NEW FUND FOR GAELIC ARTS

May 2004

A new £400,000 fund to promote the Gaelic arts over the next three years is to be launched this week.

The launch takes place at the Bord na Gaidhlig conference at the Newton Hotel in Nairn at 12.30 on Friday 21st May 2004.

The Gaelic Arts Strategic Development Fund marks a major new alliance between key players in Scotland's cultural and linguistic sectors, with a contribution of £250,000 from the Scottish Arts Council and the balance coming from the executive's language development agency Bòrd na Gàidhlig. It will be co-ordinated by Proiseact nan Ealan / The Gaelic Arts Agency and implemented through the Gaelic Arts Strategic Development forum (GASD).

Three main areas of activity will be assisted by the Fund: audience development, skills development and the encouragement of showcase projects. Precise details of the criteria and procedures for each will be published towards the end of the summer.

Money will be provided to increase the support and marketing available for the Gaelic arts in general. A new series of exciting artists’ residencies and traineeships is envisaged, with the focus on a flexible approach helping young people build on their skills. Proiseact nan Ealan director Malcolm Maclean said: "The showcase strand of funding will seek and develop new ideas with the potential to take the best of the Gaelic arts, in whichever form, to as wide an audience as possible. The emphasis will be on quality and new opportunities".

It is intended that new projects emerge each year to follow up the kind of success seen in the Leabhar Mòr na Gàidhlig project, an internationally recognised multi-media art work launched by Scotland's First Minister Jack MacConnell last year and currently in the early stages of a five year world tour.