Creative Scotland is to be hauled before culture secretary Angus Robertson to answer for its decision to award £84k of funding to an arts project featuring actual sex.
The cash financed two phases of research and development for Rein, a multi-screen film exploring themes of sexuality set in the Scottish landscape.
The arts body withdrew support for the project back in March citing the inclusion of ‘non simulated sex acts’, which it claimed marked a ‘significant change’ from the original funding application. Documents unearthed by the BBC contradict this claim however as they show that a ‘sex scene with genital contact’ formed part of the process from the start.
Attention has focussed on the second of two shoots which was due to commence filming on 24 May in the Highlands and was to include the offending scene. In a statement director Leonie Rae Gasson defended the film as an artistic endeavour: “In R&D2 there was one proposed scene for three consenting performers (out of nine in the cast), that would be devised through informed consent and an experienced sex-positive safeguarding team where genital contact could be part of the performance of (non-simulated) sex choreography and dance choreography.
“The artists have never used the term ‘real sex’ in any call out, process, documentation or application.”
Scottish Conservative deputy leader Meghan Gallacher commented: “It appears they (Creative Scotland) have misled the public over this scandal, in an attempt to cover their appalling misjudgement in awarding funding to this project.
“The attempted cover-up is more inexcusable than the original poor decision-making. As a publicly-funded body, Creative Scotland has a duty not just to spend taxpayers’ cash wisely, but also to be fully transparent on how they do so.”
Creative Scotland has recovered £67,741 of the grant money allocated to the project.