Macrobert Arts Centre has responded to Creative Scotland’s decision to award the organisation multi-year funding totalling £1,287,167 over three years.
Macrobert Arts Centre was formerly one of Creative Scotland’s Regularly Funded Organisations, receiving a total of £950,000 in the period 2018-2021 and £1,230,000 for the period 2015-2018 as part of the Multi-Year Funding programme.
With the welcomed announcement outlining the uplift in Creative Scotland’s Grant-in-Aid budget from the Scottish Government in 2025/26, we, as an organisation were optimistic cultural carnage could be mitigated, and common sense would prevail. Whilst we understand the complexities of oversubscribed funding streams stretched to capacity, we have and continue to deliver against Creative Scotland’s vision for Scotland’s cultural landscape, providing a vital creative hub for communities across the Forth Valley and beyond.
Ed Robson, Artistic Director & CEO of Macrobert Arts Centre commented:
“We're all relieved to have secured multi-year funding from Creative Scotland. After recent challenging times across the arts sector, we can now begin to plan for the future. While we very warmly welcome today's announcement and the security it brings, the increased investment broadly keeps the organisation’s core grant in line with inflation since the last grant agreements in 2018. Financial pressures in the sector remain high but with the renewed commitment from Creative Scotland, we can step forward positively while recognising that significant sustainability challenges for Macrobert, and for the sector as a whole, do remain."
Creative Scotland’s core strategy is to support people and organisations working in art and creativity to make quality work and unlock ambition that ‘enriches life in Scotland for everyone’ [Creative Scotland Strategic Framework].
In light of today’s announcement, we will adapt and move forward to ensure Macrobert continues to deliver this ambition and ensure people from all parts of society can access, participate and experience art and creativity in a space local to them. We are grateful for the continued support from the University of Stirling, who remain committed to ensuring Macrobert can continue to flourish for generations to come.
We recognise that the Scottish performing arts sector is an inter-connected ecology of smaller and larger companies and today has also brought new challenges for friends.
We stand with them to help in any way we can.