Published: 29 Sep 2017
53 Open Project Funding awards of between £1,462 and £99,849 made in August 2017
£1.2million National Lottery funding through Creative Scotland’s Open Project Fund has been awarded to 53 recipients, including individual artists, musicians, community cultural centres, writers, theatre makers, festivals and organisations working across the arts, screen and creative industries.
This funding will help nurture emerging talent, support established artists and provide more opportunities for people of all backgrounds to discover the transformative power of creativity.- Iain Munro, Deputy CEO
A cross section of projects and individuals receiving funding in August 2017 includes the following:
Glasgow-based festival, Take Me Somewhere has received funding towards this year’s programme which celebrates contemporary and experimental performance and will take place across Glasgow venues in May 2018.
West Coast Arts have received funding towards their 17-18 cultural programme. The year-long programme will include music, dance and theatre performances performed within the rural communities of Gairloch, Poolewe, Aultbea and the surrounding area on the North-West Coast of Scotland.
On receiving funding West Coast Arts said: “The aim of West Coast Arts (SCIO) is to maintain, develop and enhance the cultural capital of our local community. Remote, rural communities such as ours are at a considerable disadvantage in terms of access to the performing arts so we try to make quality performances of music, dance and theatre as accessible as possible to as many people as possible whilst providing a platform, audience and income for those working in the performing arts. We could not achieve these aims without the generous support of Creative Scotland.”
The newly refurbished Dunoon Burgh Hall has received funding to deliver its 2017-18 cultural programme. The programme will include exhibitions, theatre, visual art residencies, creative learning and youth arts.
Falkirk Community Trust has received funding to support The Hippodrome Silent Film Festival (HippFest), 21-25 March 2018, Scotland’s first and only festival of silent cinema centred in Scotland’s first cinema – celebrating silent film and live music with a programme of rare or unique screenings, accompanied by new commissions by established and emerging artists, premiered during HippFest and then touring across Scotland, the UK and internationally.
Document International Human Rights Film Festival has received funding towards this year’s programme, 19-22 October 2017 at the CCA, Glasgow, Scotland’s only dedicated international human rights documentary film festival. Document looks to facilitate an inclusive forum for discussion, encouraging equality and a multiplicity of voices.
Scottish Youth Dance (YDance) has received funding to support YDance Routes, a national network and support programme for young people involved in youth dance from communities across Scotland.
Theatre maker Emma Jayne Park has received funding to deliver It's Not Over Yet, a two-part project creating dance performance for small to mid-scale theatres alongside parallel living room based performances tailored to the needs of people who are house bound for medical reasons. The stage work and living room performances, created in collaboration with composer Nik Paget-Tomlinson, will tour across Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival in October 2017.
Emma Jayne Park said: “Receiving Creative Scotland support has given this project the boost it really needs. There are so many people who miss out on the great touring work that travels the country because of immunodeficiency and anxiety disorders that make attending the theatre too great of a health risk. The relationship between a person and a home that represents both the space they are confined to and the space they feel safest in is very complex. Being able to start research which proposes a method of rescaling work to meet these needs without sacrificing the integrity of the performance feels like a much-needed opportunity that will not only tackle access issues but has the potential to challenge artists to reframe the content of their work in a range of contexts and deepen their understanding of their work.”
Stirling-based AC Projects has received funding to deliver its 2017-18 cultural programme.The programme will include Counterflows Festival (5-8 April 2018), Tectonics Festival (5-6 May 2018),artist residencies, new works, commissions and international development projects.
Harpist and singer Heather Downie, electro pop-funk band Bossy Love,singer songwriter Lucy Cathcart Froden, Glasgow-based sextet, James Edwyn & the Borrowed Band and singer songwriter Carla J. Easton have received funding towards the development of new material.
The Cumnock Tryst has received funding to support the Artists in Residence programme at this year’s festival(28 September - 1 October 2017).This year Scottish Ensemble have been invited as Artists in Residence.
Theatre Gu Leòr, has received funding to support Cèilidh, a new play in Gaelic to be touring throughout Scotland in March 2018. The project will include an Creative Learning programme to engage young people with traditional storytelling, contemporary theatre and community drama through schools workshops, the up-skilling of Gaelic-speaking theatre practitioners and the development of approaches to creative BSL performance interpretation.
Jabuti Theatre has received funding towards Paper Memories, a new theatre piece created in association with Platform for children aged 7+ about migration, displacement and memories. With dance, physical theatre, aerial-circus, puppetry and music the audience will follow the story of a displaced child; using their senses to unfold her journey as they see, hear, smell and feel her memories.
Theatre makers Terra Incognita, Finn Anderson, Declan Dineen, Al Seed, Jack Nurse, Steven Fraser, Gavin Marshall and Sarah Jean Couzens have all received funding towards the development of new theatre pieces.
Dundee-based Cooper Gallery DJCAD has received funding to host Ulay: So You See Me, the first major exhibition in a public institution in the UK of performance artist Ulay's work. Examining the physical, emotional and ethical limits of the individual and gendered self, whilst affirming ‘the social’ as the primary means of ascribing meaning to everyday life, the exhibition will feature a newly commissioned sound installation drawn from the artist’s earlier work Aphorisms (1970-73) alongside the film of Ulay’s legendary work, There is a Criminal Touch to Art, a 30 hour live Action performed in Berlin in 1976 and his social experiment works in the 1990s. The exhibition will be accompanied by a public engagement programme working with local groups and emerging artists and writers and culminating in an International Symposium.
Curatorial cooperative Chapter Thirteen has received fundingto deliver Let’s Get Together and Call Ourselves an Institute, a research project and public platform that opens up, and addresses, wider questions about how to organise. The project will include; a number of talks, discussions, reading groups and screenings delivered by national and international curators, artists and organisations to explore development, institutional practice (in the arts and elsewhere), co-operativism and cultural policy.
Graphic Design Festival Scotland has received fundingto deliver Make a Statement (2 November-21 November),a series of free public workshops, discussions and guided exhibition tours taking place as part of GDFS' International Poster Competition at the Lighthouse, Glasgow.
Lybster-based North Lands Creative has received funding to provide Scottish and International Glass artists with access to affordable glass studio facilities enabling innovation and excellence in glass making for artists and communities of interest. The programme will include enhanced facilities, artist development and open access opportunities for the public to visit the studio.
The Crafts Council has received funding to enable one Scottish maker to attend A Future Made - the Miami Edit showcase. A Future Made is a partnership from the Crafts Council, The New Craftsmen and Ruthin Craft Centre and takes place during the Miami Art Week and Design Miami in December 2017. The showcase offers a Scottish based maker the opportunity to build an international profile, establish direct sales opportunities, develop online sales and secure future commissions. The maker is supported by a professional development programme consisting of mentoring, business development workshops and 1:1 support.
Edinburgh-based Floris Books has received funding to publish new works for children and young people (1-16yrs), through their Kelpies imprint including, including Wee Kelpies, Picture Kelpies, Traditional Scottish, Young Kelpies, Kelpies, KelpiesEdge and Kelpies World.
Funding to support Glasgow-based theatre producers Glas(s) Performance to publish A Beginners Guide to Devising Performance with Bloomsbury Publishing.
Iain Munro, Deputy CEO at Creative Scotland said:
“These projects cover a broad range of practice, engaging with diverse audiences and communities across Scotland. The funding will help nurture emerging talent, support established artists and provide more opportunities for people of all backgrounds to discover the transformative power of creativity.
“As we have stated previously, we are operating in the context of declining income from the National Lottery and we receive many more strong applications than we have the funds to support. Nevertheless, these latest awards do provide invaluable support to the successful applicants and we look forward to seeing their work develop as a result.”
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).
Read more about the Open Project Fund and all other Creative Scotland funding.
Please note the funding awards listed above 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.
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. For further information about Creative Scotland please visit www.creativescotland.com. Follow us @creativescots and www.facebook.com/CreativeScotland.
