A top Fife Council official has suggested that the level of funding given by the local authority to the Byre Theatre in St Andrews is likely to remain around its current level when the current deal expires.
The comment has come from the head of leisure and cultural services, Grant Ward, who is also a director of the Byre through his council post, following news that the theatre is set to lose around £300,000 worth of Scottish Arts Council flexible funding.
He said that the council’s own three-year funding deal with the Byre under the voluntary grants budget is due to come to an end at the end of this financial year, and it will be treated in the same way as other major recurring grants when it is due for renewal.
At the moment the council is providing core funding of around £290,000 per year for the Byre.
Mr Ward said that ordinarily there would be discussions, and an application would be submitted for further funding.
He said that there is nothing to suggest that the council would not continue to fund the Byre at a similar level after 2011.
The only caveat, he said, would come if there is a percentage reduction as part of the council’s grant budget as part of the council’s commitment to overall savings.
Mid-Scotland and Fife Tory list MSP Ted Brocklebank has written to Andrew Dixon, the chief executive of Creative Scotland, which will shortly replace the Scottish Arts Council.
Mr Brocklebank said in his letter that he finds it hard to credit that among the first acts of Scotland’s new arts supreme body is the axing of funding to one of Scotland’s most important regional theatres.
“It was only a matter of weeks ago that I was arguing in Parliament for more powers for Creative Scotland.
“Its decision on the Byre makes my efforts look misguided in the extreme.
“Far from removing all funding I would have been pressing that Creative Scotland restore core funding status to the Byre to allow it to carry on with the vital cultural work it is doing in this part of Scotland.”
Mr Brocklebank went on to say that since the theatre’s modest beginnings in the 1930s it has developed into a state of the art venue with a worldwide reputation, but now fears for its future.
“I am seeking an urgent meeting with culture minister Fiona Hyslop as well as a meeting with Mr Dixon to see how this decision might be reversed,” said Mr Brocklebank.