Dancebase and the Amanda Kane School of Dance are among the beneficiaries of new awards made through the Youth Talent Development Fund from The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo and Creative Scotland.
The £150,000 funding is being announced today during The Edinburgh Youth Gaitherin’– one of eleven projects supported across the country running until April 2020.
Hosted by Hands up for Trad, The Edinburgh Youth Gaitherin’ brings together over 25 young people to take part in traditional music workshops led by some of the country’s finest traditional musician tutors who will share skills in traditional song, song-writing, guitar, fiddle, pipes and whistle.
From the Highlands to the Borders, the eleven projects are the Amanda Kane School of Dance (Edinburgh), Dance Base (Edinburgh), Feisean Nan Gaidheal (Highlands), Gael Music (Borders & West Dunbartonshire), Hands up for Trad (Edinburgh), Rothesay & District Pipe Band (Argyll & Bute), Scottish Culture and Traditions Association (Aberdeen), Scottish Dance Teachers’ Alliance (Glasgow City & North Lanarkshire), St Margarets Trust (Aberdeen City & Aberdeenshire), Strachur & District Piping Association (Argyll & Bute) and the National Piping Centre.
Each organisation aims to nurture the ambition and talent of young people in Scotland (aged 5-26) engaged in traditional music and dance, specifically in piping, drumming, Highland dance and fiddle playing.
Amanda Kane School of Dance (above) receives £13, 108 to provide professional tuition in Highland Dance for young people in North Edinburgh, enabling them to learn and develop new skills in this dance form.
The young people will showcase their learning in a local performance, with some going on to perform in a group choreography at the International Gathering of Scottish Highland Dance in Paris in November 2019.
Dance Base is awarded £18,506 to develop a youth dance exchange between young people from Scotland and Basque Country, who will create a new piece of choreography to be performed during Edinburgh’s Fringe in August and the Atlantikaldia festival in Spain in September.
Simon Thoumire, Creative Director, Hands Up for Trad said: “Hands Up for Trad very much appreciate the funding from The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo to enable us to give amazing music opportunities to young people at the Edinburgh Youth Gaitherin’. They will have great fun with some brilliant tutors in Leith Theatre learning trad music.
“Scottish traditional music and dance are really important art forms and give young people a link to their past and their future. The friendships that are made through music are often for life and the sense of community they build welcomes in people from many different cultures. In essence traditional music and culture and the building blocks for life.”
Colin Bradie, Interim Head of Creative Learning, Creative Scotland commented: “We’re delighted to work with the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo to offer a second year of the Youth Talent Development Fund, supporting and celebrating the talents of Scotland’s young traditional artists.
“It was exciting to see the strength of applications received this year and the ambition of the Traditional Arts sector to provide opportunities for young people to develop their skills and progress within these artforms.
“The eleven projects supported through this year’s fund will give young people from Aberdeenshire to Argyll & Bute the chance to take part in activities from Highland and step dance, to piping, fiddle and international exchanges. We’re very much looking forward to seeing the work that young people go on to produce through these projects.”
Rucelle Soutar, Chief Operating Officer at The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, said: “Traditional Scottish art forms are at the core of every performance at The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo and we take great pleasure in continuing to support them through our Youth Talent Development Fund.
“As part of our Strategy for Growth, we are committed to investing in Scotland, our heartland, and supporting the next generation of talented musicians and dancers based here. We created this fund to nurture youth engagement and participation in traditional art forms and we are delighted that fantastic organisations from across Scotland are benefitting from this year’s round of funding.”
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