Micro arts enterprises in Argyll and Bute to be backed by new funding
New grant funding to support Argyll and Isles as one of Scotland's most creative regions will see creative micro enterprises being encouraged in 2021.
A ground-breaking initiative in partnership with Glasgow School of Art, working with cultural tourism and heritage businesses, aims to strengthen the capacity of cultural micro enterprises and venues across Argyll and the Isles.
The Place Makers: Micro-Cluster Networks fund is recognition that Argyll and the Isles has the highest concentration of visual arts organisations, commercial galleries and community venues in rural Scotland and that this sector has been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Culture Heritage & ARTS (CHARTS) network in Argyll and Isles has partnered with Dr Michael Pierre Johnson, a researcher in the creative economy based at The Glasgow School of Art's Innovation School.
The Micro-Cluster Networks will help CHARTS members to recognise and highlight their own creative value and to grow their activities; work with others on shared themes of interest, with regional and national expert advice and create micro-networks of people with shared aims to profile their work in-situ. Awards will be allocated to pilot ideas in three areas of Argyll and Bute from early 2021.
The initiative was launched in response to research which showed how the visual arts accounts for a remarkable 11 per cent of VAT/PAYE businesses based in Argyll and Bute, a figure which rises to 15 per cent when commercial art galleries are included. This is significantly above the Scotland-wide figure of around four per cent of the country's total business base.
The project, funded by Creative Scotland and the Arts and Humanities Research Council through Dr Johnson's Innovation Leadership Fellowship, is supported in kind by Argyll and Bute Council.
It recognises how culture has a key role
Oban's Rockfield Centre.
supporting and binding communities, with opportunities for socialising around performances and exhibitions.
It also aims to support the sector's general desire for growth and collaboration and to begin to tackle the perceived lack of networking opportunities available for creative businesses to find the right partners, especially within the tourism, food and drink and accommodation sectors.
It also sees the value in the development of new and upgraded cultural venues supported by communities and Argyll and Bute Council, such as Dunoon Burgh Hall, Rockfield in Oban, Campbeltown Picture House, The Tower in Helensburgh and the Rothesay Pavilion in Bute.
The Place Makers: Micro-cluster Networks fund will also recognise the importance of Gaelic culture to the region and the value in its spoken word and musical legacy in developing creative skills from school into adulthood.