On Wednesday this week (4 December), the Scottish Government announced their draft budget for 2025-26. It was an announcement that Scotland’s culture sector has been anxiously awaiting for months – a sector which has been hanging in the balance, and hanging on by a thread.  Hope, optimism and resilience have been increasingly hard to find…

We have united with other organisations from the cultural sector from across Scotland to launch a new campaign – #InvestInCulture – to highlight the impact and value of cultural experiences, and to call on the Scottish Government to follow through on their promise of long-term sustainable funding for the arts by increasing sector investment annually by…

Creative Scotland has released new Outcome and Transition FAQs for Multi-Year Funding applicants, covering key areas such as project timelines, guidance for successful and unsuccessful applications, and options for other funding routes. Due to a revised timeline, funding decisions are now expected by the end of January 2025, delayed from the original October date. For…

rEDOLENT ‘dinny greet’ was tonight announced as winner of The Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award in Stirling’s Albert Halls. rEDOLENT took home the £20,000 first prize and a bespoke trophy as part of Scotland’s national music prize, claiming the title ahead of a Shortlist including Arab Strap, corto.alto, Rachel Sermanni and more. The…

Following Creative Scotland’s recent communication regarding the delay in announcing the application results for the Multi-Year Funding Programme (2025–28), we – along with Artlink, Craft Scotland, Culture & Business Scotland, Culture Counts, Federation of Scottish Theatre (FST), Publishing Scotland, Scottish Book Trust, Scottish Contemporary Art Network (SCAN) and Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland (TRACS) –…

Yesterday, as we announced the ten outstanding Scottish albums making up this year’s SAY Award Shortlist, our sector was yet again propelled into further uncertainty. 281 cultural organisations across Scotland (including us) have been anxiously awaiting decisions on Creative Scotland’s Multi-Year Funding Programme for 2025–28, which were due later this month. Unfortunately, yesterday’s announcement has…

 The Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) has today revealed the 10 Shortlisted albums now in the running for 2024’s Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award, with the winner set to gain the coveted title along with the £20,000 first prize. Plus, Martyn Bennett’s final studio album ‘Grit’ is announced as the winner of 2024’s…

Scotland’s national music prize, The Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award, today reveals the 20 outstanding Scottish albums on 2024’s Longlist. Featuring 11 debut albums, previous SAY Award winners, Mercury Prize nominees and an eclectic range of genres, The SAY Award Longlist in alphabetical order is:  Afterlands We Are the Animals in the Night…

Our latest letter to the Culture Secretary, Angus Robertson, following his written response to our open letter on the culture funding crisis. (6 September 2024)

In less than 24 hours, more than 1,000 artists and music industry professionals have signed an open letter to Scotland’s First Minister, John Swinney, calling for the urgent reinstatement of Creative Scotland’s Open Fund for Individuals and Youth Music Funds, and assurance that the planned £25 million increase in cultural funding for 2025 is secured…

The Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) is urgently calling on artists, industry professionals and music businesses from across Scotland and the wider UK to sign an open letter to First Minister John Swinney. The open letter is in response to the closure of Creative Scotland’s Open Fund for Individuals and the delayed reopening of the…

Yesterday, Creative Scotland announced the closure of the Open Fund for Individuals, effective from 2pm this Friday (30 August 2024), due to the Scottish Government being unable to confirm release of £6.6 million in Grant-in-Aid funding for the current financial year. Today, Creative Scotland further announced the delay in opening applications for the Access to…

Alongside other culture sector support bodies across Scotland, we’ve written a joint letter to the Scottish Government in response to the closure of Creative Scotland’s Open Fund for Individuals and the reduction of support for vital initiatives such as the Culture Collective and the Youth Music Initiative. This letter, addressed to the Cabinet Secretary for…

The SMIA Summit 2024; a two-day, free-to-attend digital conference which aims to shape the future of Scotland’s music industry, with speakers from across the sector including artists, management, labels and more. Free tickets via smia.org.uk/summit  Taking place online across Thursday 5 and Friday 6 September, The SMIA Summit will foster connection, consultation and collaboration between…

The Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) – the membership organisation and innovation agency which exists to strengthen, empower and unite Scotland’s music industry – today announces the appointment of seven members to our inaugural Equalities, Diversity, Inclusion and Access (EDIA) Advisory Group. The newly-appointed group comprises Jayne Stynes (Chair), Jim Muotune, Beth Black, Sof Staune,…