Creative Scotland has closed its Open Fund for Individuals to new applications.

This is due to the Scottish Government not confirming the release of £6.6million in the Grant-in-Aid budget for the 2024-25 financial year.

Creative Scotland planned to apply £3m of the £6.6m budget to support the Open Fund for Individuals in 2024-25, alongside £3m of National Lottery income.

However, without confirmation of the budget, Creative Scotland said it does not have enough funds to support all its funding routes.

The fund will be closed to new applications from 2pm on Friday, August 30.

All currently submitted Open Fund for Individuals applications will be processed as per the published guidance.

The National Lottery Open Fund for Organisations remains open.

Iain Munro, chief executive officer of Creative Scotland, said: “The level of uncertainty regarding the provision of Grant-in-Aid budgets from the Scottish Government is creating critical problems for the ongoing support we can provide to Scotland’s culture sector.

“This decision to close the Open Fund for Individuals is not one we would have wanted to take but is unavoidable without the funding from the Scottish Government being available.

“Like everyone working in Scotland’s culture and creative sector, we understand the extreme pressures on public finances but want to see longer term budget certainty from the Scottish Government, including the additional £100m announced in October 2023, details of which have yet to emerge.”

The Open Fund for Individuals is one of Creative Scotland’s key funding programmes, supporting the wide range of activities initiated by artists, writers, producers, and other creative practitioners in Scotland.

The £6m fund is designed to support creative activity such as specific projects, productions, or periods of research and development for up to 24 months.