Figure 13: Benefits to projects, by number of projects
Source: ICC/DHA Cultural Olympiad Project Survey (base 37 projects) 6.5
Although it is encouraging that projects recognised the value of being involved in the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival, this also to some extent masked some of the difficulties in promoting Scotland via the multiple London 2012 cultural offers. There was an unavoidable element of competition between attracting audiences to London and to established Scottish cultural events in the summer of 2012. For example, the Edinburgh Festivals, brought together under the banner of Festivals Edinburgh, were anxious about the potential deleterious impact of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games on ticket sales and visitors to Edinburgh. While for ‘new’ cultural projects the Games catalyst was always likely to lead to greater profile and increased ambition, for existing projects or activities the counter factual comes into play - had the Olympics not been held in the UK, there would have been less competition for audience and media attention.
6.6
Though not solely the responsibility of Creative Scotland, there was broad agreement that the London 2012 cultural offer in Scotland suffered because of brand confusion. Projects experienced confusion in being funded at different times by different brands and in navigating the layers of the Cultural Olympiad, Inspire Mark, London 2012 Festival and Scotland’s London 2012 Cultural Programme. However, at the research symposium, project leads suggested that Creative Scotland’s Creative Programmer and her team were effective in reducing complexity where possible.
6.7
To assess the contribution of the Programme to the image of Scotland as a cultural destination, there needs to be greater consideration of measures of Scotland’s current position (e.g. Anholt GfK Roper Nation Brands Index) and a clearer understanding of funding made and mechanisms put in place to operationalise this vision. Festivals Edinburgh provides a useful exemplar of what needs to be put in place: they are increasingly sophisticated at being able to place a value on their Festivals in terms of economic impact, media value and other indicators of international esteem.
Cultural regeneration and impact on creative industries 6.8
As discussed in Chapter 7, in order to assess the contribution of a one-off event to the wider creative and cultural economy, agreement needs to be reached on what projects (or parts of projects) in receipt of funding are being asked to achieve, what activity they will undertake to secure the required outputs and ways of knowing they have been successful individually and as part of a wider programme.
35
