Three more years of DCA funding.
That means three more years of something good.
After a January that’s been both politically and meteorologically changeable, it’s a welcome relief to be able to say that here, in this little corner of the world, something is certain.
This week, Dundee Contemporary Arts was granted nearly £4 million in funding from Creative Scotland, to help keep its doors open until 2028.
That means three more guaranteed years of city centre cinema trips, print making facilities, exhibitions and community arts programmes.
Good on Creative Scotland for seeing the value that arts organisations like DCA are bringing to Dundee.
They don’t just support the city’s night-time economy; they bridge gaps in mental health and community care that the health services alone cannot fill.
People in this city depend on the DCA for their children’s wellbeing, and their own.
That cannot be quantified in pounds and pence, but £3.95 million is a good starting figure.
Is Dundee on the brink of a golden era?
The DCA and other arts organisations also give Dundee its own unique identity.
And that’s not something the city can afford to lose when it’s on the precipice of so many great things.
Just in the last few months, plans have been put in place for a massive new live entertainment venue in the city centre, a new-look Blackscroft, and the city’s first street food market.
A new festival, Discovery Festival, will take place at Slessor Gardens this summer, and city DJ Hannah Laing is bringing her Doof In The Park dance event to Camperdown Park too.
This place is about to be really fun, and really busy. So it would’ve been a travesty to lose our indie cinema and contemporary art gallery before the party got started.
Now it can be part of the growing offering that visitors can choose from when they come here.
‘Stability’ for arts and culture is bare bones
But while the Creative Scotland grant may be enough to keep DCA’s doors open, director Beth Bate has been open about the fact it was still less than they asked for.
For several consecutive years now, DCA was operating at a loss, and it was only days ago that the organisation was staring into the abyss of a financial black hole.
That they now have stability after teetering on the brink of ruin is the bare minimum.
The DCA needs to be able to make progress. It must have the ability not just to keep up with the times, but to get ahead of the curve.
Or else we’ll be reading the same headlines about its “uncertain future” again in 36 months.
That’s why it’s so important that Dundee City Council steps up and fulfils its role as the DCA’s second biggest core funder.
DCC, get with the (funding) programme
It’s mind-boggling to me that amid all these fantastic, coinciding projects to make Dundee a lively entertainment hub, the council has not yet confirmed its usual annual grant of £232,000 to the DCA.
How embarrassing, that the Scottish Government’s funding body can see the value in it, and yet Dundee’s own officials are still hemming and hawing.
I can hear the argument already: “DCA have enough to stay open, and the council have other priorities.”
But it’s exactly that kind of glory-seeking, pan-flashing short-sightedness that’s got Dundee’s cultural and community assets into these desperate straits in the first place.
Without certainty, and a certain amount of cash to take risks with, the DCA can’t do anything to further its position.
There is an opportunity here for Dundee City Council to actually add value to something which means everything to so many of its citizens.
With that funding boost of £200K per year on top of the £4 million from Creative Scotland, the DCA could do more than just survive.
It could thrive.
Come on DCC. Invest in more than the bare minimum.
Conversation