Arts body defends decision to fund axed sex show

Creative Scotland has defended its decision to fund a pornographic art installation, saying they were not told it would include "real sex".

It told MSPs £76,196 had been reclaimed after it cancelled support for the Rein project over a breach of rules.

Director Leonie Rae Gasson secured a total of more than £110,000 of lottery money from the arts body.

It said Rein was initially supported as a "challenging, creatively ambitious piece of experimental performance art".

Responding by letter to a Scottish parliament committee, Creative Scotland chief executive Iain Munro praised Ms Gasson's "track record".

He said the application showed a "clear storytelling narrative, strong sexual themes and simulated sexual performance, and would speak to a particular audience rather than the mainstream".

The project came under heavy criticism from politicians and feminist groups when casting call-outs were published.

Women's rights group For Women Scotland said the proposed project dehumanised women and promoted "unhealthy and dangerous" relationships.

The Rein project was recruiting women and transwomen from a "broad age range", including deaf performers and those with disabilities, to participate in real, explicit, sex scenes for the film.

In the January round of the public arts body's National Lottery Open Fund for Individuals, £84,555 was awarded to Ms Gasson. She had already received £23,219 from the same fund in August 2023.

The project was to use "pornographic processes" to film "non-simulated sex" in the Highlands.

The Rein website, which has been taken down, described it as a 45-minute art installation with audience interaction showing explicit footage on three large screens emerging from pools of water.

Research and development for the project included a nine-minute sexually explicit film which was only available for potential supporters to watch privately.

Creative Scotland has declined to say whether its staff viewed the short film before awarding the grants.

The Scottish Parliament's culture committee requested an explanation for the funding decision from Creative Scotland last month.

Committee convener Clare Adamson wrote to Mr Munro to express a "legitimate public interest" in how the decision was made and asking that Creative Scotland consider publishing the original funding application in the "interest of accountability and transparency".

Ms Adamson said "public concern" had been noted, adding: "While we recognise that it would not be appropriate for the committee to be involved in individual funding decisions, there is nevertheless a legitimate public interest in how public money is spent."

In a response published on Tuesday, Mr Munro said that although they support artists "pushing boundaries", they had not realised that real sex would be filmed for the show.

"Rein was originally supported in the knowledge it would be a challenging, creatively ambitious piece of experimental performance art, with a clear storytelling narrative, strong sexual themes and simulated sexual performance, and would speak to a particular audience rather than the mainstream."

Mr Munro's letter pointed out that themes of sex and sexuality had been seen in art throughout history and it was important for Creative Scotland to support work "representative of all parts of Scottish society, including those who are more marginalised".

"This is consistent with our legal responsibility to, amongst other things, promote equality, diversity, and inclusion," Mr Munro added.

However, when the intention to include real sex "emerged" in March, this was a "significant difference" which "took the project into unacceptable territory" for public funding, he said.

"Following a review of the application, assessment, and contractual agreement regarding the project Rein, Creative Scotland has made the decision to withdraw support for this project and will be seeking recovery of funding paid in respect of this award to date," he added.

Creative Scotland had already paid 90% of the second grant to Ms Gasson and has been able to recover £67,741 of that.

The arts body decided not to claim back the £8,359 already spent, mainly on sub-contracted freelancers, "in the interests of protecting the, often precarious, income" of these workers.

Mr Munro said Creative Scotland intended to publish the Rein funding application once they had finished a "thorough review of these materials" to remove sensitive information, and would be taking legal advice on what to release.

The letter added: "The committee should be aware that since the project became a focus of mainstream and social media, individuals involved have received threats and abuse, both online and in person."

Ms Gasson's previous work includes a project at the Traverse Theatre with Lyceum Youth Theatre involving "teenagers and a child" taking items from audience members' bags and making sex toys with them.

In a podcast released in October last year, she said there would be explicit sex in Rein and a "consent dialogue with the audience".

In a statement sent to The Herald newspaper, those behind the Rein project said they disagreed with Creative Scotland's version of events.

"No opportunity was given to the artists to work towards a joint resolution or alternative outcome prior to the funding body's decision to defund the work," they said.

"The artists do not agree that they misled the funding body."

The statement said they never used the term "real sex" and the phrase "non-simulated" was used as a shorthand for performers in the casting callout.

It added that they would have carefully choreographed times "where genital contact could be part of the performance".

The Scottish Conservatives' culture spokeswoman Meghan Gallacher said: "SNP ministers must come clean about how and why a project of this nature was ever allocated a hefty sum of taxpayers' money, especially now we know that not all of the funding can be recouped.

"Creative Scotland has an important responsibility to oversee the proper use of public funds and must urgently release the original funding application to ensure this sort of situation never arises again."

Creative Scotland is now reviewing how they process applications.

In the meantime, it has added a maximum four-week extra wait for current applications to the Open Fund for Individuals.

One artist told BBC Scotland her team has been left in a "precarious position" while they wait to find out if their applications have been accepted.

She said her theatre project, which has been five years in the making, has been left in jeopardy.

The performer and director, who did not want to be named, applied to the Open Fund for a project due to start development in May if funding was secured, leaving her team waiting to find out if they could go ahead.

She said: "The risk is being unemployed, because we don't have time to find other work, or we knock the project back by a year."

Small scale projects and independent theatre and arts in Scotland are only possible without Creative Scotland if you are wealthy, she added.

"In Scotland the sector is pretty dependent on Creative Scotland. Other organisations offer support - normally in-kind support, but rarely cash - but their budgets are stretched too."

A Creative Scotland spokesperson told BBC Scotland they were "reviewing the process" for Open Fund for Individuals (OFFI) applications but aimed to "minimise impact on applicants as much as possible" during the review.

"In the first instance, there will be a short, temporary extension to existing timelines to enable additional assurance on applications that are recommended for OFFI funding," they said.

"Our review will include the decision-making process at application stage, terms of contract once a project is awarded funding, and subsequent project monitoring."