Creative Scotland 09 Ltd unveiled its eagerly anticipated business model, setting out the structure and operational design of the new cultural development body, which is due to be formed in the first half of next year.
Ewan Brown, Chairman, Creative Scotland 09 Ltd, described the new organisation as demonstrably different from its predecessors, talent focused and hugely ambitious for Scotland and for Scottish artists. He stressed that Creative Scotland would work with, and for, artists and creative practitioners, reinforcing its role as a catalyst for the nation’s cultural ambitions.
He confirmed that Creative Scotland will be flexible and adaptable while retaining expertise; an organisation designed to listen, respond and deliver.
Truly national and outward-facing, he promised that Creative Scotland would also be highly professional, fulfilling its role through excellent leadership and good management.
Ewan Brown added:
‘Creative Scotland has to be an organisation where everybody inside and outside that organisation understands what that organisation does and how it does it. Such clarity of purpose and transparency of methodology are considered essential if Creative Scotland is to realise its potential.
‘Our proposed model will deliver an organisation which will effectively promote Scotland’s creative richness at home and abroad, genuinely engage with the public, as well as meet its responsibilities to artists, creative organisations and its national partners.’Minister for Culture Michael Russell said:
‘I welcome the progress that Ewan Brown and his board have made with the business model for Creative Scotland. It sets out an exciting structure well-suited to the role that I expect Creative Scotland to play both in creating a motivating environment for staff and providing strong, responsive support for the sector.’
The new model proposes:
An executive team of six: Chief Executive, three Creative Development Directors, a Director of Communications and a Director of Finance and Operations,
Fourteen Portfolio Managers, each of whom will have specialist expertise applied across art forms and policy areas.
A flexible pool of over 30 Development Officers working across art forms and policy areas on an integrated project basis.
A combined Finance and Operations Directorate.
A strengthened Communications Directorate.
A new function to coordinate the development of the Creative Industries.
Ewan thanked the senior management and staff of both antecedent organisations for their ideas and support in developing the new model, while emphasising that Creative Scotland was a new and very different organisation.
The creation of a pool of Portfolio Managers and Development officers provides an illustration of the difference. A key part of each of these roles will be specialist expertise, that expertise will need to be continuously updated and will also require to change to reflect the needs of the clients Creative Scotland will serve and the partners it will collaborate with. A programme of staff exchanges and secondments will ensure the organisation shares knowledge and learns from its partners across Scotland.
Two Portfolio Managers and four Development Officers will initially support the Creative Industries. These roles will oversee the actions required to deliver real progress in the development of the creative industries and embed the outcomes of the Scottish Creative Industries Partnership Agreement, using the intelligence gathered from the reference groups.
Creative Scotland has taken inspiration for its business model from an international pool of experience and achievement, though Creative Scotland is firmly a Scottish solution to a Scottish challenge. Creative Scotland will have a unique role, cumulatively adding real value to the country’s artistic, cultural, and civic communities.
Ewan Brown concluded:
‘We have worked hard to develop an organisation capable of delivering real progress and genuine success. We believe that Creative Scotland can make a significant contribution to the cultural, artistic and economic advancement of Scotland.
‘The proposed new business model requires fewer roles than there are at present, but there will be no compulsory redundancies. We will work sensitively with the staff affected by this change, with due respect for their rights and entitlements. Our ambition is that Creative Scotland begins life with a committed and enthusiastic staff enabled to build an organisation whose achievements are only surpassed by the sectors it serves.
‘This is an exciting point in the birth of Creative Scotland. We will work closely with artists and partners across Scotland to make sure this is an organisation capable of liberating the incredible creative potential of the Scottish people.’