Published: 31 Jul 2018
42 Open Project Funding awards of between £1,000 and £140,000 made in June 2018
£903,556 of National Lottery Funding has been awarded through Creative Scotland Open Project Funding to 42 recipients, including individual artists, musicians, writers, theatre makers, festivals and organisations working across the arts, screen and creative industries.
Tackling important topics such as LGBT history, gender, feminism, loneliness, mental health, migration and national identity, these projects will have a major impact on people’s lives in many different ways.- Iain Munro, Acting Chief Executive
A cross section of projects and individuals receiving funding in June 2018 includes:
Visual artists Karen Cunningham and Silas T Parry receive funding towards the research, development and production of new work, while sculptor George Ridgway receives support to attend the Lumsden Residency Programme at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop.
Dundee-based Generator Projects receive funding towards their 2018-19 programme assisting early career artists and giving them a platform for networking and opportunities.
Artlink Edinburgh & Lothians receive funding to extend The Ripple Effect, a ground-breaking programme that works with people with complex disabilities. The programme imaginatively responds to the real and complex issues faced by some of the most marginalised people in our communities.
Jan-Bert van den Berg, Director, Artlink Edinburgh & Lothians, commented: “We are delighted with the continued support of Creative Scotland. The Ripple Effect supports individuals who are profoundly marginalised as a result of their complex needs, to work together with artists in an in-depth exploration of arts practice - combining very different perspectives to encourage radical change in the way that we relate to care and caring communities.”
Musicians Rachel Newton, Matthew Whiteside, Dallahan and Haftor Medboe receive funding toward the development and production of new work.
Olive Grove Records receive funding towards a series of releases from new, up and coming Scottish based artists at the very early stages of their careers. The project will offer new artists the opportunity to have their first studio experience and produce an EP of their music, which will be released by Olive Grove Records.
Speaking about The Archipelago EPs, Lloyd Meredith, Olive Grove Records, said: "This support has enabled us to undertake an exciting opportunity to work with an array of up and coming artists, for many of them this will be their first experience of recording in a studio environment. We have looked to partner with studios such as The Green Door Studio and Glassworks Studio Recording in Glasgow, due to their receptiveness of working with artists who are in the very early stages of their music career. We are indebted to Carla J. Easton who will act as a mentor to support the artists. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Creative Scotland for their support with what is the label’s biggest project to date."
AC Projects receive funding towards their 2018-19 programme which includes Counterflows Festival, Tectonics Festival, AC Projects Residency series, new works and commissions, international development projects and organisational development.
Knockengorroch Community Interest Company receive funding towards a multi-lingual folk and digital music residency at Barscobe House in Galloway. Vocalists and musicians will be tasked with producing an original piece of the poem ‘Oran Bagraidh’, written in the extinct dialect of Galloway Gaelic.
Knockengorroch producer Katch Holmes commented: “Gaelic was spoken across Galloway from as far back as the 5th century or before, right up until the 17th or 18th centuries, often simultaneously with other languages in the region. Negotiating their way around and within their respective languages and traditions the artists will produce not only an original piece of the Oran Bagraidh poem, but further work based on the theme of multiple identities and diversity. In these current times this project has never been more relevant to us all - across the British Isles, Ireland and beyond.”
The Saltire Society receive funding towards the 2018 Saltire Literary Awards. This year sees the 30th anniversary of the Scottish First Book of the Year. The Award has seen winners such as Ali Smith, AL Kennedy, Michel Faber and Louise Welsh going on to be central players in the Scottish international literary landscape.
Award-winning poet/performer Jenny Lindsay of Flint & Pitch receives funding towards This Script - a new stage show, poetry collection and spoken word project. This Script tackles sex, gender, feminism and the online culture wars with Lindsay’s trademark humour, openness and lyrical dexterity.
On receiving funding Jenny Lindsay commented: "I am thrilled to have received the necessary funds for the This Script project, which is designed to simultaneously support the creation of new work in both print, on screen and on stage; dedicated time and space to create this with excellent artistic collaborators, and also includes the crucial support needed to take Flint & Pitch Productions to the next stage, in a way that I hope will have wider benefits long-term for spoken word in Scotland. Overall, this award will enable me to dedicate myself to my own practice in a way that would simply not have been possible otherwise, as well as sustaining the work of Flint & Pitch as a spoken word producer."
Annual crime writing festival Bute Noir in Rothesay receives funding toward their 2018 programme. This year's programme includes acclaimed authors Chris Brookmyre, Helen FitzGerald and Graeme Macrae Burnet.
Portobello Book Festival receive funding towards Postcards from Portobello - a publication marking their 10th anniversary. The collection contains original writing from approximately 25 authors with a strong connection to Portobello.
Louise Kelly, Portobello Book Festival, commented: “The Portobello Book Festival is thrilled to have received such an enthusiastic response to invitations to contribute to our publication to celebrate the Festival's 10th anniversary: Postcards from Portobello. Most of the writers have a strong association with the Festival - including James Robertson who contributes the Foreword. The content reflects a diverse and imaginative range of views about life (real or dreamt up) in the community of Portobello where the Book Festival has been warmly supported in its first decade. The book will be launched at the opening night of the Festival in October 2018.”
Glass artist and designer Siobhan Healy receives funding towards the research, development and production of new work, ceramicist Susan O'Byrne receives funding to undertake a summer residency, while jewellery designer Eileen Gatt receives funding to convert a former post-office building in Munlochy on the Black Isle into an innovative jewellery and silversmithing workshop and exhibition space.
On being awarded funding Jewellery designer, Eileen Gatt, commented: “I am so excited to be given the opportunity to create a new Jewellery studio on the Black Isle, centred around ethical making practices. This has been made possible with the help from Creative Scotland, The Scottish Goldsmiths Trust and Highlands and Islands Enterprise”
Janis Claxton Dance receives funding to further develop POP-UP Duets (fragments of love), a series of 5-minute, contemporary dance duets designed for a wide range of public spaces such as museums, galleries, parks etc. Dancer Paul Michael Henry receives funding to present work in Japan and France as part of Hijikata Tatsumi Archive (Keio University, Tokyo), Dance Medium Ensemble (Tokyo) and En Chair Et En Son (Paris).
Artist and singer Sion Parkinson and field recordist and composer Andy Truscott receive funding towards the creation of Song.Work – an open access database of high-quality field recordings of music captured amidst the drones and tones of 21st century working environments of factories, workshops and warehouses across Dundee, Fife and Angus. The project will be delivered in partnership with the School of Scottish Studies Sound Archive and Make Works.
Artist Beverley Hood receives funding towards the creation of We Began as Part of The Body - a virtual reality (VR) artwork, that uses immersive storytelling to interrogate the impact of technology and science on the body and human experience.
Theatre-makers Sarah Rose Graber and Morna Young receive funding towards the research and development of MEmorial - an immersive theatrical and virtual reality (VR) experience exploring the future of online memorialisation.
Scotland Loves Anime receives funding towards their 2018 programme in Glasgow (12-14 October) and Edinburgh (15-21 October). Entering its ninth year, the festival celebrates Japanese animated cinema with special guest talks and numerous world, European and UK premieres.
Physical theatre performance troupe Oceanallover, in association with Feral Arts, received funding towards a new outdoor performance entitled Orographic. The work fuses choreography, live music and sculptural costume design inspired by Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s landscape paintings.
Tortoise in a Nutshell receive funding towards Ragnarök – a bold, haunting and multisensory theatrical piece, driven by a live scored immersive soundtrack. The work is a co-production with Nordlands Visual Theatre (Figurteatret I Nordland, Norway) in association with MacRobert Arts Centre.
Playwright James Ley receives funding toward the development of I AM A TELEPHONE exploring 20th century LGBT history to create a stage play incorporating elements of documentary, verbatim theatre and gonzo journalism. Theatre works exploring the subjects of isolation, societal loneliness and mental health (A Mark Murphy Project) and migration and national identity (Two Destination Language) also receive funding.
Aerial Edge Artists receive funding to stage Between the Lines, a Scotland-Brazil contemporary circus collaboration, providing essential opportunities to Scottish based artists to create new work and learn new skills together with international artists. Between the Lines will be presented at Merchant City Festival Glasgow and Braw Circus Festival.
Strachur & District Youth and Drama Club receive funding towards the creation of a community theatrical staging of Peter Pan's Marvellous Adventures. The performers and crew will range in age from to 76 years and with people of all abilities.
Sheena Dowse of Strachur & District Youth and Drama Club, commented: “Strachur & District Youth & Drama Club are delighted to be receiving this funding award from Creative Scotland towards our up-coming production ‘Peter Pan’s Marvellous Adventures’. This support will mean so much to our group and whole community. We have dreamt of creating a production that is bigger and better than we have ever done, one in which everyone in our whole community could be involved. Thanks to Creative Scotland, we are now able to offer that opportunity to our community and produce a show we can all be proud of.”
Citizen Curator receive funding towards Making Places - The People’s Place Plan - an innovative creative place-making programme from Leith Creative. Building on the pioneering 2017 People and Places: Make Leith Better programme, the project will bring together a coalition of visual artists, designers, architects and residents - as well as local and national stakeholders - to put creative thinking and citizen engagement at the heart of a community-wide joint manifesto for Leith, Edinburgh.
The Pier Arts Centre in Orkney receive funding towards The Linkshouse Residency Centre, a new permanent facility for artistic and creative residencies. Linkshouse Residency Centre will provide an inspirational base for artists, groups of students and visitors to work collectively or individually within Orkney’s unique natural and historic environment.
Pier Arts Centre Director Neil Firth commented: “We are delighted to have received this support to help advance an exciting project. The building was previously the Orkney Field and Arts Centre and more recently operated as the home of the Erlend Williamson Art Fellowship. Our plans build on that legacy. We have further work to do to bring the project to life, but we look forward to being able to broaden local creative networks and to welcome a wider range of artists to our shores.”
Iain Munro, Acting Chief Executive at Creative Scotland said: “Open Project Funding supports individual artists and organisations to explore, realise and develop their creative potential and widen access to their work through the research, development, production and presentation of work across all art forms.
“I am particularly pleased to see such a high number of emerging and established individual artists and creative practitioners being supported, through these National Lottery awards, to develop their practice.
“Tackling important topics such as LGBT history, gender, feminism, loneliness, mental health, migration and national identity these projects will have a major impact on people’s lives in many different ways, stimulating imagination and confidence through coming together to enjoy artistic and creative experiences.”
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.
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.
The arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland deliver real benefits and make a real difference to all our lives regardless of who we are or where we live. Film, theatre, literature, dance, music, visual art, video games, craft, and the commercial creative industries all contribute to a flourishing society, to our education and learning and to our skills, jobs and economy.
Public funding for the arts, screen and creative industries, through both the Scottish Government and through the National Lottery, helps make life better in Scotland - better for us all as individuals, as communities and as a nation.
As we say in our 10-year plan Unlocking Potential, Embracing Ambition we want Scotland to be a place where the arts, screen and creative industries are valued and recognised, where artists and creative people can flourish and thrive, and where everyone, everywhere, is interested and curious about creativity.
Find out more about why we think Creativity Matters.
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.
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Sophie Bambrough, Media Relations & PR Officer Creative Scotland
Email: sophie.bambrough@creativescotland.com
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