Published: 29 Sep 2016
Open Project Funding awards of between £1,240 and £125,000 made in August 2016
Creative Scotland has awarded over £950,000 National Lottery Funding through the Open Project Fund in August 2016 to 49 recipients, including individual artists and organisations working across the arts, screen and creative industries.
Awards of between £1,240 and £125,000 have been made to festivals, musicians, visual artists, film festivals, dancers and writers.
Experts in Short Trousers will tour Scotland as part of Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival in October - photo by Jordan Anderson
An award made to new borders-based arts organisation Creative Coathanger will showcase creativity in the Scottish borders through, Creative Coathanger Festival, running from 23rd September- 29th October 2016, a festival of design and the creative industries.
Mark Timmins, Festival Director at Creative Coathanger said: “Creative Scotland’s Open Funding has allowed us to put the Borders arts scene on the cultural events map in a way that it has never been before through the inaugural Creative Coathanger festival. We are incredibly grateful to them and our other sponsors such as Mainetti, one of the region’s creative industry leaders. Creative Coathanger – The Everything Creative Festival – is on until 9 October in Galashiels, Selkirk and Hawick. It will showcase a wide range of events, the majority of them free, which celebrate the rich cultural heritage and burgeoning creative industries in the Scottish Borders.”
Among the awards made towards music, Showcase Scotland Expo receives funding to support its work in furthering the performance opportunities for Scotland-based musicians. Funding will also support the 2016 and 2017 New Music Scotland Awards. The awards will celebrate and champion the most innovative and exciting composers, creators, musicians, sound artists and ensembles that are working in new music in Scotland.
Nicola Henderson, Network Co-ordinator, New Music Scotland said: "We are delighted to receive this support from Creative Scotland. Scotland’s new music scene is thriving and there is so much exciting work being created across the country that often goes unheralded. This support will enable us to create a new platform upon which we can celebrate and promote this wonderful new music both here at home and to an international audience."
Also among the music awards Jazz Scotland received funding to deliver Lockerbie, Fife and Dundee Jazz Festivals and Folk band Lau received funding to tour North America and attend AmericanaFest in Nashville.
Lau - photo by Genevieve Stevenson
Among the awards made to Screen, Glasgow-based Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival (10-31 October) and Document International Human Rights Festival (20-23 October). While Hawick-based Alchemy Film & Arts received funding to deliver two years of cultural programming including the 2017 Alchemy Film + Moving Image Festival (2-5 March 2017).
Harriet Warman, Producer, Alchemy Film & Arts, who have also been appointed to curate the Scotland + Venice presentation at the Venice Biennale 2017 with Rachel Maclean, commented:
“We are delighted to be supported by Creative Scotland through the Open Fund. This will allow us to move forward with exciting plans for the seventh edition of Alchemy Film & Moving Image Festival taking place in Hawick from 2-5 March 2017, when we will again welcome artists from around the world to the Scottish Borders to screen the very best experimental film and artists' moving image in venues around the town. We're also thrilled to be able to develop a new year-round exhibition programme, and further integrate our volunteer and community filmmaking projects as part of Alchemy Community Engagement (ACE).”
Among literature awards, writer Kirsty Logan received funding to support her latest project The Night Tender, a linked collection of short horror stories exploring fears around childbirth, houses and the past. Literary Magazine The Drouth also received funding towards its event James Kelman at 70: A Celebration, which aims to explore and celebrate Kelman’s life and art thus far.
Kirsty Logan's latest work is a collection of short horror stories
Among Visual Arts awards, Dundee-based Cooper Gallery and the University of Dundee have received an award to deliver Of Other Spaces: Where Does Gesture Become Event?, a two-phase contemporary art exhibition, event and residency project. Visual artist Ally Wallace received an award to undertake a six-month residency at University of Stirling, to research and develop a new body of work entitled Low Rise High Function.
Dundee-based NEoN Digital Arts Festival (9-13 November 2016) received funding towards the 2016 festival. This will include performances and showcases from Aram Bartholl, Blast Theory, Stanza, Charles Young, JR Carpenter, Linda Havenstein and Joseph DeLappe.
NEoN Director, Donna Holford-Lovell said: “We are very excited about this year’s NEoN programme. Our festival in November has some amazing work by some of today’s leading artists in the digital art world. This continues with our pop up events in 2017. Creative Scotland funding has given us a great opportunity to expand our showcase of local, national and international work and bring it to a Scottish stage.”
Among awards to support Theatre, Lewis-based theatre company Robhanis have received an award to present Fuaigh Fosgail [Home: Away], a new Gaelic theatre experience based on the theme of Home and Away, to be performed at the National Theatre's Home Away Festival in October 2016. Dumfries and Galloway-based theatre company Oceanallover also received funding to create a new piece of performance theatre Sea Hames-Dancing Horses.
Choreographer Saffy Setohy is among the dance awards for her project Light Field, an off-grid, kinetically powered participatory installation in collaboration with sound artist Bill Thompson. The installation is made of, and activated by light, people and the sound of light. Choreographer Paul Michael Henry has received an award towards research and development of SHRIMP DANCE a new performance work. SHRIMP DANCE deals with mental health, models of sanity under consumer capitalism, and ecological crisis.
Iain Munro, Deputy Chief Executive at Creative Scotland said:
“From festivals in Dundee and the Borders, support for established and emerging musicians to create new work, to a celebration of one of Scotland’s literary greats, we are delighted to have been able to fund such a range of practice throughout Scotland through Open Project Funding.
“Collectively, these projects will have a major impact on the quality of the lives of people and communities across Scotland in many different ways, stimulating imagination and confidence through creative experiences.
“Open Project Funding is designed to support individual artists and organisations across art-forms and demand is extremely high. While we are able to support many fantastic artists, projects and organisations across Scotland, there are many more whom we would like to support, if more funds were available.”
Did You Know? 88% agree that Scotland is a creative nation - find out more about why Creativity Matters- Creative Scotland
Please note the funding awards listed remain offers of funding until such time as all terms and conditions have been formally accepted and fulfilled by the award recipient. If an award recipient fails to accept any offer, the funding award will be withdrawn and credited to future Open Project Funding Panels.
Open Project Funding is available to a wide range of organisations and individuals working across Scotland in the arts, screen and creative industries. It supports a broad spectrum of activity including creative and professional development, research and development, production, small capital requirements, touring and collaborations, festivals, arts programming, audience development, etc. A full list of activities supported through this route is set out in the Open Project Funding application guidance. Support is available for projects of different scale and duration with the maximum period of award being set at 2 years. Awards are made in the range £1,000 to £100,000 (or up to £150,000 by exception).
See details of the Open Project Fund and all other Creative Scotland funding.
Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits here. We enable people and organisations to work in and experience the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland by helping others to develop great ideas and bring them to life. We distribute funding provided by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery.
Follow us on Twitter @creativescots and Facebook at www.facebook.com/CreativeScotland.
Eilidh Walker, Media Relations & PR Assistant, Creative Scotland
Email: eilidh.walker@creativescotland.com
Tel: +44 (0) 131 523 0019
Switchboard: +44 (0) 330 333 2000
