Open Fund for Individuals: April 2021 highlights
We have two new sections on the blog, one for Individuals and one for Organisations. In this post I’m going to highlight some of the projects and resources featured in the section for Individuals.
The section for Individuals showcases a selection of the writers and other literary individuals (including programmers, storytellers, producers, spoken word artists, facilitators…) funded through the Open Fund for Individuals. Not everyone is ready to share narrative details of what they’re working on at the point when they’re funded, so this isn’t a full list of funding awards related to literature* but it gives a rather glorious sweep of the breadth and variety of activity people are applying for.
While we’re all itching for venues to (safely) reopen, it’s perhaps unsurprising that some recently funded projects have focused on bringing work to audiences through the power of digital streaming. Victoria McNulty is producing a full length spoken word show of her collection, Exiles, specifically designed for digital streaming; Neil Cargill is creating a full-cast audio narrative, Getting Back There From Here, for episodic release online; Storyteller Fiona Herbert is working with musician Emma Durkin to develop her show, Corryvreckan : Inspiralled Tales, about the ancient creator goddess, the Cailleach, for filming and broadcast at the Scottish International Storytelling Festival.
We often get asked if people can apply to the Open Fund for ‘time-to-write’ rather than events or something that looks more traditionally like a project, and the answer is YES, ABSOLUTELY. These applications range from a very simple budget with an artist fee to cover living costs for a set time period, to more complex budgets including travel or other research costs, mentoring or professional editorial input. Some of the writers are working on their first full-length piece of creative work, some are striking out in a new direction having published extensively in other forms or genres.
Sam Buchan-Watts is developing his first book-length collection, a sequence of lyric poems called Path Through Wood inspired in part by his experiences volunteering with refugees and asylum seekers; Helen Sedgwick is exploring quantum physics and the climate crisis in her next work of literary fiction, Our Sweet World; Alan Bissett is returning to fiction for his fifth novel, The Coven and the Drowners, exploring witchcraft in the age of social media; Elspeth Wilson is exploring the impacts of trauma on the body through nature writing in their debut non-fiction book, The Sun on my Skin; Mandy Haggith is taking inspiration from coastal rhythms of tides and seasons for her poetry in The Liminal Zone.
Dawn Geddes is exploring grief and toxic friendship in her debut gothic YA novel, The House of Broken Things; Doug Johnstone is moving from crime to science fiction and first contact with aliens in his fourteenth novel, The Space Between Us; Merryn Glover is taking inspiration from and contrasting her own experiences of the Cairngorms with that of Nan Shepherd in a new work of non-fiction, The Hidden Fires: A Cairngorms Journey with Nan Shepherd; Joseph Ridgwell is writing The Island, a novel about establishing a 21st Century pirate utopia on an uninhabited Scottish Island; Rachelle Atalla is completing her second novel, Livestock, a literary dystopia set in a world where water has become a scarce and sacred commodity.
Applications to the Open Fund for Individuals are able to support collaborative work too: Russell Jones is transforming a series of poems into a graphic novel with the artist Aimee Lockwood; Barbara Henderson is bringing together the voices of 31 EU immigrants to Scotland in Scottish by Inclination; Poet Valerie Gillies is working with photographic artist Rebecca Marr on a year-long exploration of Scotland’s wild grasses; Noelle Harrison and Becky Sweeney are developing an interactive tarot deck of short fiction; Ailie Finlay is working with illustrator Kate Leiper to develop prototypes of books designed for children with complex additional needs.
Supported by targeted funds from our colleagues in the Creative Industries team, writer Heather Parry and illustrator Maria Stoian are developing The Illustrated Freelancer’s Guide, which is designed to remove some of the barriers freelancers face when trying to inform themselves of their rights and protections.
If you’ve received funding from Creative Scotland to support the development of your writing — in any form or genre — or your literary work as a programmer or in another role, and would like to be included in my next round-up, please get in touch viccy.adams@creativescotland.com
*all Creative Scotland funding awards are listed on the main website on a monthly basis here.
