Election

As I am watching the SNP win a majority of the vote in Scotland, I thought I would take the time and post up some of their policies towards the arts and culture as many of us aim to be living in Glasgow later this year.

Last Thursday, Voluntary Arts Scotland held a hustings at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, to quiz politicians from the major political parties about arts and culture.

Here is the majority of the entry with regards to culture:

Through creative expression we see and understand ourselves as a society and as nation. Scotland has a wealth of creativity and through our culture – in its many forms – we enrich our lives and our learning, our economy and our society. Over these next five years the SNP is determined to build a more vibrant nation with creativity recognised and promoted and our artists and performers given new support and encouragement to excel in what they do. With our undoubted talent, world-renowned festivals, rich heritage and linguistic diversity we have strong foundations. And, through the effective use of new technology and with the creation of new ways of supporting culture and artists, I have no doubt that the next five years are years of great potential. Scotland can and will flourish and, as we work to build a better nation, our artistic communities have a central role to play as the cultural champions of our nation, at home and in the world.

Culture
We will support Creative Scotland as it takes forward its business plan and strategic vision, in turn, empowering our artists to be powerful advocates for Scotland at home and abroad.

Literature
We will establish a National Book Week from 2012 and further develop and enhance the artists‟ residency programme through the “Creative Futures” programme. This significant residency programme will support an initial 200 residencies across all artistic practices and genres, including writers.

Libraries
We want to support Scotland‟s network of libraries and see a future role for many local libraries as „cultural hubs‟ building on the valuable role played by libraries in communities across Scotland.

Education and Culture
We will take forward the proposals in the Education and Culture Action Plan and continue our support for the Creativity Portal to give teachers access to projects and opportunities offered by cultural organisations across Scotland. We will provide training and professional support to teachers and creative practitioners and take forward a National Arts Education Network.

Outreach
We will continue to support and encourage outreach and education programmes of the National Collections, National Companies and Creative Scotland and in particular will support the Let‟s Get Scotland Dancing initiative as part of the Commonwealth Games 2014 legacy work. We recognise the benefits of this work in terms of health and well-being as well as cultural experience, and the confidence and skills generated and developed by being involved in experiences such as music, dance, art and theatre.

Museums and Galleries
We will implement a new national strategy for Scotland‟s museum and gallery sector, including the establishment of a National Development Body. The Scottish Government will directly fund the Scottish Mining Museum, Scottish Maritime Museum, and Scottish Fisheries Museum.

Scotland’s languages
We support the introduction of a Scottish Studies element within the curriculum and see this as an important vehicle for protecting and promoting Scotland‟s languages and also their literature. We will develop a national Scots language policy, with increased support for Scots in education, encouragement of a greater profile for Scots in the media, and the establishment of a network of Scots co-ordinators. We will promote the acquisition, use and status of Gaelic through the implementation of the Gaelic Action Plan with the aim of ensuring that by 2021 the proportion of Gaelic speakers is back up to 2001 levels. We will continue to raise the profile of the Gaelic language across Scotland, and, crucially, ensure that in Scotland‟s most strongly Gaelic-speaking communities, Gaelic continues to be in use as a community language.

Heritage and Built Environment
We have introduced new legislation to protect and promote our unique heritage and built environment, providing new safeguards that prevent inappropriate development and allow us to pass on a legacy of which future generations of Scots can be proud. The historic environment directly supports around 41,000 jobs and is estimated to contribute more than £2.3 billion to Scotland, making it a significant contributor to sustainable economic growth. We will continue to support Historic Scotland as they take forward their strategy for sustaining and developing traditional building skills including their plans for a National Conservation Centre in Stirling. Across Scotland we have invested substantially in our nation‟s heritage including the Stirling Palace Project, the Royal Museum, National Portrait Gallery and the new Burns Museum in Alloway and this will remain a focus for the next five years.

St Andrew’s Day
The SNP believes that St Andrew's Day should be marked more widely across Scotland. To take this forward we will ensure that for 2014 - our next year of Homecoming - St Andrew‟s Day is celebrated as a full national holiday. We will assess the success of this initiative before setting out our proposals for future celebration of St Andrew‟s Day as a national holiday.
As well as the policy statements there is an interview between Joan Mcalpine and Fiona Hyslop which covers topics such as looking at new sources of funding and support; new ways of encouraging new audiences; moving forward on the Scottish Digital Network; developing film making in Scotland; creation of a New Music Scotland initiative to support existing an emerging commercial musicians; retention of the Youth Music Initiative; keeping both the Expo Fund and Made in Scotland funds; improving and expanding their Young Scots Fund. They also talk about how Scotland is blessed with a fantastic variety of festivals and how they will continue to encourage and support them; how they are using technology to promote the country‟s culture and heritage Internationally; taking forward the recommendations from the Traditional Arts Working Group over the next five years; developing a specific visitor programme in Scotland for the 2012 Olympic Games so we can attract some of the visitors to London here to Scotland and seeing traditional arts featuring prominently in the programme.


Here is the link to the rest of the Manifesto http://manifesto.votesnp.com/

Craig