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Swapping the boss won't put back together a broken Creative Scotland

13 0
03.07.2026

I don’t envy outgoing Creative Scotland chief executive Iain Munro at all. It’s a thankless job, really, dealing with a constantly justifying use of public money, while also being responsible for the lifeblood and livelihood of a whole country’s cultural scene.

But Munro’s time at the top overseeing the body’s successes and highly publicised failures is just one aspect that has contributed to how Creative Scotland has not been built for purpose.

The same problems will still be there in his absence, facing any incoming chief executive without the imagination and ethos to drastically change course and fight for reasons to publicly fund in the face of artless and agenda-driven politicians who hold the keys.

Creative Scotland will not only change its head position, but it will also need to discover a new sense of purpose. The SNP plans to strip Creative Scotland of its film and television arm, Screen Scotland, making it its own distinct body directly funded by the government. It’s not too surprising a move - the screen industry in Scotland is booming, and the scale it wishes to operate outpaces the resources that a huge umbrella organisation can reasonably accommodate. Neglected arts that require preservation also suffer if such a huge slice of the pie is mainline funnelled into the screen sector.

SNP reveals plans to strip film and TV out of........

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