Published: 14 Sep 2018
A wide range of arts, sports and community projects across Scotland are today celebrating a National Lottery cash boost of £637,778.
The funding to 94 groups comes from National Lottery Awards for All Scotland – a quick and simple way to access small National Lottery grants of between £500 and £10,000.
With an award of £6,000 the Wayfarer Trust presents the Caithness Film School - a week of filmmaking activity for local young people aged 12-18 years. Workshops and creative exercises cover every part of the filmmaking process, from writing, directing and acting to shooting, sound recording and editing.
Toby Watts, Producer and Director at Far North Film who are delivering the Film School, said: "We've got a chance to bring a unique opportunity for any young people in the far north that are beginning to think about film and media as a passion they want to develop.
"We applied for funding so that we could keep the cost as low as possible for the participants. Last year we offered several bursary places and so we realise that it is essential to be able to offer this in a way that everyone can have equal opportunity."
In Edinburgh, Sikh Sanjog will use their £10,000 award to run a specialised mental health and wellbeing programme for women from the BME community.
Trishna Singh, Founder, Sikh Sanjog, said, “We are absolutely delighted to receive this funding from the National Lottery and will put it to very good use. This will fulfil a key component of our work in response to an ongoing and growing need amongst people we work with who are looking for support for mental health problems either for themselves or within their family unit.
“Working in partnership with the Mental Health Foundation we will put together and deliver a programme for the people we work with, aiming to contact them at an early stage to provide them with help when they need it the most.”
An award of £6,295 to Thurso Youth Club means that they can keep their 50 year old club open for another year and expand the range of activities they offer to local young people.
Andy Hourston, Centre Co-ordinator, Thurso Youth Club, said, “Thurso is the most northerly town on the Scottish mainland and young people in this area are reliant on local facilities for the majority of their recreational activities. I would like to thank National Lottery Awards for All Scotland for their valued support which will help to ensure that youth work provision in this area will be in a much stronger position at the end of this Year of Young People than it was at the start.”
An award of £1,000 will help Dunbar Sewing Club continue to make and donate specially made quilts to sick, terminally ill and traumatised children who live in the area.
Beth Nelson, Chairperson, Dunbar Sewing Group, said, “At the moment we have to rely on the generosity of our volunteers to provide fabrics which can be very costly as the pure cotton fabric can be very expensive. Now that we have the money we can build up our stock of fabrics again and get sewing.”
A National Lottery Awards for All spokesperson said: “This is National Lottery money making a real impact in communities across Scotland. The 94 groups receiving funding today showcases the range of projects that can be funded through this programme and the difference that the smallest amounts of money can make.”
Graham Reid, Equalities & Diversity Officer at Creative Scotland, said “National Lottery Awards For All Scotland allows our funding support to reach out across Scotland – from remote and rural locations, to the communities within our cities. Among the exciting projects we are supporting this month is The Wayfarer Trust’s ‘Caithness Film School’, which will bring 20 young people together, developing their artistic and personal skills and nurturing creativity.”
National Lottery Awards for All Scotland is now more straightforward to apply to and faster to get funding from. Applications are received on a rolling basis and can be received at any time. To find out what National Lottery Awards for All Scotland could do for your community visit our website www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/awardsforallscotland or phone 0300 123 7110.
Creative projects supported in this round include:
National Lottery Awards for All Scotland is a joint awards programme from the Big Lottery Fund, Creative Scotland and sportscotland. It makes grants to help people take part in arts, sport, social, environmental, health related, educational and other community activities.
National Lottery Awards for All Scotland welcomes applications and focuses on funding smaller organisations with an annual turnover of less than £250k (except for schools).
Big Lottery Fund Media Team: Lorna McNiven 0141 242 1451