Scotland ’s arts body is being asked to explain why it awarded £100,000 for a stage show that featured explicit sex acts. Creative Scotland provided funds for the live show Rein , which was set to be based in a “sex cave”, feature “leather-clad Daddies” and include scenes with non-simulated sex. In March, Rein ’s funding was withdrawn after it emerged that the show would include genital contact – something the organisation claimed not to have been aware of before then.
However, newly released documents show that agency officials had been told about the nature of the show in 2022, when Creative Scotland awarded the show £23,219 in lottery funding while in its research and development phase. After Rein included Creative Scotland’s amendments, the arts body then gave £84,500 to the project’s lead artist and director Leonie Rae Gasson in January 2024, which sparked outrage from ministers. The funding was then withdrawn two months later, stalling the project.
Scotland’s culture secretary Angus Robertson has now stated that he is “deeply concerned” about the situation, and said he has requested an urgent meeting with Creative Scotland’s leadership to “understand how the current position has transpired and discuss how confidence in the organisation can be restored”. In papers obtained by BBC News through a freedom of information request, the funding application for Rein acknowledged that development would involve “a sex scene with genital contact�.