Federation of Scottish Theatre and Scottish Arts Council to Unleash Theatre Artists’ Potential with Two Creative Practice Bursaries Tuesday, 11 August 2009

FST has established that many creative artists, when asked what would make a difference to the development of their practice, answer: “space and time”. Unleashed and Unplugged helps to meet that need. The bursaries will enable two artists, currently working in Scottish theatre (whether freelance or employed) to disconnect from their regular routine or job and time to explore and consider new or alternative ways of approaching their thinking and practice. FST and Scottish Arts Council see this award as a long term investment in the holistic artistic vision of the theatre community in Scotland.

The awards are open to all Scottish-based theatre artists (directors, performers, designers, choreographers, technicians, writers, dramaturges, multi-media artists, producers) who have reached a point in their career where time out to re-evaluate their own process and practice would be of creative benefit. Unleashed is aimed at established practitioners, and Unplugged at mid-career.

In 2008 the bursaries recipients were Graham Eatough, who received a £25,000 award to develop his practice combining theatre with the visual arts and Lorne Campbell who was awarded £5,000 to explore the concept of ‘liveness’ in performance.

Jon Morgan, FST Director said:

“FST is delighted to be able to support two Scottish theatre artists to further explore their creativity through the Unleashed and Unplugged bursaries. This is an incredibly exciting opportunity and we encourage practitioners from across all areas of the theatre sector to consider how they could benefit from the time that Unleashed and Unplugged would allow them. FST is pleased to be working in partnership with the Scottish Arts Council on this innovative and dynamic project.”

Morag Arnot, Deputy Chief Executive, Scottish Arts Council said:

“One of the core aims of the Scottish Arts Council is to support artists in Scotland to fulfil their creative and business potential. The Unleashed and Unplugged bursaries support this aim through allowing for that crucial resource – space and time – for two theatre practitioners to take their practice in new directions, try out new ideas and take risks. This is the second year we have collaborated with the FST for this fund and we look forward to seeing what brilliant ideas will be unleashed through the bursaries.”

Further information on the Unplugged and Unleashed bursaries, including details of how to apply can be downloaded from the Federation of Scottish Theatre website, www.scottishtheatre.org.

The closing date for completed applications is the 30th September 2009.

Documents

FST SAC Unplugged 2009.10.doc

FST SAC Unleashed 2009.10.doc