Link-up with author shows how the Saltire Society continues to invest in creative Scots

Alasdair Gray bursary just one of the ways new talent benefits, says Sarah Mason

One of the Saltire Society’s essential commitments is to celebrate Scotland’s most creative individuals, people who challenge us to think in new ways, who have different approaches, who take risks, and who don’t give up.

In April 2016, we announced a £50,000 Inspiring Scotland programme of funding to offer encouragement and support to the next generation of creative Scots.

As part of this, we partnered with organisations such as Janice Parker Projects, Hands up For Trad, Youth Theatre Scotland and Fèisean nan Gàidheal. Among other initiatives, the Inspiring Scotland programme helped a young piper travel to Bulgaria to explore Balkan folk music, an architect go to Denmark to study new design models for an age- ing population, an emerging director work at the Traverse Theatre, and the first Scottish visual artist to attend the International Studio & Curatorial Program in New York for three months.

The Saltire Society’s support of creative work could hardly be wider, yet we plan to continue to expand and evolve in our 81st year. 2017 will see the Inspiring Scotland Programme develop with new partners, and find those creative areas that would benefit from new investment.

Our first bursary in 2017 was announced on 21 March and sees a partnership with Alasdair Gray, one of Scotland’s most iconic and inspirational creative forces. Alasdair joined us as we launched the bursary and opened an exhibition of his work, currently running at the Saltire Soci-

ety until the 28 April. (Call 0131 556 1836 to arrange a viewing).

The Saltire Society has had a long relationship with Alasdair Gray, who won the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year in 1982 for his landmark book Lanark. He went on to win the Book of the Year again in 2011 for A Life in Pictures, one of only a handful of people to win the prestigious award twice. Alasdair also designed the covers for the Society’s Saltire Series of pamphlets, in which writers spark fresh thinking, ignite debate and challenge our orthodoxies through short essays on a diversity of topics.

Alasdair Gray encountered the paintings of Edward Munch as an adolescent. It changed his life. It gave him a sense of his own potential.

He said: “How wonderful to discover the works of a Norwegian artist who had lived in the industrial capital city of a modern nation smaller than Scotland, yet who painted it as grand and tragic, not boring or trivial.” Art can change your life.

The first Alasdair Gray Inspiring Scotland Bursary will be made to an emerging creative practitioner who demonstrates exceptional potential, and will be announced in November this year. More details about this can be found at saltiresociety.org.uk

The Saltire Society’s commitment to initiate and nurture creativity is growing.

If you would like to be part of the Saltire Society, check out our website and consider becoming a member. The Saltire Society is a non-political charity open to all.

Sarah Mason is programme director of the Saltire Society