CREATIVE Scotland is coming under fresh pressure to reform after hundreds of artists announced plans to set up a lobby group aimed at overhauling the way culture is funded across the country.

The pressure group, dubbed the Scottish Arts Forum, aims to push for a radical overhaul of the way arts are supported and comes in the wake of a controversy that forced Creative Scotland to reverse its decision to strip funding from a string of companies, many dealing with vulnerable and disabled artists.

Due to meet within the next few months, the group will aim bring greater scrutiny to Creative Scotland’s role and put its objectives under the microscope in an attempt to improve the channels for funding arts.

It will also seek to examine the role the Scottish Government plays in culture.

Herald View: Forum must be the start of change at Creative Scotland

The organisers say they hope staff from Creative Scotland will want to be present for its discussions.

One of its organisers, Jim Sutherland, the composer and founder of La Banda Europa, said the Forum is not interested in artists “taking over” the responsibilities of Creative Scotland, which distributes millions of pounds worth of Scottish Government and National Lottery money to artists and cultural companies.

“This is not about the lunatics taking over the asylum, or about artists trying to run the funding of the arts in Scotland,” he said.

“It is about coming together to develop ideas – there are a lot of things happening that shouldn’t be, and there are a lot of things that aren’t happening than could be.”

The meeting of a steering group, will be followed by a full Forum meeting.

The full scope and organisation of the new Forum is to be announced later this month, but according to a petition to the culture secretary, Fiona Hyslop, it is to be formed with the aim of “gathering, reporting and representing the voices of those working in the arts across Scotland.”

A petition to Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop says: “A depth of feeling and sense of urgency has provoked the clear belief amongst us that, in order to create a strong and sustainable creative sector, artists must be involved at a political level in the development of arts funding strategies.

“Our aim is to ensure the voices of all of those who are subjected to funding decisions by Creative Scotland are included in the discussions with government, rather than simply at the arms-length level of communication with Creative Scotland itself.”

The Forum has now also launched Twitter feed and a website, which says it is to “give all artists a voice”.

It is believed that the first major meeting of the Forum will be in the next couple of months.

Organisers are already looking for venues to accommodate a sizeable audience.

Herald View: Forum must be the start of change at Creative Scotland

Debate about the future of Creative Scotland, the arms-length funding body, has been intense in the arts world after the recent furore over its decisions to axe funding to several arts companies.

Several much-praised theatre and music companies lost their funding in a January announcement, including Catherine Wheels, Fire Exit, Birds of Paradise, Lung Ha, Visible Fictions and the Dunedin Consort, among others. In the days that followed, there was outrage over the cutting of funds to the theatre companies, those that work with disabled artists, and two Creative Scotland board members, Ruth Wishart and Maggie Kinloch, resigned.

Within days of the ensuing uproar, the body held an emergency board meeting, and several of the cuts were reversed.

Two senior figures at Creative Scotland, the chief executive Janet Archer and the former interim chairman Ben Thomson, were questioned by MSPs at the Scottish Parliament’s Culture Committee last week, and it is understood the politicians wish to continue questioning how the crisis came about.

Ms Archer formally apologised for the turmoil, and the organisation is now to look into revamping its funding processes.

The petition sent to Ms Hyslop adds: “An artist-led National Arts Forum is in the process of being formed, with the aim of gathering, reporting and representing the voices of those working in the arts across Scotland.

“We are sure you will agree this is a very important initiative, and it will inevitably take time.”

The Herald:

Analysis: Forum could provide a powerful new voice in the cultural world

THERE is no national forum, at the moment, in which every artist, curator, director, writer or other cultural worker can engage and converse – apart from social media.

And it is social media, notably Facebook, where the origins of the new Scottish Arts Forum begun, with a disparate and eclectic group of people lamenting, discussing and agitating about the latest Creative Scotland funding row.

Now it seems these discussions will be moving from the virtual world to the real world.

A properly organised artist discussion and representation space, a kind of debate and lobbying group, has not existed in this form in recent times.

There are advocacy groups for various areas of cultural life – from the visual arts (Scan, the Scottish Artists Union) to the Federation of Scottish Theatre, to Arts and Business and Festivals Edinburgh – but no an overarching forum for all.

Herald View: Forum must be the start of change at Creative Scotland

It is early in its development, and the momentum behind its creation will have to endure long after the row over long term funding has receded: but if, properly organised, it becomes a valued voice in the public debate over the arts in Scotland it may provide an important counter, or alternative, narrative to those provided by Creative Scotland or the Scottish Government.

With a new National Cultural Strategy still being written, its formation could come at a crucial time in the development of cultural policy.

Crises in the arts are often accompanied by multi-signature letters and petitions. They have shown, in recent times, to be persuasive.

If the new Forum becomes a permanent petition, of sorts, could it be a new and powerful voice?