Creative Scotland's Chief Executive has told MSPs that the funding body did not expect "real sex" in a show involving a "sex scene with genital contact.”
Iain Munro was in front of Holyrood's Culture Committee on Thursday answering questions over the £86,000 of taxpayers’ cash awarded to Rein.
The work, which aimed to show an "erotic journey through a distinctly Scottish landscape,” proved controversial after a casting call made clear that "any sex that features will not be simulated but performed by cast members.”
READ MORE: Rein application mentioned 'sex scene with genital contact'
Earlier this year, Mr Munro claimed lead artist Leonie Rae Gasson and her team had breached their contract.
He said the application had initially stated that the sexual performance in Rein would simulated.
Mr Munro described the terminology in the calling notice as a “new and significant difference" which "took the project into unacceptable territory.”
However, the open funding application from March 2023 - obtained by The Herald through Freedom of Information - made clear that in the show’s development phase the company would “work on a sex scene with genital contact with three of the cast, in addition to Intimacy Coordinator.”
Mr Munro told MSPs: “The mere mention of it does not mean real sex."
“Genital contact can be simulated – I would suggest you only need to switch on the TV or go to a streaming platform to see sexual activity of a simulated nature.”
Tory MSP Meghan Gallacher pointed out that the Rein application spoke of the need for lubricant, which she said should have led to the agency assuming “this was much further than simulated sex”.
Mr Munro replied: “I can appreciate you reading it in that way, it wasn’t our reading of it.”
The quango boss said the row over Rein had been "reputationally damaging."
"I’m as concerned about the extent to which this is damaging for the sector as a whole and the risks it poses to undermine the case that we’ve been so diligently speaking about,” he added.
“I want to be quite clear though that one controversial award does not make a systemic problem with our processes, and I would want to reassure the committee and others more widely about the robustness of our processes.”
READ MORE: UNSPUN: Creative Scotland's chief executive position is untenable
Robert Wilson, chairman of Creative Scotland, told the committee the agency would be cautious in future.
“The senior leadership team at Creative Scotland, with the support of the board, has reviewed the process for open funding and have introduced new safeguards, including an additional stage of review for all applications that are recommended for funding,” he said.
“The board has also agreed to a more cautious approach to risk in terms of our future funding of projects with sexual content and those that involve vulnerable people or children.”
He said Mr Munro retains the support of the board, as does the senior team at the agency and their staff.
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