akin . poverty history
ultural
The Cultural Commission has called for an extra £100 million a year investment in the Scottish arts. Architect Malcolm Fraser imagines a future in which Scotland’s creative community has enough money to make ends meet.
o alter the presentation. by .lames Boyle. ol'
the ('ultural (‘oriimission's report the much
heralded. much fought-over. much undermined 'best and biggest chance for culture. for the arts. in Scotland‘ - l \y as asked a question that has been \iorking its \yay round my head ever since: given the report. what iitigltt Scotlartd look like. its people and culture. in 20 years' time'.’
'l‘he report has the \\ eight and the width and the te\ture of a \varehouse: and \y hen I open it and start to read its clauses and sub—clauses and its options and recoiiimendations and conclusions. and try to understand all the politics lying hidden behind phrases that just slide by rue that my head starts to hurt and l ant unable to evert start to be able to talk about this big slab of \yot'tls. And I knovv of the rims that are breaking out. and the nastiness and protectionism. and the contusion of povy er and self \xith art and people that may s\\ amp us; and l krtoyy that some filthy—dirty media people will jab and sneer. and hold high vvliat failure tltey cart claim seemingly they cannot help themselyes. the poor dears.
But my Scotland. in If) years time'.’ I‘m hooked arid disarmed and lifted by the question. \\ hich is so much bigger than all the gulf.
l‘m l‘ully avt are that an optimist like me may get suckered into painting some dal't \ ision ol- Brigadoon 2035. a nation lull of fluffy little culture bunnies hopping through the heather (for I‘m the sort that considers the best song title ol all time to be Britisley Schvyarfs '\\'liat’s so l-‘unny About Peace. Love and l'nderstanditig'.” a little. soft. hard question made all the mightier by voicitig it as Sean (‘onnery playing an armed. \enget'ul James Bond. confronting the great cynics \yho run/ruin our \vor'ld). And so I also vyonder \\ hat‘s so funny about Ifl'li‘LHH/UUII'.)
.lames Boyle spoke. \\llll passion and eloquence. about a nation that lt'rlIII.\. and run. and .y/Irm/(I have culture at the heart of all vve do that we are at our best \\ hen \\L‘ are sullused by it. \y hen we are passionate. engaged and creative: like David llume. like (‘har'lcs Rennie Mackintosh . . . or like Andre“ Murray at \\'imbledoii. (When I listened to Boyle I recalled the occasional disdain people ltave for arts administrators. and hovv much better it is said to be it sortie of our ‘artists’ \vould set aside their making and do the divvyiiig up of the kitty instead. And I think hovy latuous the idea is. that am ‘artist‘ can lever more money. or better bridge the shitty gap betyyeen squihs ol~ luriding and hungry artists. than the enthusiasts \vho are the adiitiriistrator's. \yho are \\ illirig shoulder that burden. As art arcltitect l kiiovv that l ha\e to be both artist and administrator. I ant a
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dancing technocrat. and I loved the art in Boyle’s presentation. his vision of. what culture means to us. and hovv me can build on the passion and ideas.)
I don‘t knoyv it the (‘oiiimission will be successful.
vvhether they will lever the extra £1()() million-a-year
that they say will deliver enough (up to a total. for the arts. of 1% ol' the Scottish lixecutive‘s budget —- is that
all'.’). But I do know what might be gained if their
report cati deliver on its vision.
Scotland is a vyee nation that has been big and fierce arid beautiful. when our native. thrayvn. obsessive creativity has been forced to the fore. It has been
forced there by adversity. in the Wars of
Independence. as achieved through dogged resistance and expressed through the Declaration of Arbroath. And it has appeared through the ache of' civil war and loss of monarch and government and apparent \vorld-
role that led to the linlightenment. the blessing of
MY SCOTLAND IN 20 YEARS TIME? I'M HOOKED BY THE QUESTION
Reason brought by llume. Smith. Hutton. Adam and all the creative. scienlilic l'ermeiit.
Nobody legislated for such art explosion of creativity - wrote a report demanding it. But its wave of energy. that carried our innovators out irtto the world. seems to have expended itself. Dr) \M.‘ accept that. or do \ye dare to suggest that ltistory does not so much repeat as cerium/tr! itself: that vve are not legislature for creativity. but putting it square in front of its all. from our schools onyvard'.’
This is why \\e have a parliament. They are telling us that culture is of primary importance. alongside home and health and education — as vvell as being hound-up in them all. And we need to work with the (‘ommission not to question this gilt. but shovv bovv we cant deliver on it.
www.culturalcommission.org
it.
viii JOHNSON . (YD (HARISSE
a. 1».
MY FAVOURITE SCOTI‘ISH BOOK
., Black & [fin
As part of our 100 Best Scottish Books of All Time campaign, we invite public figures to nominate their own personal choices.
OUINTIN JARDINE, AUTHOR I have to adriiit that when I sat down to choose my top Scots read. Black and Blue. by a young man named Rankin, came pretty close to the top. So did The One. by the brilliant. enigriiatic Edinburgh author. Paul Reed. But then another came to mind. and in the end rt won out.
It depicted a childhood spent in a Glasgow-r that l was a shade too yodng to know. but recognised Just the same. l ike all good atitobiograblties. it made me feel as if I had been a pal of the author during hzs formative years. had played the same gariies and avalxed the same streets. I laughed at his casually ‘.‘.’|ES(3 humour: 'Brlly. Dari or auld tin can? Auld tin can. of course.’ I shared his youthful dreads: ‘The closes in Cubie Street were the ~.‘.'orst.' I admired his courage as he took the tough option of declaring his conscientious objection to war.
| read his story and admired both its content and its style; it made a yOung OJ all the more determined to be a writer himself some day. Cliff Hartley's Dancing in the Streets isn‘t a great book; I won't assert that. and I doubt if he WOtlltl either. But it's a unique personal hist0ry of a young life in a great city. it's irreplaceable. and it belongs up there. ()tl'll!!!) .A’t/d/ne's 1 et/ia/ l/iterit IS out now bub/isbed by Heat/line. I lo vote to/ [HM/l fatot/I/te .‘Jttott/sb book, text the W()/(/ 'l/Olt; ‘ arid the name of the book to 8 7800. Ybe it'r/i/io/ '.‘.”/// be .‘iri/iou/iced Ill August.