When Cumbernauld Theatre was turned down by Creative Scotland for Multi Year Funding in January this year, it felt like a wilful rejection of one of the most significant grassroots artistic initiatives in Scotland over the last half-century.
With 251 arts organisation making successful applications care of a significant financial uplift to Creative Scotland from the Scottish Government, a number of mainly grassroots organisations received MYF for the first time.
Another thirteen organisations were supported by a £3.2m ‘Development Fund’, with the potential of them joining the MYF portfolio in 2026/27. These included the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, the Scottish Poetry Library,, and Culture and Business Scotland. First time applicants for MYF in this group included the Hidden Door festival, Hebrides Ensemble, and Culture, Heritage and Arts Assembly, Argyll and Isles (CHARTS). Of previous recipients of long term funding, only Cumbernauld wasn’t invited to the party.
Given Cumbernauld Theatre’s rich artistic history over the last sixty years, for those at the heart of the organisation, Creative Scotland’s decision seemed inexplicable. Since moving into its purpose built Lanternhouse premises less than four years ago, the programmes of co-productions, visiting companies and youth and community work run by Cumbernauld Theatre Trust (CTT) have been successful across the board. So why pull the plug now?
While CTT were allocated nine months Transition Funding throughout 2025 in order to give the organisation breathing space to reorganise, it has been confirmed that there will be no more CS money for Cumbernauld going into 2026. What this means in real terms is that if £300,000 isn’t found before mid December, Cumbernauld Theatre will close, and the keys will be handed back to North Lanarkshire Council, with the loss of more than forty jobs.
Just to add insult to injury, in June this year, the C-listed eighteenth century cottages that was Cumbernauld Theatre’s original home for more than half a century were damaged by a serious fire after being left vacant by NLC since the theatre company’s departure.
While the loss of Cumbernauld Theatre’s former premises is a symbolic one that will no doubt be emotional one for those who knew it well, the potential loss of the entire company is a devastating proposition.
Interim CEO Patricia Stead, appointed after the departure of her predecessor Sarah Price several months after Creative Scotland’s decision was announced, is leading both a fundraising drive and the campaign for Cumbernauld Theatre to be saved. A stream of high profile actors whose early careers included stints in Cumbernauld has voiced their support. Names include Alan Cumming, Blythe Duff, Forbes Masson, Elaine C. Smith and Colin McCredie.
Some are arguing too for an intervention by the Scottish Government to secure the theatre’s future. ScotGov has bailed out other arts organisations. Why not Cumbernauld?
Two things are vital here – geography and class. Sitting outwith the central belt, Cumbernauld has been regarded as something of a wasteland in terms of cultural provision. This was highlighted back in 1990 in Tom McGrath’s play written for the theatre, The Flitting. While McGrath’s urban landscape reimagined the area of Glasgow his characters decamped from as Merryhell, his version of Cumbernauld was dubbed The Land of Nod.
As one of Scotland’s flagship new towns built on radical modernist guidelines and with a primarily working class population, Cumbernauld’s need to define its own culture was recognised in 1963 when a group of local art lovers set up in what became known as the Cottage Theatre.
Led by the indefatigable Tom Laurie, a surveyor who went on to transform Glasgow’s Merchant City area, the Cottage became a thriving community arts hub that attracted the likes of 7:84, Wildcat and other companies on the frontline of Scotland’s grassroots cultural renaissance. A mural on the wall of the Cottage bar immortalised this era.
As it evolved into a professionally run organisation, Cumbernauld Theatre retained its community heart, with youth theatre and other activities running alongside visiting companies and its own in-house productions. This continued under successive artistic directors, from John Baraldi in the early 1980s through to Robert Robson, Liz Carruthers, Simon Sharkey and Ed Robson prior to the new building opening up.
Since Robson’s departure CTT has introduced an executive producer model that has facilitated collaborations with different artists and organisations across a series of co-productions. Price highlighted this approach in a post on LinkedIn in February this year as ‘forward-thinking, inclusive, and dynamic’. Price also suggested that in the funding assessment, ‘this innovation was not fully recognised’ and ‘was evaluated using traditional criteria that did not align with the rationale of our model’.
CTT’s website admits, however, that their application was ‘flawed’, and was ‘non-compliant’ with Creative Scotland’s criteria. This was based on a 208 page submission with nearly 100 pages of appendices for an application CS had specified should be no more than 25 pages plus relevant supporting material. CS stated they were unable to assess the application in full ‘due to the volume of information supplied’.
While making an already complex application process potentially even more so in this way probably isn’t a good advert for bureaucrat-led arts organisations, what looks like a school boy/girl administrative error could probably have been resolved with a less drastic outcome than is currently the case.
CTT’s candour may be welcome, but it doesn’t solve the immediate crisis. Given Lanternhouse’s status as pretty much the only North Lanarkshire venue that provides a lifeline to the arts, nor is it in a position to point to any alternative without the required resources.
While negotiations between CTT, Creative Scotland, North Lanarkshire Council and the Scottish Government are ongoing, there needs to be openness and clarity about what is required to fix the situation.
It is only right that arts organisations are scrutinised, and no organisation should ever take funding for granted. To potentially see a long-standing institution forced to close for being overzealous with the paperwork, however, would be a tragedy.
With jobs, livelihoods and an entire town’s cultural life at stake here, all involved need to decide if they want Cumbernauld Theatre to have a future or not. If they do, as they should, they need to act now lest they lose a vital part of Scotland’s artistic ecology for good.
The Herald, October 21st 2025
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