The NEN – North Edinburgh News

Funding includes collectives tackling gender inequality

Projects aiming to reduce gender inequality will benefit from the latest round of Creative Scotland’s Open Fund. 109 projects have received support in this latest round of National Lottery funding, including inclusive literature workshops and enlightening theatre work for young people.

Feminist Exchange Network (FEN) is a Glasgow-based collective of women and marginalised genders who use art and creative practice to explore how feminist economics relate to people’s everyday lived experiences.

At the heart of the FEN programme is a mobile library – a physical structure built in 2021 by artist Hannah Brackston.

Housing a growing collection of books and materials on feminist issues including economics, climate justice, health, labour and community care, the library was designed not only as a collection of resources, but as an artistic and social tool, a catalyst for conversation, collective thinking and creative response, across the communities it visits.

Over the coming months FEN will deliver a series of workshops and events for women and other marginalised genders in the local community, inviting them to explore and respond to the ideas in the library’s collection.

They will be running workshops at Romano Lav, Milk, Amina and with groups of New Scots, as well as a performance and film event as part of the Govanhill Carnival in August.

Ailie Rutherford, Artistic Director of Feminist Exchange Network said: “The funding we have received from Creative Scotland will allow us to deliver a programme of mobile library workshops, feminist exchanges and public events to bring artist-led, participatory activity to community venues across South Glasgow – creating accessible spaces to explore intersecting feminist issues relevant to local concerns such as care, health, labour, climate justice and alternative economic futures.”

I Am Not My Hair is a new dance-theatre work created for black and mixed-race girls aged 8-12 years old. The piece celebrates the history, cultural significance and creativity of black hair, highlighting both the pressures young people face to fit in and the power of embracing who they are.

Drawing on lived experience, the work responds to the lack of representation for young Black audiences in the performing arts. Through vibrant movement, music and storytelling, the piece will create a space where identity is honoured and individuality is celebrated.

The project aims to give young audiences the chance to see themselves reflected on stage, while inviting wider audiences to engage with the richness and meaning of Black hair culture, it aims to foster pride, understanding and a more inclusive artistic landscape.

Developed by Edinburgh-based French-Cameroonian musician, composer and singer-songwriter Marie-Gabrielle Koumenda, Creative Scotland funding will be used to support the development of a preview of the show, to be presented this autumn.

Multi-disciplinary artist Marie-Gabrielle Koumenda. Photo -Hen Hoose Collective.

Marie-Gabrielle Koumenda, Developer of I Am Not My Hair said: “The Open Fund will allow me to develop work that affirms Black identity and culture, and that offers joy, complexity and visibility.

“To me, this is the right moment to bring this work to the stage and that speaks directly to the experiences of Black communities, empowers young people and challenges the limited narratives traditionally seen in theatre. I want young Black and Mixed-Race girls to feel seen, valued, and understood by a wider audience.”

Matrescence is a three-month creative project from Glasgow Library of Synthesised Sound (GLOSS) co-founder and musician, Suzi Cook, exploring the profound physical and psychological shifts known as matrescence – the transition into motherhood. Drawing on her own and others’ experiences, Cook will weave their voices into layered compositions, in part inspired by communal voice traditions including Gaelic psalm singing. “I’m creating music that grows and transforms in real time,” Cook explains, “embracing chaos, paradox and tenderness – much like motherhood itself.”

Cook’s recordings will be processed through granular instruments and effects using their unpredictable textures as a metaphor for growth, surrender, and renewal. Developed over a residency of three months at GLOSS, the resulting body of work will form Cook’s first solo record to be released on her label, Full Ashram, with accompanying parallel artwork.

Part meditation on identity and interdependence and part sonic exploration of creativity within change, Matrescence marks a distinctive new contribution to Scotland’s experimental music landscape.

Musician and Gloss co-founder Suzi Cook. Photo by Lewis Cook.

Suzie Cook, Matrescence Project Lead and musician said: “The Open Fund has allowed me to create a flexible residency for myself: dedicated time to explore the themes of motherhood and matrescence, engage with the stories of other mothers and reconnect with a creative practice that necessarily quietened when I became a parent myself.

“Creativity looks and feels vastly different on the other side of becoming a mother. This residency is how I’ve finally been able to shape the time to respond to it.”

These Open Fund awards are among 109 individual grants made to artists and creative practitioners across Scotland in April 2026.

Other awards spanning artform and location in this round, include:

• They Sent A Woman – recording artist Ella Munro will produce an album of Scots, folk and traditional song that centres on the stories and voices of women, both historical and contemporary with original songs included. The project will showcase lesser-known traditional music and highlight work by female songwriters, drawing attention to narratives that are often overlooked in the folk canon.

• She Says No – a bold, stylistic monologue play where theatre, spoken word and electronic sound collide. The piece walks the line between liberty and sacrifice, celebrates female rage and asks whether women can ever find freedom in a patriarchal world. She Says No will be developed by SG Theatre Productions, with pilot performances at the Tron and Traverse theatres.

• Feed Free – a pop-up exhibition by Hayley Hadden, organised in collaboration with the charity LLL Collective, portraying the realities, diversity, triumphs and challenges faced by breastfeeding mothers in Scotland.

Commenting on April’s Open Fund awards, Paul Burns, Director of Arts at Creative Scotland said: “The latest wave of awards expertly illustrates how creatives use Open Funding to champion important themes and rights like gender equality, creating access and representation right across Scotland.

“Thanks to support from The National Lottery, these forward-thinking initiatives will connect audiences to literature, devise original dance and theatre works, and produce boundary pushing experimental music.”

You can find the full list of awards in April on our website.