This summer we've teamed up with Crowdfunder to launch a crowdfunding initiative to support creative projects across Scotland.
Creative individuals, groups and collaborations were given the chance submit their project to be in with a chance of receiving up to £5,000 in match funding towards their crowdfunding campaign.
After a fantastic response with 60 entries and numerous brilliant ideas, we took the decision to take 19 projects forward to the next phase, where they have all been receiving tailored coaching support to set up their crowdfunding campaigns.
To ensure everyone has a fair chance of receiving some match-funding we have increased the money available from £20,000 to £40,000. The new £20,000 will be ring-fenced, so that each project that meets the first milestone of £1,000 is guaranteed to receive £1,000 match funding.
The original £20,000 will still be available on a first come first served basis, up to a maximum of £5,000 per project.
Find out about all about projects below, and how you can support them in their Crowdfunding campaign.
How many Scottish Suffragettes can you name? How many radical women activists? Did you know that people across Scotland – especially young people – don’t know these histories?
Created by an artist-led, voluntary team (2013-present) of creative activists and local historians based in Glasgow and Dumfries. The ‘Protests and Suffragettes’ project is led by socially-engaged artist t s Beall – who has been working to highlight these histories in Govan and Glasgow for over a decade.
"Help us celebrate the gallus women behind Scotland's radical past as we create engaging resources for young people from the Highlands to the Borders. We want to highlight Scotland’s radical history and the women who led important protests like Mary Barbour (1915 Rent Strikes), Helen Crawfurd (Suffragette), and Agnes Dollan (Women’s Peace Crusade). We’ll work with 50 schools and youth groups across Scotland to distribute a bespoke ‘Scottish Suffragettes’ card game, a zine on women activists, and educational activity packs – for free!"
Go to the Crowdfunder page
Help the Central Scotland School of Jewellery to transform their school as they work to inspire, educate, and support the local community. Catering to everyone from the complete beginner to the established maker, they want to broaden the range of classes they offer, upgrade processes, and transform the School into a hub for environmental and ethical making.
Research has already proven that participating in craft activities can boost mental and emotional wellbeing. Supporting the Central Scotland School of Jewellery will allow even more people to grow their creative skills in a welcoming and supportive space. Leading by example, they will educate future makers by highlighting environmental best practice, material innovation, and low-impact alternatives. Although jewellery & metalsmithing is steeped in tradition, their aim is to be a transformative force - training designers of the future to make a positive difference to the environmental impact of the sector.
Go to the Crowfunding page
Cinetopia in collaboration with Double Take Projections are producing CINESCAPES, a series of hyperlocal film events across Scotland. The landscape of cinema has changed, but the urge to come together as a community and enjoy cinema remains integral to our collective connection.
This project will celebrate films inspired by various locations across the country while shining the spotlight on much-loved local establishments. In a hybrid festival format, Cinetopia are making the project as accessible as possible, sharing the films both online and in various locations outdoors, allowing people to watch films in various ways simultaneously, from your home entertainment system to balconies, courtyards, and socially distanced plots of grass nearby. While many of our beloved arts venues continue to remain closed, Cinetopia are taking the movies to a wall near you.
Go to the Crowdfunding page
Almaborealis transforms kidswear, stitch by stitch. They invite a child to participate in the making of their own clothing. The Convertibles kit is made of beautifully crafted knitted garment panels, tactile tool kit and a manual to guide you along, whilst practicing life long skills;hand-eye cordination, creative thinking and problem solving.
Empowering confident creators of the future, to explore, express and grow, through clothing.
Go to the Crowdfunder page
The Barn, in Aberdeenshire, is Crowdfunding to create a new and exciting platform for Scottish designer-makers to showcase and sell their work by taking their popular contemporary craft and design fair - flock - ONLINE in 2020.
With large-capacity events facing Covid-19 restrictions for the remainder of 2020, Scottish designer-makers face missing out on crucial income generating craft and design fairs to showcase and sell their work. flock, the Barn’s annual flagship craft and design fair is a key date in the calendar for Scotland’s designer-makers and is a highly regarded stage for Scottish craft and design makers to showcase their stunning creative products.
To take flock ONLINE, the Barn aim to raise £2,500, to provide a stable and capable online platform on which to host flock ONLINE 2020 and make it into a memorable and successful event for all.
Go to the Crowdfunding page
For the Love of Yarn is an award winning independent yarn brand based in the heart of Glasgow - a family run business working from their studio space to create luxury hand dyed yarns, handmade crochet hooks, notions and more.
"Our project is simple, we want to build a creative hub for people to access to spread the love of all things craft. We know only too well the benefits that knitting, crochet and crafting can have on peoples mental health and we want to help where we can. Learning a new craft can be extremely rewarding and we want to spread our knowledge by creating workshops and online courses with all the tools you need to set you on the right path. We aim to create a community focused on tackling mental health in a positive and creative way, bringing people together."
Go to the Crowdfunding page
The Young Producers' Programme is a brand new initiative from Glasgow Zine Library that seeks to provide new skills and experiences for young members of the community. If funded, 12 young people from the local area (Glasgow's southside) will be given the opportunity to create and run public events to be delivered at the 8th Annual Glasgow Zine Fest (due to be held Spring 2021).
With the help of GZL, established artists and community leaders, the team will be taught how to run an event, from conceiving an idea, to developing it, to marketing and delivering it. Zine Fest welcomes over 2000 visitors per year from all over the country, making this the perfect opportunity for young people looking to gain valuable skills and experience to create events that represent their interests, talents, and knowledge to a wider audience.
Go to the Crowdfunding page
Photo by Matthew Arthur Williams
Iseabal Hendry will launch her first collection of hand-woven leather bags and accessories later this month while making the case for sustainability and the value of real craftsmanship. It takes around 15 hours to craft each of her bags, which are made from organically tanned leather. Using materials sourced entirely within Europe, Iseabal hopes to raise the funds to produce her collection from start to finish in the UK, leaving the lowest carbon footprint she can.
Go to the Crowdfunder page
Hegri Handmade is a one-woman business. Kelly Espindola handcrafts all leather accessories from her quaint Irvine harbour, Ayrshire studio. Pledge to help her small business grow in exchange for a selection of quality handmade leather items for you to choose from.
"Not only are you getting a beautiful handcrafted leather item that will last for years, you get to be a contributor to the realisation of someone's dreams! Why buy from the big brands when handmade has soul!"
Go to the Crowfunder page
HOMESPUN is a collaborative project aiming to produce an audiovisual EP, combining striking new animations by Maree Hughes’ with captivating music from Davy Hughes. Maree is an award winning artist specialising in drawing, painting & printmaking. Davy is a musician and songwriter with Trashcan Sinatras.
To help them achieve this aim they are looking to raise £1000 to buy the equipment and software necessary to enable the production of a high quality audiovisual delight.
Go to the Crowfunder page
In Her Corner is a short film adaptation of the Edinburgh Fringe play by Mikey Burnett. They will be engaging with the boxing community to create a short film which will encourage young people to take that first step through the door of their local boxing gym.
The film follows Claire, a teenage girl from Pilton who is desperate to escape her destitute life living with her sister who is involved with a drug gang. She is given an out by coach Billy at the gym, but after she gets into a street-fight with local hard-woman Ketch, she must decide where her loyalties truly lie.
Written by Mikey Burnett, Directed by Emma Ramsay and Produced by Reece Cargan of Bombito Productions and Laura McBride of Lothian Films.
Go to the Crowdfunding page
Torus is a collection of new music that follows on from bass player and composer James Lindsay's 2017 album Strand. The compositions have their roots in the Scottish folk tradition but are presented on an unconventional canvas, merging contemporary jazz harmony with experimental rock and ambient textures. He's brought together some of his favourite cross-genre musicians to create a work that thematically contrasts the urban and the wild, technology and environment and our connectedness and disconnect with the natural world.
The project is being engineered by acclaimed producer Euan Burton, recording in studio (where regulations allow) and remotely in Glasgow and the surrounding area with a view to a late 2020 release.
Go to the Crowfunder page
Let’s make Travelling Gallery greener! The Travelling Gallery aim to buy a new fuel efficient generator so we can reopen Travelling Gallery, post Covid-19, as a greener more sustainable organisation.
Go to the Crowdfunding page
The Touring Network needs your help to Keep Rural Arts Live here in the Highlands & Islands. They're asking their loyal audiences to donate the price of an interval drink or a Friday night gig ticket to our new campaign. The money raised for Keep Rural Arts Live will ensure that our diverse Membership of promoters and performers can bring dynamic and unforgettable live events back to rural Scotland when it's safe to do so.
Your donations will directly support top musicians, theatre companies and artists to continue to perform right on your doorstep in a way that's socially distanced and sustainable. It will keep ticket prices affordable for the whole community, offer local upcoming artists unique opportunities to showcase their talent and keep a vital part of your neighbourhood economy thriving. The Touring Network Members are committed to live arts returning to the Highlands & Islands bolder and stronger than ever post-Covid.
Go to the Crowdfunding page
Photo by Oceanallover
As the follow up to their Album Of The Year nominated record, 'Drawn From Deep Water', Gnoss are raising funds to record a new album of original, forward-thinking folk music.
The boys are working with a team of top, home-grown creatives to bring their new record to life, including; Scott Wood (Skerryvore) as studio engineer and producer, James Lindsay (Breabach) on double bass, and Elly Lucas as visual artist and photographer, with Jane Brace in charge of PR. After a year of cancelled shows, the boys couldn't be more determined to return to the studio and create music together again.
Go to the Crowdfunding page
George Wyllie (31 December 1921 – 15 May 2012) is one of Scotland’s most popular and important artists. His work is found across the UK as public sculptures and in collections. He worked in communities creating temporary place-specific artworks. His most famous works include the installations The Paper Boat, The Straw Locomotive and the award winning play and exhibition A Day Down a Goldmine.
In 2012 George Wyllie’s family created a ‘wish list’ of things they could do to secure the artist’s legacy and ensure his work is available to future generations, included in this list is a map of the artist's works.
This project invites the public to share their experience of George’s work and, along with material from the artist's own archive, a freely accessible online map to be published for centenary of Wyllie’s birth in 2021.
Go to the Crowdfunding page
"Scottish hip-hop is, for some, a contradiction in terms, an oxymoron (with emphasis on the ‘moron’), a laughing stock, an impossibility, at best a novelty." Dr. Dave Hook
Dave Hook, A.K.A Solareye, rapper, poet, song-writer and music producer along with Edinburgh based filmmakers, Neon8, are teaming up to create a series of documentaries presented by Dave and alter ego Solareye, challenging assumptions around Scottish hip-hop, exploring its unique cultural nuances, origins & rhyme evolution. And all within a unique virtual reality experience.
Go to the Crowdfunder page
Leith based studio Out of the Blueprint are raising funds to print and publish a unique riso publication, featuring twenty of Scotland's finest young comic makers. The publication will accompany and extend the reach of the studio's exhibition 'Don't Walk, Walk', which will be unveiled in The Drill Hall in Leith this autumn.
With over 50% of the proceeds going direct to the young artists, your support will help bring a new generation of Scotland artists to an international audience, securing time, space and resources they need to continue creating great new work.
Go to the Crowdfunder page
When the world seems so close together, it could not be so far apart. Beneath the surface, lies the cracks, and in the cracks, lies the divide. Worlds Apart. This is the story of Danny, with no money left for a train, Danny has to walk from Glasgow's West End to the East End. An urban styled short that exposes all of our insecurities.
Go to the Crowdfunding page
Full terms and conditions for the competition can be found on the Crowdfunder website.
