Four Ayrshire organisations to receive £2million from Creative Scotland

-Credit:Ayrshire Post
-Credit:Ayrshire Post


Four Ayrshire organisations are set to receive almost £2 million in funding from Creative Scotland over the next three years.

Hailed as a “significant moment for culture in Scotland”, Creative Scotland today (Thursday, January 30) announced the largest portfolio of cultural organisations ever to be supported on a multi-year basis.

The Cumnock Tryst, The Gaiety Theatre, INTL CIC and Showcase Scotland Expo are all set to receive stable, year-on-year funding to support their cultural and creative work.

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Across Scotland, more than £200 million is being invested in 251 organisations over the three-year funding period marking an average increase of 54 per cent by 2026-27 after years of standstill funding.

The Gaiety Theatre in Ayr is set to receive £622,750 over the next three years while The Cumnock Tryst will benefit from £240,000 in funding.

INTL CIC, an organisation which aims to empower creative people and celebrate the best in the creative industries based in Kilmarnock, is set to receive £195,050 while Showcase Scotland Expo - an organisation which promotes Scottish artists within folk, traditional, world and acoustic music based in Dalry - will benefit from £721,392 in funding.

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.

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“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.”

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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.”

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