Published: 20 Apr 2021
A message from Paul Burns, Head of Dance & Interim Deputy Director of Arts & Engagement:
"I was deeply saddened to hear of the death of Simon Fildes.
Simon was a well known figure in the dance community with an international reputation for his work as an artist, curator and producer. He was passionate about screendance as a form, constantly advocating for fellow artists, mentoring emerging makers and developing platforms to showcase this work in Scotland.
In recent years Simon had been supported by both Creative Scotland and Screen Scotland for projects that provided commissioning, screening and mentoring opportunities for other artists, providing a focus and visibility for the scene, notably the Screen.Dance festival. Most recently however he had been funded to develop a new piece of his own work, and had been working to assemble a team and begin detailed planning in the past months. The team remain committed to completing this work in tribute to Simon.
Simon was regularly in touch with the dance and screen teams here at Creative Scotland, keeping us in touch about his and other artists' work, and telling us about developments more generally in the screendance scene. His energy and passion for this form was infectious and we will miss him and those conversations. We are all thinking of his friends and family in this moment."
Watch 'In Conversation With Simon Fildes', filmed in October 2020.
