Scotland’s business community should be making the most of 2018 as Scotland’s Year of Young People as an opportunity to cultivate their next generation of customers by supporting projects specifically aimed at improving youth engagement with culture.
This is the message from independent charity Arts & Business Scotland as it gears up for the latest in a regular series of networking events bringing together representatives from the arts, heritage and business communities to consider the benefits of closer collaboration.
Based around the theme “Business, Culture and Young People: Working together, creating opportunities”, the latest event takes place at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre on the 15th June.
Attendees will hear first-hand about three successful partnerships between business and cultural organisations that are delivering cultural projects specifically aimed at Scotland’s young people. Participating businesses and cultural organisations will talk about their experiences of the project and how the partnership has specifically benefited them.
All three projects to be showcased at the event have received support from the Culture & Business Fund Scotland, a programme managed by Arts & Business Scotland and launched in April 2017 to provide pound-for-pound match funding for business sponsorship of cultural projects.
As well as demonstrating their corporate social responsibility credentials and developing community links, the three participating businesses will talk about how their involvement in these projects has helped to raise awareness of their business and brand, providing a great return on investment and an opportunity to access a new and wider audience.
Glasgow-based providers of debt advice and help Richmond Oaks have partnered with the Scottish Youth Theatre to support a summer national tour of a specially created theatre production that highlights mental health challenges faced by many young people (pictured, top).
Professional services firm KPMG has partnered with the Scottish Ballet for a second consecutive year to give pupils from Cuthbertson Primary School in Govanhill the unique opportunity to take part in a series of ballet workshops and to attend a production of Cinderella at Glasgow’s Theatre Royal (above).
One of the world’s leading makers of digital music audio equipment, PreSonus, has provided in-kind sponsorship to Drake Music Scotland, a charity dedicated to creating opportunities for disabled musicians of all ages.
PreSonus have provided Drake Music Scotland’s Digital Orchestra access to specialist software that enables its disabled musicians to play, write and perform music. Match funding from the Culture & Business Fund Scotland has helped to deliver ten rehearsal sessions for the Digital Orchestra and a performance forming part of their 20th anniversary birthday concert which took place at The Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh on 5th May (below).
Arts & Business Scotland Chief Executive David Watt said: “As public-sector budgets for culture continue to tighten, the business community can play a big part in helping to create new ways for young people to engage with culture as an important route to building their confidence and self-esteem – while also deriving important business benefits such as raising brand awareness and accessing new audiences for their products and services.
“As we celebrate 2018 as Scotland’s Year of Young People, here are three inspiring examples of creative collaboration between business and the cultural sector to deliver projects that are helping to expand the cultural horizons of our young people in three very different ways.”
Alan Harty of Richmond Oaks said: “As a business, we see the impact debt has on mental health every day. Whilst we help alleviate the plight of personal debt, the lasting impact on the family and young people are not as easily healed.
“With this in mind, our partnership with the Scottish Youth Theatre in the Year of Young People presented a unique opportunity for Richmond Oaks to offer support in a new way. The Ensemble summer tour around Scotland of a specially created theatre piece that will focus on the very subject of debt and mental health was a perfect fit for us. We are delighted to be involved.”
Catherine Burnet, senior partner for KPMG in Scotland, said: “We were pleased to partner with the Scottish Ballet to give pupils from Cuthbertson Primary School in Govanhill the unique opportunity to experience ballet – both from the perspective of the performer and the audience – an opportunity that they might otherwise never have had.
“For culture to continue to thrive, we need to give the next generation of young Scots the opportunity to experience the arts and how it can expand their horizons and enrich their lives in a unique way.”
Chris Swaffer of PreSonus said: “Our partnership with Drake Music Scotland has meant a great deal to us at PreSonus. Their talented musicians have used our specialist notation software to both write and perform live on stage and they have done so in ways we could never have imagined.
“They are a constant inspiration to us and to our other users, and they have been a great partner in exploring the technology, even informing some of our key product decisions”
David Watt concluded: “Scotland’s Year of Young People offers businesses and cultural organisations alike an ideal opportunity to connect with young people as the business customers and cultural audience of the future.
“I would invite anyone interested in making the most of that opportunity to come along to this networking event and to witness first-hand the huge benefits closer collaboration between business, culture and Scotland’s young people can deliver for all involved.”
The Arts & Business Scotland business and culture networking event “Business, Culture and Young People: Working Together, Creating Opportunities” takes place at the Traverse Theatre, 10 Cambridge Street, Edinburgh, EH1 2ED from 2.30pm on Friday the 15th June.
For more information and to book tickets, visit: http://www.aandbscotland.org.uk/events/2018/06/15/development-forum-business-culture-and-young-people-working-together-creating-opportunities/
24
0
20
