Creative Scotland announce funding awards

Creative Scotland (CS) has announced today that a record number of cultural organisations will receive “stable, year on year funding” in the culture and creative sectors, with an overall increase in funding for 2026/27.

More than half of the organisations which CS supports are to be offered multi-year funding for the first time.

The body is able to offer more funding as s result of significantly more budget made available from The Scottish Government. Creative Scotland say they now have the “largest budget ever available” for Grant-in-Aid funding with more than £200 million in support for 251 organisations in the next three years.

A £3.2 million Development Fund will support 13 other organisations which will then be able to join the Multi-Year funding portfolio next year.

All the organisations which currently are funded will receive a “significant uplift”.

An additional 141 organisations will receive a multi year funding commitment for the first time.

The funding body says it has increased the number of community focused organisations supported.

Robert Wilson, Chair of Creative Scotland said: “This is an extremely positive moment for culture in Scotland, bringing with it a renewed sense of stability and certainty to Scotland’s culture sector.

“Thanks to the vote of confidence in the culture sector, demonstrated by the recently announced budget from the Scottish Government, Creative Scotland can offer stable, year-on-year funding to more organisations than ever before.

“I’m particularly pleased that this funding will increase further from next year, enabling even more fantastic artistic and creative work to be developed here in Scotland.

“Stable, long-term funding for as many organisations as possible is the underlying principle of the Multi-Year Funding programme, and we are delighted to be able to bring it to fruition.

“This funding means that we are able to bring so many new, community focused organisations into the portfolio, while also providing significant increases to those more established organisations which have been on standstill, regular funding for so many years.

“I’m also very pleased to be able to offer 13 further organisations significant amounts of development funding, to enable them to come into the portfolio in its second year.

“This signals a significant moment of positive change for Scotland’s cultural community, and I hope that, after the deeply challenging time of the pandemic, and the difficulties that have faced the sector in the subsequent years, that now is the time that we can look forward with confidence and the Scottish culture sector can get on with what it does best, producing outstanding art and creativity for everyone to enjoy.”

Angus Robertson, Cabinet Secretary for Culture said: “This is a foundational moment for culture and the arts in Scotland. More organisations than ever, in more parts of the country will benefit from the stability of Multi-Year Funding with the number of funded organisations more than doubling, from 119 to 251.

“Funded as part of a record £34 million increase for culture in the draft 2025-26 Scottish Budget, this significant increase in both the number of funded organisations, and the level of grant funding they will receive, has the potential to be truly transformational. It secures the future of key cultural organisations of all sizes across Scotland, which are major assets to our communities and our economy, supporting thousands of jobs and creating new opportunities for freelancers, artists and other creative practitioners.

“It means 251 culture organisations across Scotland, from Argyll and Bute to Shetland, Na h-Eileanan Siar, and the Borders, will receive Multi-Year Funding from April this year and a further 13 have the possibility of doing so from 2026-27. I am also reassured that the remaining unsuccessful applicants will all be offered bespoke support from Creative Scotland to adapt their business models.”

This is the list of Edinburgh organisations which have been given Multi-Year funding:

These are the organisations in Edinburgh offered development funding

Phyllis Stephen

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