Joyce McMillan: Cumbernauld Theatre shouldn't be forced to close because of an admin fail
The crisis at Cumbernauld Theatre raises some important questions, writes Joyce McMillan. In particular: should an otherwise successful arts organisation ever be put at risk simply because of a failure to submit a satisfactory funding application?
It was just four years ago this month that Cumbernauld Theatre Trust opened its lovely new theatre at Lanternhouse - a 280 seat theatre, a studio, and a cafe-bar, newly built on the campus of the local secondary school.
The pandemic was beginning to ease, and the omens for the new building seemed good. Cumbernauld Theatre, after all, had an exemplary history as a community initiative, created in 1963 - just eight years after Cumbernauld New Town itself - by a group of citizens determined to make sure that the town had its own theatre and arts centre.
For over 50 years, the theatre operated successfully from its old home at Cumbernauld Village Theatre, a much-loved row of 18th century cottages with a huge metal barn of an auditorium at the back. It combined its own professional productions with a rich programme of community involvement and youth work, and provided a training ground for generations of Scottish actors, from Alan Cumming and Forbes Masson to Elaine C Smith, Blythe Duff and Colin McCredie; it was also a vital port of call on the Scottish theatre touring circuit.
And as the company moved to Lanternhouse in 2021, all of this seemed set to continue. The new venue thrived, presenting an impressive mixed programme of in-house productions and touring and community shows, as well as films, music, and tribute nights. By 2024, it was earning 63% of its income through sales and box office, with £266,000 from Creative Scotland, and £100,000 from North Lanarkshire Council, making up most of the rest of its budget. And of course, there was always the much-loved annual panto, usually a new take on an old story with a distinct Cumbernauld twist, emphasising the theatre’s unique power to give a voice to a North Lanarkshire community which is not rich in arts venues and organisations.
It therefore came as a tremendous shock, in January, when Creative Scotland’s long-awaited and generally very positive announcement on the funding of Scotland’s leading arts organisations singled out Cumbernauld Theatre, alone among all its existing regularly funded organisations, for complete removal from its multi-year-funding (MYF) list. The theatre was offered a £200,000 transitional grant for the current year; and assured that all Creative Scotland’s project-based funds were still available should they wish to apply.
The removal of multi-year funding for the next three years, though, was a huge blow to an organisation which was not in financial trouble, appeared to be thriving, and fulfils so many of Creative Scotland’s own priorities in terms of improving the geographical spread of arts provision, and offering high levels of community engagement in an area with an increasingly diverse population, and some pockets of real deprivation.
The question of what went wrong therefore raises some important issues around the decision-making process in Scottish arts funding. It is generally acknowledged that the MYF application submitted by Cumbernauld Theatre did not comply with Creative Scotland guidelines, and was far too long, among other problems; and that once it entered the Creative Scotland assessment process, it simply achieved too low a score, as an application, to be taken forward.
It remains unclear, though, why the unsatisfactory application was not then placed - like, for example, the application from Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre - in the Creative Scotland Development programme, which gives organisations a year’s breathing space to sort out their plans, and to be restored to multi-year funding.
And even more fundamentally, it raises questions about whether an arts organisation as significant as Cumbernauld Theatre should ever be put at risk of closure because of what seems to have been largely a failure in application-writing, rather than a failure of the organisation itself. The scoring of applications based on plans for future work should certainly be part of the decision-making process. It is difficult to see, though, how any process that also involved a proper assessment of the organisation’s strategic importance, of its current health, or of its achievements to date, could possibly have put Cumbernauld Theatre Trust in a position where, three weeks ago, it had to issue a press release saying that if it cannot secure an additional £300,000 by the end of December, it will have to close its doors, and hand the keys of its new building back to North Lanarkshire Council.
Under its new acting chief executive Patricia Stead, Cumbernauld Theatre is now mounting a powerful public campaign for its survival. There are online petitions, appeals for donations, and vocal political support from local MSP’s and councillors. A growing list of theatre and screen celebrities are supporting the campaign, including Elaine C Smith, who has offered to stage a fundraising event at the theatre, and Outlander star Sam Heughan. And next week, a crucial meeting involving the theatre trust, the Scottish Government, Creative Scotland and North Lanarkshire Council, will attempt to work out a way forward.
“We’re just not prepared to let this theatre go, if we can possibly save it,” says Stead. “We’ve already made an application to Creative Scotland’s Open Fund for support to continue our school and community work around the 70th anniversary of Cumbernauld New Town this winter. And further ahead, I’m not giving up on the idea of Cumbernauld as a theatre that can make its own work, with its own distinctive voice, and its own artistic leader.”
And Elaine C Smith agrees. “As someone who grew up in North Lanarkshire, I can’t stress too much how important this theatre is to the area. It was vital to me, at the beginning of my career, as a venue with this wonderful, welcoming audience; I remember that the Wildcat show where I earned my Equity card opened here. It would just be so, so sad to see that great tradition go; and I’ll be doing all I can to make sure Cumbernauld Theatre has a great future, as well as that fantastic history.”
For more details see https://lanternhousearts.org/save-cumbernauld-theatre/save-cumbernauld-theatre-faqs/
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