Creative Practitioners
We are pleased to announce the results of the second round of our Support for Ambition Creative Practitioner 2025-2026 programme. This fund provides financial assistance for artists to begin to initiate new projects and hone further their creative and technical expertise and working practices. We received 12 submissions, totalling £29, 972 for the £9,000 available. The standard and ambition of applications was uniformly high, and the selection panel had its work cut out to make its final choices.
The following awards were made:
BALLOON SHOW (Working title) / Jodie Robertson – Initial research and development to create a vibrant, family-friendly balloon show combining slapstick humour, puppetry, clowning, and circus performance.
EMBODIED SOUND / Emma Gillespie – Building on her William Grant Trust-funded workshop model for neurodivergent participants – Broken Sounds: Finding Wholeness in Sound, Emma will work with regionally based artists, exploring the relationship between sound-making and movement through collaborative improvisation and structured exercises and how best to incorporate these elements successfully into future iterations of the workshop.
THE ART OF LIVING AT ORCHARDTON / DJ McDowall – Exploratory research and development towards the presentation of new performance and immersive events, based on the inspirational example of creative living and the making of work provided by the group of artists living at Orchardton House in the 1990s.
Venues
As part of our regular support of venues throughout Dumfries and Galloway and the programming of work, we have made the following awards:
A’ THE AIRTS / Sanquhar – Presenting a performance of Fox & Hound’s production Because We Said We Would.
FIREFLY FESTIVAL / Moniaive – To help enable this year’s event to take place. Given the sudden closure a few weeks ago of the Craigdarroch Arms Hotel, the festival’s main venue, our selection panel was particularly keen to assist the organisers who, at short notice, have had to relocate events and absorb the increased costs that this has entailed.
We thank everyone for taking the time and making the effort to apply to Support for Ambition 2025-2026.
