CREATIVE PLACE AWARDS 2015
Nine Scottish Communities Shortlisted Across Three Categories
FORRES shortlist for £100,000 Award
FORT WILLIAM and STORNOWAY shortlisted for £125,000 Award
Winners to be announced at awards ceremony:
Wednesday 10 June, 2015
Falkirk Town Hall, Falkirk
CREATIVE Scotland is pleased to announce today, Thursday 19 March, 2015 that FORRES, FORT WILLIAM and STORNOWAY are three of nine Scottish communities shortlisted for a 2015 Creative Place Award.
The application submitted on behalf of Forres states that the community would like to use the award to support and promote ‘Culture Day’ 2015 and 2016; Project Arts; and Culture Café networking events. Culture Day has previously showcased over 100 organisations with events taking place in town centres and local community hubs.
This project would build on previous work, offering an enhanced programme and providing a small funding pot to assist artists to take part in the events. Project ARTS would aim to support the creation of a wide range of public art and creative work which connects with local businesses or community organisations or connects with Forres while engaging new audiences.
Culture Café would be a regular networking event held at different locations across Moray, focussing on network and development functions in Forres.
Kresanna Aigner, director of Findhorn Bay Arts, said: “We are thrilled to have been successful in our stage one application. A Creative Place award would allow us not only to celebrate the creative energy and assets we have in Forres, but also allows us to reach out to a wider audience and work with a greater range of local artists and community groups.
“We are passionate about the arts and the positive effect cultural activity has economically and socially on our rural town.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to try and maximise on this to the benefit of all.”
The application submitted on behalf of Fort William states community would use the award to create a series of interwoven art and arboreal projects, at the heart of which is The Liberty Grove / Doire na Saorsa, a planting of 1,000 native trees throughout the region.
New mountain-themed sculptures, signposts, and benches engraved with poems, will be set amongst a backdrop of young native trees and orchards, and artworks based on traditional shelters, creating an inspiring outdoor venue for cultural activities, events, and environmental education.
Working with different art forms, from sculpture and poetry to film, we will explore and interpret the ecology and heritage of the world-renowned landscape of Lochaber in new and innovative ways.
Richard Bracken of Room 13 International, said: “The Creative Places award will be a wonderful opportunity for communities in Fort William and the surrounding area to celebrate our environment, mountain culture and native woodland through the planting of trees and the installation of innovative sculptures.”
The application submitted on behalf of Stornoway and the surrounding villages states they would use the award to develop a route of artistic and cultural experiences into, throughout and beyond the town, which would present Stornoway as the gateway to the creative communities of the Outer Hebrides.
Key activities include creative residencies in Stornoway Port Authority, the new museum and the Harris Tweed Authority; traditional and contemporary Gaelic music and performing arts events in unusual places; commissioning works to create an arts trail and route through the town; curated exhibitions in pop up venues; walking and Segway tours incorporating digital storytelling; creative business specialist support and a programme of staff development for all partners to raise the quality of the visitor experience.
Elly Fletcher, chief executive of An Lanntair, said: “We are delighted to hear that Stornoway has been nominated for this important award. With the celebration of 30 years of the an Lanntair Arts Centre, 20 years of HebCelt Festival, 150 years of Stornoway Port Authority and the opening of the much anticipated Lews Castle Museum and Archive, 2015 is an exciting time for Stornoway and its surrounding neighbourhoods.
“This award will offer a fantastic opportunity for our thriving creative community to come together in partnership with the local heritage and business sectors to collectively launch Stornoway as a ‘Gateway to the Outer Hebrides’.
“Success through this Creative Place Awards scheme will help us to create many new, transformational creative opportunities and experiences for and with our local communities, artists, tourist visitors and businesses alike.”
Since their launch in 2012, the Creative Place Awards have been awarded to smaller communities across Scotland, outside of the main cities, to enable them to enhance and promote the creative activities and programmes in their area. The awards recognise the communities’ ambitions in using the arts for the benefit of both local residents and visitors to their area.
A Creative Place Award is both an accolade and a grant, which Creative Scotland awards to a few specific communities each year. The accolade recognises the creativity and co-operation in these communities, whilst the grant funding supports their ambition to further develop their creative programme and profile.
The shortlist has been made across three categories:
The three communities shortlisted to win £50,000 are:
Aberfeldy, Bathgate and Moniaive.
The three communities shortlisted to win £100,000 are:
Forres, Isle of Arran and Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park
The three communities shortlisted to win £125,000 are:
Banchory, Fort William and Stornoway
Janet Archer, chief executive at Creative Scotland said: “Congratulations to the nine places nominated for this year’s Creative Place Awards. We received a number of high calibre applications from across Scotland, and for our panel selecting the final nominees was no easy feat.
“The quality and quantity of the applications received this year are a testimony to how much Scotland values it’s culture and how important creativity is to communities across Scotland.
“Previous winners are a positive example of how much is going on across Scotland and celebrate the social, cultural, educational and economic impact that artists and communities working together can generate, benefiting local people and visitors alike and stimulating a rich sense of wellbeing and quality of life.
“I look forward to seeing everyone at the awards in June and wish all the nominees the best of luck.”
Applications were encouraged from cultural organisations, community groups and local authorities across Scotland, to represent their village, town or community to bid for an award.
The shortlist has been selected for proposing an imaginative and ambitious programme of arts and creative activities, which has been developed through consultation with a range of organisations in their communities. They have also indicated a good level of collaboration with potential partners to support and deliver the programme.
The deadline for applications was 2 February 2015. 32 applications were received from a range of organisations across 21 local authority areas.
The Creative Place Award shortlist was selected by a panel made up of individuals with expertise across the arts, tourism, enterprise and community development from Creative Scotland, Event Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and Visit Scotland.
The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on Wednesday 10 June, 2015 at Falkirk Town Hall, Falkirk. Falkirk has been selected as the host of this year’s awards after winning a Creative Place Award in 2014.
Falkirk community are using their Award to support a project called Acts of Discovery, offering audiences a fresh look at the area and its cultural offering. Based on the themes of people, routes and pathways, Acts of Discovery builds on and complements Falkirk’s cultural offering.
Councillor Adrian Mahoney, Portfolio Holder for Culture, Leisure and Tourism for Falkirk, said: “We are delighted to host the 2015 Creative Place Awards in Falkirk. 2014 was our year to celebrate creativity in Falkirk and the award has supported us to further develop what was already a vibrant, creative and cultural part of Scotland. We are pleased to pass the baton to the 2015 Creative Places, wherever they may be, and continue our own work within the cultural landscape.”
Ian Scott, chair of Falkirk Community Trust, said: “We are so pleased to provide the host venue for this year’s Creative Place awards. The Trust worked with local partners to create diverse and challenging projects with our Creative Place award and it’s a wonderful legacy not only to see those projects come to fruition but also to see the 2015 Creative Place award winners setting out on their journey as we did a year ago.”
Follow the Creative Place Awards updates on Twitter using #CreativePlace.
INFORMATION ON THE SUCCESSFUL SHORTLIST:
£50,000 Award
ABERFELDY
Aberfeldy community would like to use the award to create Aberfeldy Arts – a year-long campaign, with a focus on a specific artform each month during the campaign. It is intended that Aberfeldy Arts would become self-sustaining, and able to continue after the end of the Creative Place Award project.
BATHGATE
The Bathgate community would like to use an award to set up a community choir for all age groups; offer a series of lunchtime cabaret activities for older people; and establish a film and documentary making course for young people.
MONIAIVE
The award would be used to connect existing cultural activities under three programme strands: visual arts, music and literature. This would support the work of creative professionals based in Moniaive; expand opportunities for people living in Moniaive to be involved in creative activities and promote creative work to attract visitors and support local businesses.
£100,000 Award
FORRES
The Forres community would like to use the award to support and promote ‘Culture Day’ 2015 and 2016; Project Arts; and Culture Café networking events. Culture Day has previously showcased over 100 organisations with events taking place in town centres and local community hubs.
This project would build on previous work, offering an enhanced programme and providing a small funding pot to assist artists to take part in the events.
Project ARTS would aim to support the creation of a wide range of public art and creative work which connects with local businesses or community organisations or connects with Forres while engaging new audiences. Culture Café would be a regular networking event held at different locations across Moray, focussing on network and development functions in Forres.
ISLE OF ARRAN
Isle of Arran would use the award for four key planned activities. The Sleeping Warrior will be an environmental theatre exploration piece. The Art Trail will be a visual arts/craft project to highlight the location of places of environmental interest. First Footfall will be a video installation and physical exhibition that traces and evokes the experiences of the first peoples to set foot on the Island. Remembered words in Stone, will be a site specific visual arts project based at the recently opened local authority care home.
LOCH LOMOND & TROSSACHS NATIONAL PARK
The community would like to use the award to launch Park Premiers TV, an innovative digital media project designed with two main objectives: to showcase the high quality and diverse creative activity within the Park and celebrate the communities in which this creativity thrives; to establish a creative industries training project to develop creative skills within the park.
Participants from communities across the National Park area will be invited to take part in training in creative filmmaking, digital photography and audio recording. Films created will be showcased throughout the Park in a series of Park Premiers TV Roadshows, with car parks and village squares turned in to pop up cinemas as well as films being hosted within a bespoke online TV portal.
£125,000 Award
BANCHORY
The award will be used to support a four- stranded programme that will continue to place artists and creativity at the forefront of exploring the town’s identity. Activity includes: Banchory Stories – recording and preserving creative stories from local residents and creating and staging a new community play; Love Banchory – a multi-artform project involving the collation and creation of works relating to Banchory’s identity as a holiday destination; River Festival – an existing festival which features local artists and musicians; and Town Artists – to build a team of artists in Banchory to devise and oversee projects throughout the year.
FORT WILLIAM
The Fort William community would use the award to create a series of interwoven art and arboreal projects, at the heart of which is The Liberty Grove / Doire na Saorsa, a planting of 1,000 native trees throughout the region. New mountain-themed sculptures, signposts, and benches engraved with poems, will be set amongst a backdrop of young native trees and orchards, and artworks based on traditional shelters, creating an inspiring outdoor venue for cultural activities, events, and environmental education. Working with different art forms, from sculpture and poetry to film, we will explore and interpret the ecology and heritage of the world-renowned landscape of Lochaber in new and innovative ways.
STORNOWAY
Stornoway and the surrounding villages would use the award to develop a route of artistic and cultural experiences into, throughout and beyond the town, which would present Stornoway as the gateway to the creative communities of the Outer Hebrides.
Key activities include creative residencies in Stornoway Port Authority, the new museum and the Harris Tweed Authority; traditional and contemporary Gaelic music and performing arts events in unusual places; commissioning works to create an arts trail and route through the town; curated exhibitions in pop up venues; walking and Segway tours incorporating digital storytelling; creative business specialist support and a programme of staff development for all partners to raise the quality of the visitor experience.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
- The Creative Place Awards is for smaller communities across Scotland, outside of the main cities, to enable them to enhance and promote the creative activities and programmes in their area. The awards recognise the communities’ ambitions in using the arts for the benefit of both local residents and visitors to their area.
- Shortlisted communities have been selected primarily on the quality of their creative plans and ambitions, and the strength of collaboration their communities. The awards are not open to the nation’s cities.
- Run by Creative Scotland and supported by EventScotland the awards encourage cultural organisations, community groups and/ or local authorities to represent their village, town or other community, and bid for an award to further develop their creative programme and profile.
- Creative Scotland is the national organisation that funds and supports the development of Scotland’s arts, screen and creative industries. Creative Scotland has four objectives: to develop and sustain a thriving environment for the arts, screen and creative industries; to support excellence in artistic and creative practice; to improve access to and participation in, arts and creative activity; and to deliver our services efficiently and effectively. In 2013/14 we will distribute over £100m in funding provided by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery. For further information on Creative Scotland please visit www.creativescotland.com. Twitter: @creativescots Facebook: www.facebook.com/CreativeScotland
- EventScotland is working to make Scotland the perfect stage for events. By developing an exciting portfolio of sporting and cultural events EventScotland is helping to raise Scotland’s international profile and boost the economy by attracting more visitors. For further information about EventScotland, its funding programmes and latest event news visit www.EventScotland.org. Follow EventScotland on Twitter @EventScotNews. EventScotland is part of VisitScotland, the national tourism organisation which markets Scotland as a tourism destination across the world, gives support to the tourism industry and brings sustainable tourism growth to Scotland.
- For information on previous Creative Place Award winners: http://www.creativescotland.com/what-we-do/latest-news/archive/2014/01/winners-of-the-2014-creative-place-awards-announced
Media contact:
Helen Sim
Media Relations & PR Assistant, Creative Scotland
E: Helen.Sim@creativescotland.com
T: 0131 523 0019
M: 07801 226605
S: 0330 333 2000
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