Scottish government-backed quango Creative Scotland is back in the limelight over its porn project controversy. As Mr S wrote in March, the director of a hardcore pornographic performance, ‘Rein’, managed to secure £85,000 of taxpayers’ cash for her rather, um, explicit work. Now it can be revealed that, despite officials denying full knowledge of the show’s contents before this point, Creative Scotland was in fact aware of the show’s plans to include ‘non-simulated sex acts’ a year before signing off on the hefty sum. Just when you think events in Scotland can’t get any madder…
Even the progressive SNP government is rather agog at the whole thing
While quango bosses suggested that it was only this year that the full extent of the project’s explicit plans became clear, documents dating back to 2022 indicate otherwise, expressly noting that the show ‘involves sex choreography and scenes’. It transpires that Creative Scotland had sight of a ‘monitoring form’ submitted in 2023 by director Leonie Rae Gasson, which detailed proposals for explicit on-stage sex scenes and the hiring of an intimacy coordinator. Gasson, who promotes herself as someone who approaches her work ‘from a queer and neurodivergent perspective’, described her project as ‘pro-sex worker’. In the creator’s cash request from 2022, the director added that her team were ‘researching legal and ethical frameworks’ to showcase explicit acts. ‘In this [research and development stage] we will not be filming or performing any explicit sex acts,’ the submission notes, before adding: ‘We anticipate the final performance to do so.’ In descriptions of the performance provided to Creative Scotland, officials were told of plans for the use of ‘nude Doppelbangers’, ‘leather-clad Daddies’ and ‘sheer tulle draped Princesses’. Crikey.
Those assessing the project’s funding request noted that ‘it strongly meets [equality, diversity and inclusion] as a diverse-led team’ which will ‘prioritise artists based in Scotland, and those who are queer, disabled and/or neurodiverse’, adding that it ‘meets environmental sustainability in its plans to develop an eco-friendly design and set’. The assessor agreed with Gasson’s initial application that stated her show ‘sits in a theatre context but straddles dance, digital arts and visual arts’, noting this ‘gives it wide appeal’. Instead of focusing on the explicit nature of the performance, the Creative Scotland assessment is instead more concerned by the project’s ‘outdoor shooting location’ and ‘precise design of the set’. The quango official added: ‘What is exciting is the potential for a sex-positive approach to these themes…and storytelling from queer and diverse perspectives.’ Anything goes in the name of diversity and inclusion, eh…
Even the progressive SNP government is rather agog at the whole thing, with culture secretary Angus Robertson today admitting he is ‘deeply concerned’ about the revelations and that he has requested ‘an urgent meeting with the chief executive and chair of Creative Scotland to understand how the current situation has transpired’. Meanwhile Creative Scotland bosses are desperately trying to distance themselves from the rather embarrassing developments. Chief executive Ian Munro has defended funding decisions, claiming that there was an understanding that performances would be ‘simulated’. He added:
As became clear in March 2024, when the project team developed new content for their website and publicised that as part of a call-out for participants, one new and significant difference emerged which took the project into unacceptable territory. That was the intention to include real sex, as opposed to performance depicting simulated sex, in the work.
But application forms from two years ago dispute Munro’s claims, while further email evidence proves Creative Scotland staff voiced concerns about ‘the press’ finding out about the ‘risky’ material in September 2022.
Creative Scotland is trying to claw back the cash, but the company has admitted that more than £31,000 of public funds will not be returned due to ‘contractually legitimate’ spending. Mr S can imagine that Scottish taxpayers will be rather displeased to hear what their hard-earned money has been spent on – while their NHS continues to crumble and the cost-of-living crisis intensifies. Steerpike just hopes that Creative Scotland – and the Scottish government – will clean up their acts sharpish…
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