EARLIER this year, when Creative Scotland found itself floundering in a maelstrom of bewildering cuts, board resignations, artists’ protests and swift U-turns, Janet Archer’s fate was sealed. As with the chief executive of any organisation, she may not have made all the micro-decisions, but she set the arts funding body’s tone and had overall responsibility for how it conducted itself. When its conduct came to be widely seen as bizarre, bewildering, indeed almost whimsically inept, all fingers pointed towards her. Alas, chief executive is where the buck stops.
Her departure from the organisation marks a sad end to her five-year tenure. She had steadied the ship after the previous chief executive’s disastrous triggering of an artists’ revolt. She helped secure additional funding and seemed a safe pair of hands. However, while it was obviously not her fault alone, her fingerprints were found all over the fiasco that eventually forced her out.
It’s a sorry situation for her, and we join others in wishing her well for the future. A fiasco in administration does not make one a bad person, and it’s becoming axiomatic that, as with politicians, all careers at the head of Creative Scotland end in failure.
But there were serious consequences too for the arts groups that suffered when funding was withdrawn in the controversial decisions made in January. And, while it pains us to say it, not a few artists will envy Ms Archer’s generous pay-off.
There is now, at least, a chance to put things right. It’s understood a swift replacement for Ms Archer is unlikely, which we hope doesn’t mean they’re over-thinking matters again but, rather, that a thorough reform of funding is under way.
That reform should have one overriding aim: to bring it all back to basics. Administration by its nature has a tendency to complicate matters, whereas Creative Scotland’s function is really rather simple. It receives money from the National Lottery and the Scottish Government and is charged with disbursing those funds to artists.
No need to be opaque. The money comes in and the money goes out. It’s the job of the administrators to speed it on its way – not to get in its way. There are, of course, obligations: to the public, who ultimately fund this process; and to artists, who are supposed to benefit from it.
Fulfilling these obligations means that decision-making should be transparent, straightforward, and explained in plain terms. No more baffling cuts. If it is felt a cut must be made, then explain it. Perhaps we, the public, will understand. That’s all we ask: don’t create turmoil, just help artists to create. The clue is in the name: be Creative Scotland.
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel