Nicola Sturgeon: 'All options' to be explored over fate of Scottish Youth Theatre

By The Newsroom
Published 8th Mar 2018, 15:06 BST
Updated 8th Mar 2018, 16:17 BST
Nicola Sturgeon says the prospect of the closure of Scottish Youth Theatre will be of 'serious concern to many people across Scotland.'Nicola Sturgeon says the prospect of the closure of Scottish Youth Theatre will be of 'serious concern to many people across Scotland.'
Nicola Sturgeon says the prospect of the closure of Scottish Youth Theatre will be of 'serious concern to many people across Scotland.'
Nicola Sturgeon has intervened in the row over the planned closure of Scottish Youth Theatre to declare 'all options' would be explored to keep it operating.

The First Minister said the company's announcement, which said it had been left with "no option" but to wind up with months, would be of "serious concern to many people across Scotland."

SYT says it willl cease trading at the end of July after being turned down for long-term funding by Creative Scotland, along with several other theatre companies.

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The government stepped in, along with a private-sector backer, Clyde Blowers, to bail out the company four years ago after a previous rejection by the quango.

The closure announcement by SYT’s board has come less than three months into a multi-million pound Scottish Government campaign to promote 2018 as the Year of Young People.

Creative Scotland, led by chief executive Janet Archer, has already been forced to apologise to the Scottish Parliament last month for the handling of recent funding cuts and has pledged a “root and branch review” of the way decisions were made.

Scottish Youth Theatre had warned in January that its funding rejection by Creative Scotland had left it facing “serious challenges.”

But unlike several other companies which were reprieved by Creative Scotland after an emergency board meeting to deal with widespread criticism across the cultural sector, SYT was left empty-handed.