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Eve McLachlan: The arts aren’t just an afterthought – we all deserve access to culture

Creative Scotland's funding is safe for now - but the Scottish Government can't afford to put it at risk again.

The Screen Machine mobile cinema on Eriskay (Image: Creative Scotland)
The Screen Machine mobile cinema on Eriskay (Image: Creative Scotland)

Creative Scotland’s funding is safe for now – but the Scottish Government can’t afford to put it at risk again, writes Eve McLachlan.

Recently, I watched the National Theatre’s new production of Arthur Miller’s classic play, The Crucible.

It was a fantastic show. I found myself as immersed in the timeless story of Salem’s witch hunt (with standout performances from The Crown’s Erin Doherty as Abigail and Fisayo Akinade as Reverend Hale) as if I was watching from the front row in London.

But I wasn’t. I was, in fact, watching a National Theatre Live screening from the back of lorry in a hotel car park in Uist, with a flask of tea and a friend who was hoping not to be called away to calve a cow before the intermission.

It wasn’t my first experience with the Screen Machine, the portable cinema that visits some of Scotland’s most rural communities. Just two days before, I had enjoyed current awards darling The Banshees of Inisherin. But, for the first time, I realised just how groundbreaking the Screen Machine project was.

As I left, I resolved to see as many films there as possible the next time it was in town. The mobile cinema been going for over 20 years now, and it’s easy to take its next lap around the islands for granted. But arts initiatives like this, and countless more all over Scotland, have just had a narrow escape.

The arts aren’t just an afterthought

The very next day after I watched The Crucible, art enthusiasts all over Scotland got some very good news: plans to slash Creative Scotland funding by £6.6 million had been dropped.

This is cause for celebration, of course. But the fact that the cuts were ever on the table at all is a scandal.

Scotland’s next first minister must understand that the arts aren’t just an afterthought — especially if they’re serious about supporting the islands.

Right now, islanders are having to fight for the bare minimum, including reliable ferries to get to the islands and affordable housing to live in.

The Crucible’s unique ‘stage curtain’ of water (Image: Johan Persson)

But in order to fight depopulation and preserve the islands’ heritage, the Outer Hebrides must be a place where people can not only survive but thrive. That means making sure that we have full access to the arts – from nights at the theatre to family trips to the latest blockbuster film.

Funding for Creative Scotland, and the future of the Screen Machine, is safe for now. But there’s no doubt that the arts and culture sector will face more attacks during these years of economic hardship – and it’s more important than ever that we stand behind brilliant initiatives like the Screen Machine.


Eve McLachlan is a community reporter for The Press & Journal, based in the Western Isles

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