Information correct at time of publication
This update provides information on the Multi-Year Funding Programme ahead of the briefing sessions for interested applicants, which begin on 5 June.
The update provides the context, the purpose and principles of the Fund and the key things that organisations need to know at this stage.
Context
The aim for the Multi-Year Funding Programme is to provide long-term, sustainable financial support to cultural and creative organisations in Scotland.
The Fund will enable organisations to deliver work that contributes to the cultural, social, and economic well-being of the people of Scotland, and which reflects Creative Scotland’s strategic objectives and purpose.
As there is no announced financial commitment from the Scottish Government beyond the 2023/24 financial year and an expectation that budgets will continue to be under severe pressure, we must work on the premise that the budget available to us to support Multi-Year Funding will remain static or reduce.
Within this context, Creative Scotland and Screen Scotland recognise that many organisations have received unchanged levels of funding for a number of years which is increasingly unviable. Funding at a ‘standstill’ level, particularly within the current operational context, represents an increasing year-on-year cut for organisations currently supported on a regular basis.
We currently support around 350 cultural and creative organisations on a repeat basis across all our funding programmes: Regular, Open, and Targeted Funding.
What is clear is that with standstill budgets available to us (at best), coupled with a commitment to support organisations on a more sustainable basis to enable them to effectively deliver their work, we will either need to change our expectations of what can be delivered, or support far fewer than 350 organisations through the Multi-Year Fund.
We continue to advocate for increased investment in culture and creativity from Government and from other parts of civic society, as a core part of Creative Scotland and Screen Scotland’s purpose.
The Programme, and the application process itself, also provides the opportunity to understand and evidence the ambition and potential that exists across Scotland’s cultural and creative sector to the Scottish Government to influence future funding.
We continue to make the case that budget support from the Scottish Government should be expanded to build on the strength that exists and that has been sustained through unprecedented recent circumstances created by the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by the cost-of-living crisis.
Through these challenges, culture and creativity has, and continues to be, a positive force for Scotland’s citizens and a vital contributor to our society, our economy, our health and well-being, and to our collective quality of life.
The Multi-Year Funding Programme
The new Multi-Year Funding Programme draws extensively on the Funding Review which had significant input from people across Scotland. A key principle emerging from this review is that ‘organisations working in this sector simply want stable, regular funding to do what they do’.
The review also highlighted the collective desire to see an equitable process for all organisations seeking funding from Creative Scotland on a multi-year basis, and a demand for us to address broader societal issues such as diversity and the climate crisis. We were also tasked with ensuring the process for accessing multi-year funding is as streamlined as possible, with applications assessed against clear and consistent criteria.
The Multi-Year Funding Programme will be an online, two-stage process, with Funding Criteria built from our Strategic Framework, first published in 2021. These criteria have already been introduced as part of our National Lottery Open Funds for Organisations and are:
- Quality and Ambition
- Engagement
- Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion
- Environmental Sustainability
- Fair Work
- International
The new Multi-Year Fund creates a single Fund for repeat, year-on-year funding which ensures that the majority of cultural and creative organisations interested in repeat funding go through the same application process, are awarded funding based on the same criteria, with relationships managed through a common approach.
Particularly in the current budget context, this will be a highly competitive fund supporting a wide range of organisations and activity.
Our intention is to make the application process as light-touch as possible, however, given the anticipated level of interest, applicants will be required to provide Creative Scotland with a level of detail that will enable fully informed decisions to be made in accordance with our published criteria.
The Multi-Year Fund offers an initial commitment of up to three years. In due course, and dependent on available budgets, we will also be exploring the option of extending Multi-Year funding arrangements for organisations which successfully deliver the plans and outcomes set out in their funding agreements.
This also means that some organisations will leave the Multi-Year Funding programme after three years, providing the opportunity at that time for other organisations to apply.
It’s important to note that the opportunity to apply for funding on an annual basis will remain in place, via Open funding routes. For example, for organisations which may not be able to meet the eligibility criteria for Multi-Year Funding, due to operating at a smaller scale or only requiring smaller levels of funding.
Other Open funds will also continue to exist for those who are seeking support for one-off projects or time-limited development activity.
We will also continue to evolve the nature and scope of these Open Funding routes to ensure that they complement the Multi-Year Funding Programme once it is in place, and that we can continue to support Scotland’s cultural and creative organisations to deliver their work in the best way possible, within the budgets available to us.
Some key facts about the Multi-Year Fund
The Fund will be delivered against the following timeline:
- June 2023: Briefing sessions for interested organisations.
- July 2023: Fund Guidance will be published.
- August 2023: Registration for organisations intending to apply.
- August and September 2023: Information sessions for applicants.
- September and October 2023: Stage One open for applications.
- January 2024: Additional Guidance for Stage Two will be published.
- February 2024: Stage One decisions announced.
- March and April 2024: Stage Two open for applications (for those organisations successful at Stage 1).
- October 2024: Stage Two decisions announced.
- November 2024 to February 2025: contracting with successful applicants.
- April 2025: Multi-Year Funding will be in place for successful applicants.
The Fund application approach:
- Is a two-stage application process.
- Will be delivered online.
- Is based on clear and consistent criteria, that will be applied across all our funds. (The new criteria have already been introduced as part of the National Lottery Open Fund for Organisations).
All organisations interested in applying to Multi-Year Funding, will be required to register by 10 August 2023 and to provide an indicative amount for which they will be applying.
This is to enable us to accurately plan the staff resources that will be required to manage the application and assessment process and give us early evidence of demand to help inform budget discussions.
The Fund will offer a three-year commitment (subject to a satisfactory annual review and budget availability).
The minimum amount that organisations can apply for to support their programme of work is £50,000 for each year. Organisations requiring a smaller amount than this can continue to apply through our Open Funding routes. Any organisation seeking funding of more than £50,000 on an annual basis, should consider applying to the Multi-Year Funding Programme.
There is no set maximum that an organisation can apply for, however, we ask that all organisations applying give due consideration to the limited budgets we have available, the aim to support as many organisations as possible with Multi-Year Funding, and that they develop their plans accordingly.
Transition Funding will be made available, where appropriate, for organisations currently in receipt of repeat funding from Creative Scotland but are unsuccessful in being awarded funding through the new Multi-Year Funding process. Creative Scotland’s National Lottery reserves have been allocated to support this Transition Funding.
Further information and support
We aim to publish Stage One Guidance on how to apply for the Multi-Year Fund on 26 July 2023.
To support organisations interested in applying to the Multi-Year Funding Programme, we have organised a series of Briefing Sessions which are taking place throughout June 2023. More than 400 organisations have signed up to attend these sessions which will enable interested potential applicants to understand the context and purpose of the Multi-Year Funding Programme.
In August and September 2023, once the Fund Guidance has been published, we will also schedule further information sessions. These will focus on supporting organisations with the detail of the application process and help organisations decide whether it is suitable for them.
Our Enquiries Service is available to help and to answer any questions and all interested organisations should also sign up for our newsletters and to follow us on our social media channels as we will issue further updates on an ongoing basis.