Exclusive:'Cultural brain drain': How Scottish artists struggle on less than £9k a year
A third of artists are worried about being able to pay for studio and workshop space
One in four of Scotland's visual artists are worried that they will not be able to meet their living costs in the next six months amid fears of a "cultural brain drain".
Union leaders say a combination of dwindling work from arts organisations and local authorities, poor rates of pay and soaring costs have left them battling for survival.
New research has found that 59 per cent of artists are now making less than £9,000 a year from their work, with only 11 per cent earning more than £20,000.
Only one in three artists are confident about being able to pay for their studio or workshop space over the next year.
The Scottish Artists Union, which has been demanding that all artists have the right to a “decent living wage,” has raised concerns that artists will simply leave the country if they cannot if they cannot see a future creating work in Scotland.
A new report by the union has warned of the risk of vital ecosystems and networks collapsing due to their financial stability, saying that this could cause "permanent scars" to the vibrancy and viability of arts sectors, as well as urban and rural communities.
The SAU said it was “outraged” at this week’s announcement that Creative Scotland had decided to shut down its open fund for artists due to a budget shortfall from the Scottish Government.
It has warned the decision will “further punishing individual freelance artists who are already in precarious financial situations.”
The SAU’s dossier, for Holyrood’s culture committee, suggested that a "cultural brain drain" is being fuelled by a "depressing lack of certainty" over how and when a promised £100 million in new arts spending, which was promised last October by the Scottish Government, will be rolled out.
According to the Scottish Artists Union, which has more than 2,000 members, there are nearly 250 artist-led organisations and 120 artist-led spaces across Scotland.
In the report for MSPs, union president BD Owens states: “Artists are facing challenges on multiple fronts: fewer paid opportunities from arts organisations and local councils, complicated Creative Scotland Grant applications, soaring studio rental costs, residential rent costs and energy bills, and Brexit consequences.
"In order to prevent cultural brain drain of artists out of the sector - and out of Scotland - artists need affordable studios and workshop space.
"The primary conditions for culture to thrive are environments where artists of all kinds can live and work in locations where they have low overheads.
"As soon as overheads get too high, artists and cultural workers leave the sector (giving up their practice) or leave the country to move to locations with cheaper cost of living, cheaper studios and cheaper materials costs.”
Mr Owens said Creative Scotland’s open fund had allowed artists, musicians, writers and performers to develop their own vision on their own terms “outside of the institutional restrictions and parameters set by arts organisations.”
He added: “Scotland will not have an arts and culture sector without the individual practices of artists, who make the artworks.
“This decision to stop support for freelance artists particularly affects artists from low income, marginalized and underrepresented backgrounds.
“It means that the only people who will be able to afford to develop the direction of their practices are those from privileged or wealthy backgrounds.”
Mr Owens said artists needed “non-competitive environments where they could support and encourage each other, instead of an existing landscape in which he said they were “increasingly being set up to compete against other.”
He suggested the recent process for organisations to apply for long-term funding from Creative Scotland had caused “significant stress” for organisations because it was so challenging and time consuming.
He added: “We understand that this round of (Creative Scotland) applications was more complex than in the past because of the expectation to prove fair work commitments.
"If fair work guidance is implemented effectively, it will hopefully give artists more confidence in their workplace conditions, and this could help to reduce cultural brain drain. However, it is currently difficult to see clarity and confidence in the culture sector.
"There is a depressing lack of certainty regarding the increase in funding that was promised in the December 2023 Scottish Budget announcement, and this in itself may be fuelling cultural brain drain.
"Arts organisations need to be able to plan ahead, but individual artists also need to be able to plan long term, and if they cannot see a future with opportunities for their art practice in Scotland, then they will move elsewhere.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said: “This is the most challenging budget to be delivered under devolution. Scotland already faced a precarious financial situation with high inflation putting significant pressure on households, the economy and public finances.
“The Scottish Budget continues to face significant challenges. We are considering the implications of the actions announced by the Chancellor on 29 July for our public finances, and the next steps required by the Scottish Government.”
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