Thirty-two young Scots have been awarded £5,550 to help pursue their creative ambitions through the Time to Shine Nurturing Talent Fund. 

The Nurturing Talent Fund is administered by young people for young people by the National Youth Arts Advisory Group for Scotland (NYAAG).  

As part of Year of Young People 2018, Creative Scotland and Young Scot have changed the criteria when applying for the Nurturing Talent - Time to Shine Fund to allow even more young people to apply for funding. 

Young people aged 11 to 25 can now apply, with groups and individuals able to apply for up to a maximum of £1000. The Time to Shine Fund will award funding to young people who show drive and enthusiasm in their chosen art form and who need funding to continue to develop their skills further. 

• Stanger Games are taking the popular table top game Dungeons & Dragons and adapting it to a film & stage show in Glasgow. The interactive show sees audience members share in the storytelling experience. 
• Adam Auchie will hold a concert called ‘Take the Stage’, in Aberdeen. All the performers will be young people under the age of 25. 
• Poppy Lironi will create a play in Glasgow about Marina Keegan, a prolific writer who died at the age of 22 in a car crash after graduating from Yale five days earlier. 
• Alex Porter-Smith from Edinburgh will produce a short film called Farmland which explores the family relationships following a death, and highlights inequalities between men and women in an interesting and comedic way. 
• Jemma Tweedie (LILURA) will use funding to produce an EP showcasing electronic 'witch pop'. Jemma, from Moray, will look to encourage other aspiring pop writers and performers from small towns, especially in rural areas, where gigs and contacts aren't as accessible. 
• Connor McMahon will produce a short sci-fi film, in Glasgow, dealing with the themes of grief and growing up, and how acceptance of your past can help you deal with the future. 
• Maddie Lennon has been awarded funding to produce a short exhibition/installation in Inverness exploring young people's experience of documenting their own lives. The exhibition will feature photography, poetry, and sketchbooks to be presented as one collective archival work. 
• Callum Ross, from Glasgow will use Nurturing Talent funding to support the creation of three films to help with the promotion of his music.  

Colin Bradie, TTS Programme Manager at Creative Scotland: “We’re very pleased to see the Nurturing Talent Fund continue to help develop and support young people’s creative ambition. This is the first round since the funding criteria was aligned with Year of Young People, and it’s fantastic to see more and more diverse and talented young artists supported through the fund. We are delighted to continue working in partnership with Young Scot to make this possible through Time to Shine, Scotland’s National Youth Arts Strategy.” 

Louise Macdonald, Chief Executive of Young Scot, said: “Scotland is a country full of talented and inspiring young people. It’s important that we continue to nurture and support them through the Nurturing Talent Fund so that they can continue to create and inspire people across Scotland and beyond.” 

The next round of funding from the Nurturing Talent Fund has a deadline of 27^th July 2018 - to apply, young people should visit young.scot/nurturingtalent.