Scottish Arts Council award over £11 million of National Lottery funding to four new arts buildings

The Scottish Arts Council has today (Thursday 27 March) announced the investment of £11,176,440 of National Lottery funds to four new arts buildings in Shetland, Greenock,  Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

The funding has been awarded to the following projects:

Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen - £4 million
Peacock Visual Arts has been awarded £4 million towards an exciting and visionary project which will provide a new model of arts organisation, working in partnership to provide a new base for PVA alongside Aberdeen City Council Arts Development and Arts Education and Citymoves Dance space.

Embedded within an architecturally exciting new building in Union Terrace Gardens in the centre of Aberdeen, the extensive new facility will offer 3665m² of exhibition spaces, printing workshops, television studio, library, dance facilities, flexible studios, restaurant, bar, kitchen, as well as office facilities.

Greenock Arts Guild, Inverclyde - £2,685,540 This investment will support the replacement of the existing Greenock Arts Guild building with a new modern theatre and arts centre in a more central and prominent site in the re-developing harbour area at Greenock, in partnership with Inverclyde Council, Riverside Inverclyde and the James Watt College. The new facility will provide Inverclyde with contemporary, purpose built facilities including:

a main theatre, seating 475 with full flytower; a 130-seat studio theatre; letting/activity rooms; café/bar area and gallery/exhibition foyer.

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop - £2,370,900
Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop has been awarded over £2.3 million to support the construction of the first purpose built, open access sculpture facility in the UK, creating a centre of excellence for visual arts on a local, national and international level.

The new centre will be built alongside and replace ESW’s existing premises in the city’s Leith area and will offer 30 high quality, naturally lit, artists’ studios; a workshop suite with separate facilities for wood, metal and mixed media; a dedicated learning space; exhibition space and new accommodation for visiting artists in two apartments.

Shetland Arts Development Agency (SADA)-  £2,120,000
Shetland Arts Development Agency has been awarded £2.12 million towards Mareel – a new cinema and music venue in Lerwick, Shetland. The development includes a live performance auditorium (320 seats or 700 standing); two cinemas; rehearsal space, a recording studio; café bar; educational facilities and digital media production facilities.

The highly technologically specified facilities will become a hub for the delivery of a wide range of services and learning opportunities through entertainment and education for the whole of Shetland and act as a catalyst for the development of the creative industries in Shetland by providing a focus for the creative community.

Commenting on today’s awards, Iain Munro, Scottish Arts Council Co-Director of Arts / Head of Lottery said: ‘I’m hugely delighted we are announcing these four project grants today which illustrate the ambitions of our creative community for the benefit of our artists and the public across Scotland in both urban and rural settings.  They will give more people, in more places, more opportunities to engage in creative activity and enterprise.

‘These grants represent the culmination of major investment through our large capital grants programme and will contribute strongly to the network of high quality facilities across Scotland.  The network provides a focus not only for creative activity but also for the creative industries and cultural economy having a local, national and, in some cases, an international impact.  These will add to Scotland’s place in the world as an exciting and dynamic place to live, work and enjoy.’

The investment was approved by the Joint Board of Scottish Screen and Scottish Arts Council yesterday and the grants follow on from initial ‘stage one’ grants which allowed the organisations to work up their proposals in detail.   These are the final grants made from a single major funding round which combined funds from 2004/05, 05/06 and 06/07 to create a total funding pot of £16.75 million. 

Notes to editors

1. The Scottish Arts Council is a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) which was established by Royal Charter in 1994 and is also a Lottery distributor. The organisation serves the people of Scotland by fostering arts of excellence through investment, development, research and advocacy. Our corporate aims are: to support artists to fulfil their creative and business potential; to increase participation in the arts; and to place the arts, culture and creativity at the heart of learning. We invest £60m each year, including £15 million of National Lottery funding. For more information visit: www.scottisharts.org.uk
2. These four grants represent the culmination of the Scottish Arts Council’s major capital grants programme which has invested over £147 million of National Lottery funding in arts buildings of all sizes across the country. The success of the programme can be seen in all parts of the country with artists and communities benefiting from greatly improved, and often award winning, facilities.

Contact email(s)

media.office@scottisharts.org.uk

Issued by: Scottish Arts Council