Fears voiced over promoting the Scots language

Concerns after Support organisations fail to win funding from arts council

By Cameron Brooks

Published:

Concerns have been raised about the future promotion of the Scots language after it emerged that two support organisations have had their core funding axed.

The Scottish Language Centre in Perth and Scottish Language Dictionaries support dialects such as Doric, Dundonian and Orcadian, but were unsuccessful in securing funding from the Scottish Arts Council (SAC).

The organisations, which support groups such as Shetland ForWirds, received about £43,000 and £115,000 a year respectively, but the funding runs out on April 1 next year.

Both organisations fear they could be forced to close unless funding is secured from elsewhere.

Chris Robinson, of Edinburgh-based Scottish Language Dictionaries, said: “This is a complete and utter disaster because the SAC grant meets three-quarters of our funding needs.

“Unless alternative funding is found our board will be issuing redundancy notices in November.”

New Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott raised the matter in the Scottish Parliament after he was contacted by Shetland ForWirds.

He said the demise of the two groups would have “catastrophic” consequences.

Mr Scott urged Culture Minister Linda Fabiani to save the groups, which employ eight people between them.

Michael Mance, director of the Scottish Language Centre, said both organisations were assured four months ago that alternative funding would be found, but they are still waiting for clarification.

“We want Linda Fabiani to give some clear direction about what support will be available in the future for Scots,” he said.

“She is not giving a lead on this at all but the fact is she could look to the Scottish Arts Council and intervene if she feels it’s necessary.”

Mr Scott has lodged a motion in the Scottish Parliament, calling on the SNP government to honour its election manifesto pledge to support the Scots language.

He has also demanded to know why a government which claims to support the language has allowed SAC to axe the funding.

Mr Scott said: “The rich diversity of language we have across Scotland is something to be valued. It must be protected.”

An SAC spokeswoman said it “unequivocally” appreciated the importance of the Scots language and stressed that the decision did not represent a change in policy.

She added that the funding application process was extremely competitive and only 43 applications out of 106 were successful in securing a share of £6.9million.

The spokeswoman said discussions between the SAC and the Scottish Government to identify a new funding stream were continuing.

Ms Fabiani said: “I am absolutely committed to the promotion and support of our traditional culture and as such am looking at ways of strengthening the capacity of traditional arts bodies to access mainstream funding.

“Over the next three years we will be investing nearly £150million through Creative Scotland in our culture.

“We are currently carrying out an audit of what measures are in place to promote the Scots language, and what opportunities exist to make further progress. Any action we take in the future to improve provision for the Scots language will be guided by the findings of this audit.”