Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Creative Scotland accused of neglecting north and north-east

David Duguid, MP for Banff and Buchan.
David Duguid, MP for Banff and Buchan.

Scotland’s arts agency has been accused of neglecting the north and north-east after it was revealed all jobs advertised since 2014 were for the Central Belt.

All 114 jobs advertised by Creative Scotland over the last four and half years have been for positions in Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scottish Conservative research revealed.

Data uncovered by Freedom of Information legislation, found that no posts have been advertised for the north and north-east in the last five years.

In 2018, 11 screen jobs went to the Central Belt and none further north despite the area’s film-making pedigree including Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero and the more recent re-make of Whisky Galore.

The lack of jobs comes despite a recent revival of north-east and Highland culture which has placed more emphasis on the Doric language as well as renewed enthusiasm for traditional music and the arts.

Banff and Buchan MP David Duguid said: “The arts are alive and well in my constituency, and the culture of the north-east has been exported across the world. But the SNP are dictating the agenda from Edinburgh, as they do with everything else.

“If there is no credence given to arts and cinema in the north-east, how do they expect the outside world to get a balanced view of Scotland today?

“They run the risk of presenting Scottish culture as being produced by the Central Belt.

“The SNP government claim that Scots dialect is important to them.

“For that to be true, there needs to be a sea change in their attitudes, instead of gazing at their navel.”

Hugh Nicol, owner of the Riverside Gallery in Inverness and a former board member of the Dogstar Theatre company, said: “All the jobs are down there and it becomes very Central Belt-centric.

“The arts scene can be very different across Scotland.

“There should be some representation in the northern Highland area. The arts here are not the same as the arts in Glasgow or Edinburgh.”

A Creative Scotland spokesman said: “Creative Scotland’s office base is in Edinburgh and Glasgow but our staff are active across the country throughout the year.

“Employment opportunities for artists, creative practitioners, producers, event organisers and administrators are supported across Scotland, this includes nearly 5,500 jobs supported last year through our Regular Funding programme alone.

“In 2017/18 we provided over ÂŁ733,00 of support to activity in Aberdeenshire.

“This includes organisations such as Deveron Projects, Scottish Sculpture Workshop, The Barn and sound.”