Scotland

Major arts festivals in Edinburgh and Glasgow are to receive a share of the Scottish Government’s Expo Fund worth £1.8m.

Established in 2007, the fund aims to build innovation across the festivals and maximise national and international opportunities for the artists contributing to them.

The year, 14 festivals including Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh International Festival and Glasgow International Festival are receiving funding.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society has received the most, totalling £550,000.

Glasgow Film Festival and the biennial Sonica visual art and sonic festival will receive funding for the first time. Creative Scotland Chief Executive Iain Munro welcomed the government’s decision to “recognise the distinct international profile and work” of the two events.

“The fund is vital in raising the international profile of these festivals and enabling them to enhance their programmes through exciting and innovative co-productions and collaborations,” Munro added.

More than 60 youth music projects in Scotland have received funding in a bid to 'drive inclusivity and tackle social issues'.

Nearly £1.7m has been provided to 63 community music projects through the Scottish Government-backed Youth Music Initiative (YMI).

The funding is administered by Creative Scotland.

Most of the funded projects – 58 in total – received awards through the Access to Music Making stream, aimed at young people who face 'opportunity barriers'.

The remainder were funded via Strengthening Youth Music. This supports individuals, organisations and networks which undertake 'strategic action' to promote the country's youth music sector.

Morag Macdonald, YMI Manager at Creative Scotland, said the funding was "supporting an incredibly diverse array of projects that will create meaningful opportunities for children and young people to take part in music activities right across the country".

Now in its 20th year, projects funded by YMI in this latest round include Paisley-based Kibble Education and Care Centre, Music Space in Glasgow – a new initiative produced by AC Projects, the organisation behind the city's Counterflows festival – and Angie's Project in Edinburgh, which focuses on electronic music production education.

YMI's flagship funded projects include the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland, Highlands-based Fèis Rois and Lothian’s A.R.T.S Afternoon. 

The Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow has been bought by the global live entertainment company Trafalgar Entertainment. 

The 1,449-capacity city centre theatre, which first opened to the public in 1904, is the company's first Scottish venue.

It will become part of its Trafalgar Theatres division in a portfolio that includes Trafalgar Theatre in London’s West End, the Theatre Royal Sydney in Australia, and 12 UK regional theatres including Southend Cliffs Pavilion and the New Theatre, Cardiff.

Helen Enright, CEO of Trafalgar Theatres, said: “Glasgow is a vibrant, energetic city and the Pavilion Theatre has earned its place in the city’s entertainment landscape. We are committed to building on that success."

She added that Trafalgar would increase the number of shows presented at the venue, as well as "investing in the building, growing audiences and ensuring a successful future for this beautiful, iconic theatre”.

A digital theatre group is working with young people in Edinburgh to tackle the online radicalisation of masculinity and 'Incel' (involuntary celibate) culture.

Civic Digits will co-produce a new theatre production, 'Many Good Men', with the Edinburgh-based Stellar Quines theatre company, YouthLink Scotland, Zero Tolerance Scotland and Heart of Midlothian F.C.

Award-winning playwright Clare Duffy, Civic Digits’ Founder and Artistic Director, said: “We're planning to support two groups of young people to write and direct two new forum theatre plays about the radicalisation of masculinity online. It will be performed by professional actors at Hearts F.C. stadium.”

The project will involve working with groups of 15–to 18-year-olds in their communities and will be developed over the next nine months.

The performances at Tynecastle Stadium in Edinburgh will take place in December.

'Many Good Men' is one of 46 projects to receive a total of £1.6m in National Lottery funding in the latest round of Creative Scotland’s Open Fund awards. 

Other funded projects include the 2023 editions of Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival and Edinburgh Festival Carnival, and this year's Open Studios Hebrides.

Paul Burns, Interim Director of Arts at Creative Scotland, said "a range of new and important stories will be told as part of the latest round of Open Fund awards". 

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society has announced 50 recipients of the Keep it Fringe fund, a new initiative intended to help level the playing field for artists.

The fund, which is supported by the Fleabag for Charity fund, as well as donations from individuals and Edinburgh Gin, is dispersing bursaries of £2,000 to a mixture of artists and companies bringing work to festival in 2023.

Applications to the fund, which was established this year, opened in early March. It received applications from 677 artists and companies, each of which was reviewed by two assessors.

The group of 23 assessors were tasked with identifying shows that capture the “defiant spirit” of the Fringe and are able to take advantage of the platform the festival provides to showcase untold stories.

The funded shows, which include a mixture of paid and free-entry performances, cover a broad range of subjects including climate action, OCD, parenthood, migration, love, death and the realities of rural life.

They will be performed across multiple genres, including musicals, stand-up, spoken word for children, plays, drag, performance art, variety and immersive theatre.

The Fringe Society highlighted the diversity of successful candidates. Nearly one in two are disabled or have a health condition and one in three come from a working-class background.

In addition to a £2,000 bursary, the 50 recipients of the fund will receive support to perform at the festival, including a share of £50,000 in advertising credits donated by TikTok.

They will also receive return tickets from electric rail provider Lumo from one of its UK hubs to Edinburgh.

“The number of applications received for the Keep it Fringe fund reflects the current economic climate and a need for significant support for artists coming to the Fringe,” said Shona McCarthy, Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. 

The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is expected to announce £8.6m of funding for Edinburgh’s festivals in tomorrow's Spring Budget.

The Independent reports that some of the funding could go towards a permanent HQ for the Fringe.

Hunt said: “From Edinburgh’s Fringe to the International Festival, the city is world-famous for culture and it’s right to support it and help it grow.

“Millions of people flock to Edinburgh from all over the globe for its festivals, creating opportunities for incredible comedians, musicians, artists and more, as well as thousands of jobs each year – all contributing immensely to the UK’s shared economy.”

UK Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said the money "will help us safeguard a future where upcoming British talent can capitalise on the opportunities on offer".

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack declared the funding “fantastic news for Scotland". 

Creative Scotland is seeking to address the inconsistency in rates of pay for freelancers across its funding programmes.

Although it does not set rates of pay itself, Scotland's arts funding body said it wants to ensure that industry-standard rates are equitably and consistently applied.

Alastair Evans, Interim Director, Strategy at Creative Scotland said: “Creative Scotland is committed, through any activities we support, to ensure that artists and professionals working in the creative sector are paid fairly with appropriate terms and conditions and employment opportunities.”

Research to identify key priorities for change is being carried out by consultancy practice Culture Radar and Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University.

They are currently seeking 'sector representatives' who have either made or been included in Creative Scotland funding applications, to contribute online to rates of pay consultations between 27 February - 2 March 2023. 

Evans added: “We encourage as many people as possible working across the industry to contribute to this important piece of work.

“This research will help to create the conditions for more meaningful and sustainable opportunities to work across, and progress through, the sector.”