NOW the weather forecast for the area over the Scottish arts sector. After a prolonged period of gloom, interspersed with heavy showers during the first term of the Scottish Parliament, a warm front moved in yesterday from Bute House with the appointment of the first expert adviser to an arts minister. A period of blue-skies thinking is now expected, with the outlook, though still uncertain, appearing brighter.
The hiring of Bryan Beattie to assist Frank McAveety is a welcome sign from above that the arts might at last be about to receive serious treatment from the Scottish Executive. It had been feared that with the downgrading of the arts minister's job from cabinet to deputy level that the sector was being pushed into the wings. Although the appointment of Mr Beattie - by the first minister - does not remove those worries entirely, it goes some way to assuaging them. Much of this optimism has to do with Mr Beattie himself. He is, as his job title states, an expert. A former director of the National Youth Theatre of Scotland, and the owner of his own firm, he has the right artistic and commercial mix. He impressed, too, with his directorship of the bid by Inverness to be the European Capital of Culture in 2008. The city may have failed to make the shortlist but the interest stimulated repaid the
effort expended tenfold.
He will need all his undoubted skills, and then some, if he is to deal with the many items in his in-tray. Among these are ensuring that Scottish Opera lives within its means, the setting up of a national theatre, and the fate of the Scottish Arts Council. He must also find a way to extend the reach of the arts beyond the major cities (that he is based in Inverness bodes well) and the usual, relatively privileged, audiences. All of this must be done within limited budgets. It is a heavy workload, made more onerous by the fact Mr Beattie will only be working two-and-a-half days a week.
Clearly, he will need allies, within the executive and the wider arts community in Scotland, if he is to make progress quickly. All sides should see the appointment as a vote of faith in the arts and try to capitalise on it accordingly, especially in the run-up to the spending review next March. So far, devolution has failed to deliver for
the arts, but by devolving some power sideways to a genuine player in the arts, the first minister may yet have found a way forward.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article