To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support festivals in Dumfries and Galloway. (S6O-03327)

Creative Scotland provides support for a number of festivals in Dumfries and Galloway including the Dumfries and Galloway arts festival and Wigtown book festival. In 2023-24, Creative Scotland provided £107,000 to Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival from its open fund. Creative Scotland also supports Wigtown Festival Company, which delivers the Wigtown book festival and the Big DoG children’s book festival, with £86,000 per year. It also provides £100,000 per year in support for The Stove Network, which runs a programme of various festivals and events, including the Nithraid river festival.

Between April 2021 and March 2024, Creative Scotland invested more than £3 million in individuals and organisations with a Dumfries and Galloway postcode through its open and targeted funds.

In recent years, in particular, in Dumfries and Galloway, we have lost a number of major music festivals, such as the Wickerman festival, the Electric Fields festival and, most recently, the Doonhame festival and the Big Burns Supper, while others, such as the Eden festival, have had to scale back. However, when new events such as Music at the Multiverse come forward, they do not seem to receive support. Support for music festivals does not seem to be there.

At a time when Creative Scotland’s funding has been reduced by 10 per cent, what specific action can the Government take to stop a further erosion of music festivals in Dumfries and Galloway, which have incredibly tight margins, given the rural nature of the region?

As Colin Smyth knows, I am very committed to supporting festivals right across Scotland. We have such fantastic festivals—they one of the jewels of our creative sector. I have already outlined the significant support that has been extended to festivals in Dumfries and Galloway.

Colin Smyth raises some concerns, which I am sure that Creative Scotland will have heard. He is well aware that Creative Scotland is an arm’s-length organisation and that it is beyond governmental decisions whether to support one festival or project or another—that is for Creative Scotland to determine. I will make sure that, when I next meet Creative Scotland, I draw its attention to the specific questions that he has asked about festivals in Dumfries and Galloway.