YMI programmes to restart ‘with minimal disruptions’, says Scottish government

The Scottish government has confirmed that Youth Music Initiative (YMI) funding is ‘secure’ and local authorities will be informed of ‘the updated situation’ as soon as possible, despite informing recipients that the YMI fund was 'paused' earlier this week.

Culture minister Neil Gray said that the update being sent to local authorities 'as soon as possible' will ‘allow delivery of the programme to start or restart’ with ‘minimal disruptions’. 

There has been confusion and 'panic' this week after a letter sent from Creative Scotland to local authorities informed them that ring-fenced YMI funding was ‘paused’ due to the cost-of-living emergency budget review.

The Beat Box - an independent music business based in Fife - has been working with YMI Fife for the last seven years, relying on the funding to pay staff wages.

Speaking to MT, The Beat Box said, ‘We found out at 17:30 on Monday evening about the “pause” and were due in school the following morning. We didn’t take on additional work for this term, as we were already busy with YMI, so have no source of income without it.’

They continued: ‘It’s been a hellish week to say the least. We’ve been emailing schools, politicians, and panicking about how to pay our bills and mortgage.’

Some schools decided to pay The Beat Box out of their own budget, while others couldn’t afford to. ‘This means the children will have done all the groundwork but will have nothing to present to parents,’ they added. 

Now, Scotland’s culture minister has confirmed that projects can continue to go ahead following the ‘brief pause in the distribution of funding’. He tweeted to say that the funding was ‘secure’, and has since issued the following statement to MT: 

‘The Youth Music Initiative programme plays a vitally important role in nurturing the talents of children and young people across the country.

‘While there was a brief pause in the distribution of funding while the Cost of Living Emergency Budget Review was completed, the Scottish Government has confirmed to Creative Scotland that the funding for the Youth Music Initiative is secure. 

‘We are working closely with Creative Scotland and expect local authorities to be informed of the up-dated situation as soon as possible to allow delivery of the programme to start, or restart with minimal disruptions.’

The Scottish government’s response also confirmed that the remaining funding left of the total £9m is £5.06m. 

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, YMI supports musical projects for children and young people aged 0-25 Scotland in all 32 local authorities, providing almost 1,200 jobs and impacting more than 200,000 participants. It is funded by the government, with funding distributed by Creative Scotland.