Creative Scotland accused of treating artists "like benefit scroungers" as crisis summit held Scotland's artists are made to feel treated like benefit "scroungers" by the Scottish Government's arts quango and have been battered by a "tsunami" of distrust, anger, fear and hurt since it was set up. Creative Scotland accused of forcing artists to "constantly justify themselves" Arts quango also accused of failing to support the arts at crisis meeting attended by over 100 artists A gathering of more than 100 artists at the Tramway Theatre in Glasgow heard demands for a public inquiry into Creative Scotland, sweeping changes throughout the whole organisation, and proper representation on its board. Leading figures in the growing rebellion against its Creative Scotland said they were fed up with years of endless communication and merely wanted to be left alone to get on with their work without having to justify themselves constantly. There were also growing signs of discontent with the response from Holyrood to what was repeatedly described as the "Creative Scotland crisis." Author Janice Galloway, playwright David Greig and singer Karine Polwart were among those to make emotional speeches at the event, the largest gathering of artists since dozens of arts groups were told they would lose regular funding earlier this year. Although there were calls for more intervention from Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop - who is currently on official business in India - they stopped short of calling for her or those at the top of Creative Scotland to be sacked. Ms Galloway, the Scottish Book of the Year winner, said: "Creative Scotland really needs to decide if it is there to support art or not. We don't want a helping hand, we want a shift in where the power lies and a change in the language so that Creative Scotland speaks the language of artists. We want to do it for ourselves. There is a small power elite making decisions at the moment. We are made to feel that we don't understand and feel undermined. We feel we are like old-fashioned benefit scroungers. Ms Polwart, one of Scotland's leading traditional musicians, told the summit: "We are lone mavericks but we cluster in communities. Today represents a long overdue politicisation of the arts community in Scotland. We are rebelling against a deeper political and social malaise. Visual artist Jacqueline Donachie said: "Trust and confidence in Creative Scotland is gone." More than 100 leading artists signed a protest letter about the running of Creative Scotland in early October, while another 300 have since put their names to an online petition. Creative Scotland was ordered to "get it sorted" by Ms Hyslop, after originally insisting that the artists" complaints related to operational issues within the body. At yesterday's event Kenneth Fowler, the quango's director of communications, admitted there was widespread internal concern about how the body was running. He added: "The vast majority of people within Creative Scotland are not happy with the current situation and realise that people outwith Creative Scotland are not happy."