Thanks for joining the Scottish Arts Forum and no matter from where you come from or who you are, you are an artist and we welcome you!

There is a issue in the Arts and Creative industries that means that our voices are rarely heard.

When Creative Scotland announced their recent funding decisions it sparked a series of responses from artists of every type and arts organisations about just how the sector is funded, however, the conversations carried on and other issues were raised.

An artist, Jim Sutherland, started a Facebook group to begin a dialogue across the arts in Scotland and the response was astonishing, over 2,5000 artists and groups started to raise their voice about how disconnected they felt from not only the agency, Creative Scotland, but from the policy makers in Government. That needed to change.

A collective decision was made to create a space where we could exchange views and make suggestions and we could take the collective ideas to government. We could also let those in Government respond directly to the issues raised.

The Interim Steering Group of the new Scottish Arts Forum is currently putting the framework in place for an elected team to develop this framework into the future.

You can elect to remain anonymous on the Forum, being identified only by your Username, thus protecting your privacy, or you can use your own name, this is completely up to you. Whilst you are on the board, please remember that everyone needs heard and everyone deserves respect.

You will be updated on the Forum and via email on any change to the Forum.

So all that is left to do is to say, welcome to the Scottish Arts Forum and what do you want to say.