Edinburgh fights for arts jobs

Scots tussle over home for merged arts body, Creative Scotland.

Edinburgh City Council has launched a campaign to encourage the Scottish Executive to base the new cultural development agency, Creative Scotland, in Edinburgh, warning that any move to relocate the body could undermine the Citys role as Scotlands capital. Creative Scotland, which will be formed through a merger of Scottish Screen and the Scottish Arts Council, will have a staff of over 100. As part of its public service relocation policy, the Scottish Executive is considering options for locating Creative Scotland and has a commitment to spread the benefits of public sector jobs across Scotland and to ensure more efficient and cost-effective public services. As part of the policy, the Executive has already announced that SportScotland will move to new offices in Glasgow, and Scottish Natural Heritage will relocate to Inverness. Both moves were opposed by staff, unions and local politicians.

The campaign was launched by Councillor Ewan Aitken, Leader of the City of Edinburgh Council, who said, There can be no doubt that Edinburgh is the only real option for the home of Creative Scotland… I am in favour of the overall aims of the Executives relocation policy. But sometimes the answer to the question Can these jobs go elsewhere? is no. The City Council is managing an online petition and has published a brochure presenting the case for Edinburgh and suggesting the new body should be housed in the Waterfront area of the city alongside VisitScotland and EventScotland.

The City Councils campaign has received widespread support from Edinburghs cultural sector. John Stalker, Chief Executive of Festival City Theatres, said, If Creative Scotland is to find a home then it cannot and should not look any further than Edinburgh and certainly not if the Scottish Executive believes culture is right at the heart of government. Catherine Lockerbie, Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, added, Edinburgh is a world leader in culture and also in literature. The worlds biggest book festival, the worlds first UNESCO City of Literature and some of the worlds best-selling and most respected authors all belong to the capital, drawing national and international attention. It makes sense for Creative Scotland to be at the heart of this dynamic environment, working in close partnership with the thriving and interconnected literary community to ensure maximum benefit for the whole country.

The wrangle about a home for Creative Scotland, mirrors an ongoing debate about the location of a permanent office for the National Theatre of Scotland. Since its formation in 2005, the NTS has been in temporary office accommodation in central Glasgow while development work was completed on a new arts space, The Bridge, in the Easterhouse area of the city. Argument is now raging in the Scottish media about whether the new site is big enough for the organisation and whether it may be compelled to move by politicians.