Published: 21 Dec 2016
37 Open Project Funding awards of between
£1,300 and £112,500 made in November 2016
Creative Scotland has awarded over £900,000 National Lottery Funding through the Open Project Fund in November 2016 to 37 recipients, including individual artists and organisations working across the arts, screen and creative industries.
Awards of between £1,300 and £112,500 have been made to festivals, musicians, visual artists, dancers, writers, community arts hubs and a mobile cinema.
Among the awards, theatre director Caitlin Skinner and performer Melanie Jordan have received funding towards a new piece of performance theatre for young people entitled, At a Stretch. Ellie Dubois has received funding towards her new work, No Show which explores ideas of expectation, striving for perfection and value; and Playwrights, Sara Shaarawi and Henry Bell have received funding to create Haneen, a new English/Arabic adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s 1982, Janine, which will be set in post-revolutionary Cairo.
Laura Mackenzie Stuart, Head of Theatre at Creative Scotland said: “The breadth of work supported through this month’s Open Project Fund clearly indicates the range in scale and scope of projects currently on offer by theatre artists based in Scotland. There is a strong focus on touring ensuring that high quality work is enjoyed by audiences across Scotland.
“Building on a growing appetite for physical performance At a Stretch by Caitlin Skinner & Melanie Jordan and No Show by Ellie Dubois will appeal to families of all ages. This month also sees support for the development of a dual language play Haneen by Sara Shaarawi and Henry Bell set in post-revolutionary Egypt which will give theatre makers an opportunity to broaden their experience by working with counterparts in Cairo, ultimately presenting the work in both countries.
“Each year Scotland’s festivals welcome some of the world’s finest artists and performers; this support from the Open Project Fund will contribute to raising the profile of our own theatre makers in Scotland and internationally.”
In visual arts, Edinburgh-based Talbot Rice Gallery has received fundingto create a year-long programme of visual art exhibitions, residency opportunities and public events relating to artists moving image. Visual artist Carla Scott Fullerton has received an award to support the development of her creative practice. Funding for North Edinburgh Arts’ Arcadeum will lead to a 14-month programme of participatory artist residencies and commissions engaging creatively with the local community, patients and staff in and around the new build Integrated Health & Social Care Partnership Centre in Muirhouse.
Susan Grant, Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation Arts Manager said: “We are delighted that Creative Scotland has joined North Edinburgh Arts, NHS Lothian, Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation and City of Edinburgh Council in supporting this project, engaging North West Edinburgh communities and NHS staff in great community projects and beautiful collaborative artworks for the new centre."
Shetland Folk Festival, 27-30 April and East Neuk Festival, 28 June-2 July have both received awards for the development of their 2017 festival programmes. Independent Venue Week, 23-29 January 2017 has received funding to support the celebration of independent music venues around the UK. Designed to support, develop and highlight the importance of live music venues around the country, participants will include venues, audiences and artists/bands. Scottish venues include The Mash House, The Glad Cafe, Buskers in Dundee, Krakatoa in Aberdeen and The Bungalow in Paisley.
East Neuk Festival, Artistic Director, Svend McEwan-Brown said: "Regional festivals are vital to the arts - and the arts economy - in Scotland, presenting wonderful events often in parts of the country that have less year-round provision, as well as creating opportunities for artists from home and abroad to share their work with enthusiastic sizeable audiences. In 2017 East Neuk Festival becomes a teenager and, for its 13th festival, continues to show the best of international and Scottish arts in its uniquely curated programme - while promising also to misbehave a little."
Multi-platform musical venture, The Big Music Society is among those who have received funding awards for music. Their project, Tryst will see the creation of new performance contexts for Ceòl Mòr/Big Music, Scotland's oldest surviving music for the highland bagpipes. The project will involve musicians and composers: Finlay Macdonald, Rory Campbell, Ross Ainslie, Ali Hutton, Calum MacCrimmon, Steven Blake, John Mulhearn, Lorne Macdougall, James Duncan Mackenzie and Mairearad Green.
New Opera in Scotland Events (NOISE) have received funding to research and develop a new opera project with Scottish band Admiral Fallow and classical composer Gareth Williams. Glasgow School of Art Choir’s funding award has been made towards the Choir’s Fifth Anniversary Gala Concert, to be held in Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum on 27 May 2017. The concert will contain music by Sir James MacMillan, CBE; the World Premiere of Light Through Tall Windows, which was composed for the ensemble following the Mackintosh Building fire in 2014; and the World Premiere of a new commission by Scottish composer, Shona Mackay.
James Robert Carson, Artistic Director, NOISE said: "This is a wonderful opportunity for the company to harness the talents of the remarkable indie band Admiral Fallow with those of Gareth Williams and Sian Evans. The company is delighted to be expanding our repertoire of new Scottish operas."
Among awards to screen, Regional Screen Scotland has received funding to carry out a full mechanical and decorative refurbishment of the Screen Machine mobile cinema, including the purchase and installation of a new, replacement digital projector. Digital Desperados have received funding towards GLITCH Film Festival (24 March- 1 April 2017), an international platform for high quality film and artists moving image made by, or about, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer, Asexual (LGBTIQA+) and people of colour at the CCA in Glasgow.
Robert Livingston, Director at Regional Screen Scotland said:“The aim is to carry out the refit at Toutenkamion’s French workshop in April/May 2017, and relaunch the fully renewed Screen Machine in June. It will then resume its normal touring circuit and audiences will be able to enjoy the customary wide choice of new films, as well as extras such as photography exhibitions and archive screenings, knowing that the Screen Machine will be fit to continue full operation well into the next decade.”
In literature, poet Gordon Meade has received funding to research, develop, and write a second series of poems about cancer, whilst funding to Lucy Ribchester will enable her to complete her latest novel, set in 1770s Europe. The Scottish Universities’ International Summer School has received funding to offer Edwin Morgan Translation Fellowships to two internationally-published translators interested in translating Scottish Literature in their country.
Hannah Tweed, Director, Scottish Universities' International Summer School said: "The Scottish Universities International Summer School (SUISS) has benefited from Creative Scotland support over the past several years. Their generous sponsorship has enabled internationally-established translators from a diverse range of countries to study modern and contemporary Scottish literature in Edinburgh, and to translate classic Scottish texts into a wide selection of languages. The SUISS team, and our students, are excited by the ongoing relationships and creative outputs made possible by Creative Scotland's support."
In a multi-artform award, Stornoway-based An Lanntair has received funding to enable the arts venue to undertake essential capital improvements.
Among the dance awards Edinburgh-based dance company, Room 2 Manoeuvre (R2M) has received an award to create and tour a full-length hip hop theatre performance, Without a Hitch. Choreographer Louise Ahl has received an award to develop live performance YAYAYA AYAYAY (Yaya), a cross-disciplinary collaboration with Ultimate Dancer and audio-visual artist, Robbie Thomson. Yaya will be a choreographic and multi-sensory journey into the nature of both emotional and physical darkness.
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).
Details of the Open Project Fund and all other Creative Scotland funding can be found on the funding section of our website.
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.
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
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