News

Scottish Arts Council celebrates Scotland’s creativity at 2007 Creative Scotland Awards

Ten of Scotland’s top artistic talents will be honoured at a glittering awards ceremony at Prestonfield House, Edinburgh this evening (Thursday 8 March) at the Scottish Arts Council’s eighth Creative Scotland Awards.

Poems and prose pieces which explore the cultural and natural ecology of dying villages in Europe; a series of portraits from a 300 year history of popular Scottish music; and an interactive website for all ages are among the projects that have been selected to receive £30,000 awards.  The recipients were selected by a panel of experts and previous Creative Scotland Award recipients, chaired by Edinburgh International Festival Director, Jonathan Mills.

The prestigious lottery-funded awards, which were initiated in 2000 to reward, honour and celebrate Scotland’s leading artists and help raise the profile of the arts, provide up to ten artists with a record of major achievement with the opportunity to realise their creative ideas in a major project. 

Previous award recipients include visual artist Alison Watt whose Creative Scotland project ‘Dark Light’, a 2.5m metal cube which holds a self contained exhibit that the viewer literally steps into, is currently showing at the Ingleby Gallery in Edinburgh, and dance artist and choreographer Janice Parker who recently launched ‘Take a look at what is actually there’ - a new publication examining the role and position of dance performers with learning disabilities, produced as a result of her Creative Scotland Award.

Richard Holloway, Chair of the joint board of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen said:  ‘The Creative Scotland Awards are an important element in the adventurous development of the arts in Scotland.  They offer artists the freedom and space to experiment and explore.
‘The range of projects selected for this year’s awards shows the depth and width of creative talent in our nation today, and gives us a glorious opportunity to celebrate its richness and diversity.’

Culture Minister, Patricia Ferguson said: ‘These awards serve to recognise and nurture Scotland’s future creative talent. The ten artists announced this evening as award recipients display a variety of talents and share huge creative ambitions.

‘Their successes demonstrate that art has something to offer everyone, either as creators or spectators, and we are keen to grow participation levels. Art benefits individuals, communities and society at large, and helps us strengthen our cultural identity.’

Festival Director and Chair of the Creative Scotland Awards panel, Jonathan Mills added: ‘As Director of the Edinburgh International Festival I am keenly aware of the importance arts can play in Scotland’s future as a nation. It is at the heart of the Festival’s role to present the best of Scotland’s art to the world alongside the world’s best brought here, and the development and support of our artists is crucial to this. It has been a great honour to chair the Creative Scotland Awards panel and I wish all the winning artists the best with their projects and their continuing success.’

The ten recipients of this year’s Creative Scotland Awards are:

• Peter Arnott (Glasgow)
  Project:  A trilogy of plays about how we can live while we’re waiting for the End of the World.
• Henry Coombes (Glasgow)
  Project:  To develop and research an arts based feature length script Little Dog Boy and to produce a short film – Coleus in Clay.
• Linda Cracknell (Aberfeldy, Perthshire)
  Project:  To write a collection of ‘Journey-essays’ recounting walks which follow human resonances in wild landscapes.
• Jonathan Falla (Cupar, Fife)
  Project:  ‘Wooden Baby’ a novel about war and the healing power of civilisation, witnessed by French Renaissance essayist Michel de Montaigne.
• Kenny Hunter (Glasgow)
  Project:  To produce a large sculptural work examining the monster within the Scottish psyche.
• John Maxwell Geddes (Glasgow)
  Project:  To write music for a professional ensemble incorporating ideas and material created by young people in practical workshops.
• May Miles Thomas (Edinburgh)
  Project:  An interactive website for all ages, The Devil’s Plantation unravels Glasgow’s secret geometry, retracing ancient paths.
• Tom Pow (Dumfries)
  Project:  Dying Villages – poems and prose pieces which explore the cultural and natural ecology of dying villages in Europe.
• Ross Sinclair (Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire)
  Project:  To research, develop, produce and exhibit a series of portraits from a 300 year history of popular Scottish music.
• Simon Yuill (Glasgow)
  Project:  Social artwork created through a network of personal exchanges between local communities in the Highlands.

Notes to Editors
1. The Scottish Arts Council champions and sustains the arts for Scotland, investing over £60 million from Scottish Executive and National Lottery funding to support and develop artistic excellence and creativity throughout Scotland. Further information is available on our website: www.scottisharts.org.uk. From 2007 we will have over £74 million to invest in the arts in Scotland.
2. Including this year’s recipients, there have now been 88 Creative Scotland Award recipients.
3. For further details about the awards, details of previous award recipients and a full list of this year’s awards panel visit: www.creativescotland.org.uk
4. There will be an opportunity for interviews and photographs with the ten award recipients at a press call at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street, Edinburgh on Thursday 8 March at 10:30.