Exclusive:'Make-or-break': How a 'cultural catastrophe' for Scottish arts hinges on Wednesday's Budget

Culture secretary Angus Robert and finance secretary Shona Robison have been warned Scotland faces a "cultural catastrophe" unless they confirm a promised £100 million in increased support for arts organisations, including Creative Scotland, over the next three years.

An emergency petition launched by the UK-wide Campaign for the Arts has attracted nearly 18,000 backers ahead of the Scottish Budget on Wednesday.

The Government, which pledged the £100m investment 13 months ago, has since been accused by the campaign of leaving Scotland’s cultural landscape “at risk of collapse” due to “continued inaction and backtracking”.

The Campaign for the Arts, which claims the £100m investment is urgently needed to “avert a cultural catastrophe”, has highlighted the impact of a series of "in-year" budget cuts over the past two years. The petition warns the £100m investment is urgently needed to avert a “cultural catastrophe” in Scotland.

Protests were staged at the end of this year's Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe over the closure of a multi-million pound fund for artists after the Government refused to confirm support for the scheme.

A fresh crisis was triggered last month when Creative Scotland was forced to delay planned three-year funding decisions until the end of January after it failed to secure a budget for the long-awaited programme.

The emergency petition states: "Over the last two years, the Campaign for the Arts has joined with the Scottish cultural sector to warn of irreparable damage to our cultural life and landscape unless the Scottish Government bolsters support for the arts. It’s now or never.

"Delivering on the commitment to invest an additional £100 million would require only a tiny fraction of the current Scottish Budget.”

Campaign director Jack Gamble states: "This is a make-or-break moment for arts and culture in Scotland. Artists and organisations have been pushed to the brink due to unsustainable funding pressures and uncertainty that must be remedied now.

"The Scottish Government has made pledges to more than double its investment in culture and to deliver three-year funding settlements. Now is the moment to honour those commitments and avert a cultural catastrophe.

"The Government has a choice in next week’s Budget - to protect and expand these opportunities with a meaningful increase in investment, or to leave the cultural sector and everyone’s arts access in jeopardy."

In an interview with STV, culture secretary Angus Robertson said: "The [Budget] process is still ongoing. But I have been arguing, very strongly, with colleagues about the necessity for increased culture funding.

"We have an agreement in principle that we are trying to deliver £100m extra on an annual basis. I am arguing that we need to see a step change in increased funding, not least so that we can see the delivery of multi-year funding for our cultural organisations.

"It would be transformational and would begin to turn the tanker for a lot of individuals, especially freelances, but also venues and organisations, who have seen a real financial squeeze in recent times, for whom funding from Creative Scotland and the Scottish Government is absolutely key.

"The commitment to £100m additional funding on an annual basis is taken very seriously by me and my Scottish Government colleagues. I'm working to make sure as much of it happens as quickly as possible.”

Mr Robertson added: "The Scottish Government is committed to the additional £100m. It is a question of how quickly we can reach that target. We have a very particular milestone this year."