Published: 29 Mar 2018
£1,034,174 of Creative Scotland Open Project Funding has been awarded to 43 recipients, including individual artists, musicians, writers, theatre makers, festivals and organisations working across the arts, screen and creative industries. Over £950,000 of these awards has been awarded through National Lottery Funding.
A cross section of projects and individuals receiving funding February 2018 includes the following:
Among the multi-artform awards, Skye Events for All (SEALL) have received funding to support their 2018 touring programme.
Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival (7-27 May 2018), has received funding to deliver their annual arts festival, raising awareness and challenging mental health stigma. Taking place across Scotland the festival will celebrate the artistic achievements of people with experience of mental health issues, exploring the relationship between creativity and the mind, and promoting positive mental health and wellbeing.
Edinburgh-based Hidden Door Festival (25 May- 3 June 2018) and Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival (25 May- 3 June 2018) have received funding to support their 2018 programmes.
David Martin, Creative Director at Hidden Door Festival said: “We are proud to create a festival which celebrates the innovation and ambitious experimentation that is so strong in Scotland today. Our programme is filled with artists who dare to push the boundaries of their artforms, yet who are so young in their careers, and so open to responding to and using amazing, unusual spaces. Hidden Door brings a large, diverse cross section of the creative scene together, and it’s inspiring to see such a range of new talent in Scotland dedicated to creating a mesmerising and unforgettable experience for our audiences."
An Talla Solais have received funding towards Northbound - a collaboration between ceramic artists working in Scotland and Norway who will create and exhibit new work. The works will be exhibited at An Talla Solais, Ullapool; Inverness Museum, Inverness, art galleries in Caithness; Shetland Arts, Shetland; and in Bergen, Norway. Participating artists include BIOSENARIO Collective, Norway and Edinburgh; Rebecca Brown, Inverness; Jenny Mackenzie Ross, Caithness.
Isle of Bute-based The Mount Stuart Trust has received funding towards its 2018-19 artistic programme. The programme includes commissioning of work by three internationally significant contemporary artists; residencies; partnerships with established organisations; opportunities for early career artists and an embedded creative learning programme.
Curator Laura Leuzzi has received funding to co-curate with Iliyana Nedkova, the first solo exhibition and only UK showing of performative project Virtual Walls | Real Walls by the Dutch video art pioneer Madelon Hooykaas - showcasing her latest moving image works at Perth’s Threshold arts space. The project is an investigation into the cultural perceptions of walls as barriers and symbols of both confinement and unification.
On receiving funding the Mount Stuart Trust said: “Mount Stuart Trust’s Visual Arts Programme is grateful to be receiving support from Creative Scotland. We look forward to expanding our programme and working to deliver it over the next two years. The support will enable us to create bespoke opportunities for artists at various career stages and to deliver a range of educational and engagement activities with a wide appeal. We are excited to be bringing internationally renowned artists to Bute and will shortly announce our open call for emerging artists.”
Dingwall-based Sandstone Press have received funding to enable them to publish twenty-five new titles in 2018, including 10 fiction and 15 non-fiction titles, alongside professional development for members of the Sandstone Press.
Novelist Kate Tregaskis, writer Simon Wilson Hall and poet Jim Carruth have all received funding towards new works.
New writing publication Gutter Magazine has received funding to support its next four issues.
Glasgow International Jazz Festival have received funding towards the 6th Scottish Jazz Awards 2018 in association Hands Up for Trad, the awards showcase the quality and breadth of the current Scottish jazz scene.
Inclusive Ensemble Sonic Bothy have received funding to deliver New Directions Development Inclusivity- an advanced programme of high-quality music works for performance and recording with Sonic Bothy Ensemble, learning opportunities through learning space sessions and opportunities for participation through open sessions.
A trio of festivals have also received funding towards their 2018 programmes, Loch Shiel Spring Festival (19-22 April), Orkney Folk Festival (24-27 May) and Absolute Classics (3-12 August) in Dumfries and Galloway.
The 48 Hour Film Project, a public access short film challenge has received funding to support its 2018 edition. Taking place in May at the Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh and October at Glasgow Film Theatre, participants have 48 hours over a weekend to create a short film. The films are then judged by a panel of industry experts with winning filmmakers given the opportunity to attend Filmapalooza, the international 48 Hour Film conference and festival.
Independent Arts Projects have received funding to research, develop and tour Puffin -a new work for children aged 8+ that tells the story of growing up, friendship and dealing with change by Snap Elastic (Eszter Marsalkó, Alice Mary Cooperand Claire Willoughby). Puffin will tour small-scale venues, arts centres and libraries across Scotland in late autumn 2018.
Krazy Kat Theatre Company have received funding to stage a tour of Cinder-Ella, a 50-minute British Sign Language musical theatre performance to deaf and disabled community groups nationally throughout Scotland in June 2018.
Performance makers Vision Mechanics have received funding to convert part of their base The Big Shed, near Prestonpans, East Lothian into a rehearsal and occasional performance space for theatre, dance and aerial. The new facilities would be available for use by professional arts practitioners and also serve as a space for Vision Mechanics to develop projects involving local community members, both as participants and audience members, enabling the Big Shed to become an important creative hub and practical resource for the area.
Dance and production company Stammer Productions have received funding towards their 2018 programme including research, development and touring of new choreographic work and a public symposium event focusing on technology’s effect on interdisciplinary arts practice curated by Colette Sadler.
Choreographer Luke Pell and aerial and dance artist Freya Jeffs have both received funding towards artistic development opportunities.
Iain Munro, Deputy CEO at Creative Scotland said: “This round of Open Project Funding represents a fantastic range of creative practice in communities across Scotland, from The Mount Stuart Trust on the Isle of Bute, to the Loch Shiel in the Wester Highlands, Absolute Classics in Dumfries and Galloway and our support for emerging filmmakers through the 48 Hour Film Project.
“With support from The National Lottery, Open Project Funding enables artists to develop their creative practice and organisations to connect with communities, enriching Scotland’s reputation as a distinctive creative nation.
“While, as always, there are many more good applications than we have the funds to support, these latest awards do provide invaluable support to the successful applicants and demonstrates what is possible through Open Project Funding. 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).
Details of the Open Project Fund and all other Creative Scotland funding can be found on our website at https://www.creativescotland.com/funding/funding-programmes/open-project-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.
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.
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