Jack Lowden speaks out on Scotland's arts funding cuts on stage at the Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow after a performance of The Fifth Step.

Transcript

00:00And they are only possible because an artist was able to develop an idea.

00:05Artists are the ground zero of an ecosystem that's filled with ideas.

00:10So this cut is stupid and completely unacceptable.

00:13Because we all...

00:15We all need the arts, all of us.

00:25Whether that's an escape route to another life for kids at school struggling with academia like sport can be.

00:33Whether it's to raise awareness in people's places and things that need a spotlight shone on them.

00:37Or whether it's to shut a place like this on a Wednesday night half cut us over.

00:43Or to watch something at home that makes us think or helps us not to think.

00:48All of us need the arts.

00:50So, we know that times are particularly hard in most areas of life at the moment.

00:54We're not blind to that.

00:55But we in the arts, a sector that is often, too often considered a luxury or not as important.

01:01We are all beginning to grow sick of the punching above our weight tagline that is so often thrown at us.

01:07As a kind of oh could do alright cop out.

01:09Well, we have the potential in this country, in the arts, to be more than alright.

01:13And if you want to take the punching analogy to another level.

01:18We in our industry here in Scotland, we have the belief that we can knock it spark cool.

01:22So, we are asking that the government steps up, stops this cut and gives us back the support that our industry desperately needs.

01:31So tonight, all we're asking is for you to make a bit of noise about this.

01:34Share it.

01:35Write to your MSP.

01:37Send a petition.

01:39Thank you very much.

01:40And use the hashtag NoArtWithoutArts.

01:42Thank you so much.