MEDIA RELEASE COURTESY OF: Scottish Arts Council

An exciting assortment of new dance, theatre poetry and visual arts projects gets fully underway this August as part of The Scottish Arts Council’s Homecoming programme.

The £300,000 Scottish Arts Council Homecoming Fund, supporting an arts programme as part of the International year of Homecoming, is funding a collection of arts projects throughout the year across Scotland. Of varying scales and covering a variety of art forms, each project celebrates the themes of Homecoming: Robert Burns; Scotland’s rich culture and heritage; and the great contributions Scotland has made to the world.

Robert Burns – the artist, is at the heart of many of the projects. Presenting a contemporary face of Scottish culture, the selection of newly-commissioned and developed works all aim to reflect modern Scotland in innovative and creative ways. The national songwriting competition, Burnsong, is supporting the creation of contemporary music inspired by Burns, while projects such as the Scottish Poetry Library’s BurnsBanner project has used the Burns theme to engage with local communities across Scotland.

Homecoming is already raising international awareness for Scotland’s arts. Visible Fictions, one of the first projects to get underway, has secured an international tour of two new productions; Jason and the Argonauts and Shopping for Shoes, following a successful season touring Scotland earlier this year. Tam Dean Burn’s new anarchic celebration of Burns has also been internationally recognised and is currently making its way around Scotland, adding more and more shows to the line-up as its popularity grows.

Other projects funded as part of the Scottish Arts Council’s Homecoming programme will also leave a legacy beyond this Year of Homecoming. Shoogle Records secured support to record The Birnam Quartet’s new version of A Man’s A Man, which will allow the interpretation of Burns music to be enjoyed not only throughout schools, but by the wider community. Everything from cross-cultural dance as part of the Mela Festival, to a new adaptation of Muriel Spark’s The Girls of Slender Means produced by Stellar Quines will celebrate the diversity and quality of Scotland’s arts and encourage participation all across Scotland

Mary Shields artistic advisor: Homecoming Scotland for the Scottish Arts Council said:
“Supporting artists, celebrating Scotland’s culture and encouraging a lasting legacy was at the heart of our new Homecoming Scotland programme, which spans the length and breadth of Scotland. None of these projects would have been possible without the Scottish Arts Council Homecoming fund and as we embark on the second half of this international year of Homecoming, we are pleased to present an engaging programme of arts activity that celebrates the work of Scotland’s arts organisations and showcases it to a wide audience of Scots, those of Scottish descent, or those who simply love Scotland.”


Funded Projects include:
Yatra – Journey Home
Where: Edinburgh, Mela
When: 7-9 August
What: A dance and music performance across 3 cultures by leading Scottish or Scotland based artists.
More Info: www.edinburgh-mela.co.uk

Arts Fringe
Where: Eden Court, Inverness
When: 22-24 October
What: Programme of arts activity to support conference: ’Scotland’s global impact – how one small nation changed the world’
More info: http://www.eden-court.co.uk/

Muriel Spark’s ‘The Girls of Slender Means’, Stellar Quines Theatre Company
Where: Edinburgh
When: 5-31 August
What: Adaptation of the play for Edinburgh Festival Fringe
More info: http://www.stellarquines.com/

BurnsBanner
Where: Edinburgh
When: August
What: A banner creating the first and last stanza of ‘A Man’s A Man for A’ That’ will hang throughout August. It will be created from painted letters created by over 100 participants around Scotland
More info: read the blog online http://burnsbanner.wordpress.com/about/

Visible Fictions
Where: National/International
When: Ongoing
What: National and international tour of two major new productions ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ and ‘Shopping for Shoes’
More info: www.visiblefictions.co.uk

Burnsong
Where: workshops across Scotland
When: November
What: A national songwriting initiative inspired by Burns.
More info: www.burnsong.org

Tam Dean Burn’s new and anarchic celebration of Burns
Where: Touring across Scotland
When: ongoing
What: Performance involving poetry, music and new technology

Shoogle Records
Where: National/international
When: Ongoing
What: A recording of the Birnam Quartet’s new version of A Man’s A Man

Silver Darlings, HMT Aberdeen
Where: Across Scotland
When: 24 August – 26 October
What: New, large-scale theatre adaptation of Silver Darlings by Niall Gunn
More info: www.hmtaberdeen.com/