Government probes how hardcore sex show received £100k arts funding

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In March, Rein’s funding was withdrawn after it emerged that the show would include genital contact – something the organisation claimed not to have been aware of before then.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The funding was then withdrawn two months later, stalling the project.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” involving three members of the cast.

It said: “In our initial short R&D phase we had a no genital contact rule.

“In this development phase, we will work on a sex scene with genital contact with three of the cast.”

It also stated that, where necessary, testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) would be conducted before rehearsals.

The application added: “In this R&D, we will not be filming or performing any explicit sex act. We anticipate the final performance to do so.”

The document also detailed the intention to create a live experience using previously recorded footage.

It reads: “Spatialised audio and moving image will transform the space, enveloping audiences in a new fantasy world, set in the hardest reaches of the Scottish highlands where leather-clad Daddies rhythmically spank the trees, sheer tulle draped Princesses playfully with each other in a loch and nude Doppelbangers roll around in the mud, clamouring for attention.”

Initially, Creative Scotland supported the project as a “challenging, creatively ambitious piece of experimental performance art”.

In a statement, Creative Scotland said that though they had been aware of explicit elements of the production, the “non-simulated sex” portion of the project was unclear until the show’s producers issued a casting call for dancers and sex workers, including those with disabilities, to take part in the show involving “non-simulated sex”.

A spokesperson said: “We were always aware the project would be explicit and creatively challenging. But it was not clear until the project issued the call out for participants on its website, that the project was moving from ‘performance’ to ‘unsimulated sex’.

“It was at this point that Creative Scotland felt that there had been a breach of contract, and this breach of contract was not disputed by the applicant.

“Creative work, across many art forms, can feature explicit depictions of sex. But there is a difference between that depiction and ‘actual’ sex, which is not appropriate for public funding.”

Creative Scotland has now recovered £67,741 of funding. The organisation 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.