Chamber and committees

This might get out of hand.

I want to ask you for some final quick points. Is there anything that we have not covered but which you would like to say a few words about before we close this evidence session?

You made very pertinent points, thank you.

Those are interesting thoughts.

I will bring in Dr Allan.

A very small one.

With regard to the overall approach to participation in culture, the Scottish household survey is held up as the information that we have on the culture that people are participating in and where that is happening. Does the work of the Culture Collective in communities feed into that process, or does a lot of it go under the radar in that respect?

Steve Byrne, do you want to go first?

Does anyone else have any final thoughts?

I have a right-hand bias, so I will go to the other
side of the table first this time.

Our second agenda item is to take evidence on our culture in communities inquiry, which is focused on taking a place-based approach to culture. We have two evidence sessions this morning.

For our first session, we are joined by Kresanna Aigner, chief executive officer and creative director of Findhorn Bay Arts; Rachael Disbury, co-director of Alchemy Film and Arts; Caitlin Skinner, chief executive officer and artistic director of Stellar Quines; Arthur Cormack, chief executive of Fèisean nan Gàidheal; Murray Dawson, who is chief executive of Station House Media Unit; Robert Rae—he is not yet with us but we hope that he will join us soon—co-director of Art 27 Scotland; and Steve Byrne, director of Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland. A warm welcome to you all.

This is a round-table discussion and we are hoping that it will be very free flowing, so please indicate if you want to comment or come in. Do not feel that you have to answer every point unless you have something new to say, as time is tight on a Thursday morning, but we hope that it will be a free-flowing and open session.

We have three themes that we wish to cover. Theme 1 is place-based cultural policy, theme 2 is the culture eco-system and theme 3 is unmet cultural need. We will try to cover the three themes but in these situations we usually end up talking about everything at once. I thank you all for your attendance and also thank everyone who has provided a written submission to the committee, which is very helpful.

We will start with place-based cultural policy. We are trying to understand the conditions which enable the development and growth of cultural activity within different communities across Scotland, as well as the barriers which impede cultural activity from taking place. From your own experience, do you have any reflections to share on what has supported cultural groups or events within your communities and what barriers currently exist? I will just go around the room, one by one.