A source of grant funding for Scots Language creatives is now open for applications. The fund, provided by Creative Scotland and administered by Hands Up For Trad, offers grants of £700 to creatives producing work for audiences using the Scots Language.
‘Wee Grants for Creativity in the Scots Leid’ are open to everyone – individuals and groups – and can be used to support audience-facing creative work of any kind. There iså £10k to distribute, meaning that fourteen applications will be successful.
Applications are made through the Scots Language Awards website, https://projects.handsupfortrad.scot/scotslanguageawards/
The fund was successful last year in helping new Scots creative work emerge in Dundee, Angus, Perth and Fife. Local theatre makers Calum Kelly and Taylor Dyson of Elfie Picket theatre used the funding to put on a new monthly performance night in Dundonian Scots.
Taylor Dyson said “We were able to start up a Scots performance night in Dundee and bring folk together. Scots language work is more vital than ever and has amazing potential to help reshape Scotland’s cultural scene for the better. We’ve seen firsthand the impact using Scots has on audiences. Folk love it.”
Alistair Heather, who is managing the fund, said,
“Oor first round o funds seen a new Scots performance nicht set up in Dundee, an a adults-and-bairns storytelling series in Perth. We’d love tae see even mair applications fae Courier Country. There’s that many Scots speaking communities, aa bubbling wi creativity.
Mibbie yer a stand-up comedian wi a routine ye want tae film. Or mibbie yer a traditional storyteller wha wants tae pit oan an event. Mibbie yer a theatre makar wi a show comin up an ye need mair time tae workshoap, or want tae pit oan a scratch night o new wark. Mibbie ye hae a smashin idea fir a Scots podcast, a new Scots animation, a comic.
Sae lang’s yer wark is guid quality an will speak tae an audience, we want tae hae an application fae you!”
Wee Grants for Creativity in the Scots Leid is open now and accepting applications until the 17th January.
Simon Thoumire, Creative Director from Hands up For Trad added,
“The fund opened for the first time last year, and it was amazing to see how many great applications we got in from all across Scotland. We managed to fund twenty projects, all of which brought great new work in Scots to audiences in all parts of the country. We are glad to support the current generations of superb Scots talent, as well as encouraging younger Scottish creatives to engage with the language. I can’t wait to see what emerges from the next round of funded projects!”
Notes for editors
Scots is spoken by over 1.5 million people in Scotland, principally in the lowlands and northern isles.
Dundee has an above-average number of Scots speakers.
In many communities, such as Buckie in Moray, the Borders, Clackmannanshire, and across the North-East and Northern Islands the majority of inhabitants can speak Scots.
Scots has been the language used by government, kings and courts in Scotland, as well as by poets and playwrights like Rabbie Burns and Rona Munro.
The earliest Scots creative work that still survives is a long poem written in Aberdeen called The Brus, which was first published in 1375.
In the latter half of the 20th century, Scots began to be seen as vulgar, or common, and has been denigrated as ‘slang’ or ‘ned speak’, or even seen as a collection of local dialect words, instead of the joined-up national language that it is.
A rediscovery of cultural confidence in the last decades has seen a marked increase in the quality and quantity of creative projects appearing in the many dialects of the Scots Language, from community-led grassroots events to National Theatre productions during the Edinburgh International Festival.
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