£9m youth music funding ‘paused’ in Scottish emergency budget review
Harriet Richards
Thursday, September 15, 2022
More than 320 music education projects in Scotland are funded annually through the Youth Music Initiative, a government programme managed by Creative Scotland.
Courtesy NYOS
The Scottish government has ‘paused’ Youth Music Initiative (YMI) funding due to the cost-of-living crisis, a letter seen by MT has revealed.
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.
While there is some confusion over the meaning of the word ‘paused’, culture minister Neil Gray has confirmed in an official response to MT that the YMI funding is ‘secure’.
He said: ‘While there is a brief pause in the distribution of funding while the Cost of Living Emergency Budget Review is completed, the funding for the Creative Scotland’s Youth Music Initiative is secure and will not be reduced.
‘The Scottish government recognises the important role this programme plays in nurturing the talents of children and young people across the country.’
The £9m annual YMI budget is distributed by Creative Scotland, the non-departmental public body of the Scottish government, and is divided between school-based music making and the informal sector.
Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon announced in early August that there would be an emergency budget review, adding in her Programme for Government 2022/23 statement on 6 September that this would mean making ‘hard choices’.
The letter sent from Creative Scotland to organisations in receipt of YMI funding said that all Scottish government portfolios have been asked to ‘defer issuing contracts’ to remaining non-contracted spend in 2022/23 ‘indefinitely’.
Creative Scotland added: ‘We understand the significant impact that this will have on staff, freelancers, children and young people.
‘We are aware that some local authorities are incurring ongoing costs relating to their programmes and have been communicating this with the Scottish government.’
Scotland’s deputy first minister John Swinney said on 7 September that Scotland’s ‘total budget is fixed’ and at the ‘absolute limits of affordability’.
MT is monitoring the situation as it unfolds.
