural and aesthetic across all areas of Scottish Executive policy.

 

Key Priority 4.2

To improve the quality and management of cultural provision we shall:

  • Develop, disseminate and apply relevant research into aspects of cultural provision in Scotland
  • Establish an effective system for gathering and disseminating information and statistics about national provision for cultural activity and participation
  • Publish regular summaries of research into the range, level and quality of cultural provision
  • As part of the development of a national evaluation framework for cultural provision in Scotland, commission a set of instruments for evaluation, to be progressively developed to include exemplification of standards, illustrations of good practice, and advice on measuring the social benefits of cultural activity, for use by all those working in these areas.

 

Key Priority 4.3

To ensure that funding is targeted to achieve clear priorities we shall:

  • Work with funding bodies and those charged with making cultural provision to agree a clear set of national priorities for cultural development
  • Minimise the bureaucracy associated with public funding
  • Collate information from funding bodies to provide an annual prospectus setting out funding available, to include information about deadlines and funding criteria
  • Continuously monitor and review the balance between 'project' and 'revenue' funding of cultural provision to promote sustainability.

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