Arts, culture and heritage

A new collaborative project between organisations in the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland has received funding from the LEADER programmes in these areas.

The Between Islands Cooperation Project will be overseen by An Lanntair, the main arts organisation in the Outer Hebrides. An Lanntair have been involved in organising collaborative arts and heritage projects with contacts in the Northern Isles. Activities to date have been small scale and created as part of larger projects. 

Bressay Development Ltd (BDL) have four studio spaces to rent in a large, bright, former classroom.

The studios are in what was the school, which is also home to the Speldiburn Cafe and art gallery, Good As New Shop, community library and a large multi-purpose room (used for workshops, classes, exhibitions and meetings). There is also knitwear/design studio, a resident artist studio and the BDL office using some of the other rooms.

The Scottish Book Trust's Live Literature programme is currently open for applications.

The programme works with you to bring authors from their database into your community. Applications for events taking place between 1 April and 31 December 2019 are currently open. The deadline will be Wednesday 23 January 2019 at noon.

Last week the Scottish Rural Network (SRN) hosted a visit from a group of 10 Danish Local Action Group (LAG) members from the Jammerbugt-Vesthimmerland region who wanted to visit LEADER funded projects in Scotland. They were specifically interested in the food development and sustainable growth fields and wanted an insight into projects that have been successful in this area, in particular any challenges they have faced/overcome and any learning or networking they could glean from this experience.

There is still time to book your spot on one of four exciting free project visits taking place as part of the Scottish Rural Parliament 2018 in Stranraer.​

On 14 November you can join groups on the following project visits:

Part-funded by Bòrd na Gàidhlig and produced in collaboration with social enterprise Earth For Life, this bespoke learning resource will help to connect young people with nature through sustainable foraging. The resource will equip Gaelic-medium teachers with the necessary skills, knowledge and vocabulary for wild plant identification and use.

The project was launched last week at the Royal National Mòd in Dunoon by Angus Campbell, SNH Deputy Chairman. 

The new Natural & Cultural Heritage Fund, led by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) will support projects that encourage visitors to experience more of the unique nature and culture of the Highlands & Islands. The fund is part of the next phase of the Scottish Government’s European Regional Development Fund programme, which runs through to 2023.  SNH is also managing another element of the programme – the Green Infrastructure Fund.