New research from Creative Balance, a research and advocacy project run by We Are Here Scotland, has examined the experiences, wellbeing and working conditions of racialised people across Scotland’s creative industries, in what the project says is the first study of its scale focused on wellbeing within the sector.
Finding The Radiance In Between: Reimagining Scotland’s Creative Spaces sets out both what the sector currently costs racialised creatives and what they say should exist in its place.
About the Report
The research identifies recurring experiences of isolation and financial precarity, alongside concerns about the lack of racial diversity in leadership across Scotland’s creative industries. It argues that these experiences are shaped by how the sector is organised and funded.
The findings draw on group interviews held in Glasgow, Aberdeen and online, with participants based across different parts of Scotland.
Financial insecurity ran underneath almost every conversation. Participants described holding down several jobs in order to stay in the sector at all, and watching their creative practice erode under the work that pays for it. When one participant asked the Aberdeen group how many of them would work creatively full time if it were financially viable, every person in the room raised their hand. Funding aimed at racialised artists brought its own difficulties, with people pigeonholed by schemes that require them to foreground one part of their identity, and such support among the first things cut when budgets tighten.
Participants also pointed to who runs Scotland’s arts organisations and who does not. They described being hired into administrative roles while managerial ones remain out of reach, being approached to represent a community rather than to practise their craft, and equalities work that arrives half-hearted and short term. The report calls the sector extractive and argues that these are not individual struggles requiring individual solutions, but outcomes of how the sector is structured and funded.
Isolation surfaced repeatedly, both within the industry and beyond it. One person described minimising their personality in order to fit in. Another said the creative sector is simply not for them, and several spoke about being cut off from community and from any support network that understands their circumstances.
Loa Pour Mirza (Creative Balance Researcher), who co-authored the report, said:
“Our research set out to capture a snapshot of how racialised creatives experience the arts and culture landscape in Scotland. What emerged was clear – care needs to be woven into what we build and how we practice, at every level. Too many people told us they lack spaces to show up authentically, which fuels feelings of isolation and disconnection. This is exactly why Creative Balance exists. We need each other now more than ever.”
Participants also described what they would like to see in place of existing models, including an accessible, community-led space where knowledge and skills can be shared. Some suggested this could travel across Scotland to better reach creatives outside the central belt.
What Comes Next
Phase 2 will build on gaps identified in the first phase, with greater focus on the experiences of parents and carers, LGBTQ+ creatives, and disabled and neurodivergent practitioners.
The next phase will explore how race and class intersect, alongside the impact of where people live on access to opportunities across Scotland.
The research will also examine access requirements within venues and organisations. It will explore Universal Basic Income and develop a multilingual dictionary of wellbeing terminology.
Credits: Finding The Radiance In Between: Reimagining Scotland’s Creative Spaces was co-authored by Halina Rifai and Loa Pour Mirza, with the summary written by Hanieh Khosroshahi, illustrations by Kumi McKenna, and academic guidance from Dr Cheryl McGeachan at the University of Glasgow.
Links:
- Read the full report.
- Find out more about Creative Balance.
- Find out more about We Are Here Scotland.