Scottish Arts Council boost for Scotland's first national park

The Scottish Arts Council today announced it is to help fund a series of artists commissions within Scotland's first National Park at Loch Lomond.

The award of £249,000 is the largest of several to be made in the latest round of grants from the Scottish Arts Council National Lottery Fund, worth a total of £1.3 million.

A Gateway and Orientation Centre is being built close to Balloch. The artworks are to be integrated into this area and the peninsula of land which leads from the centre. Both the park and the new centre are to be launched in March/April 2002.

Development of the park is being led by the Loch Lomond and Trossachs Interim Committee which has already selected seven artists for the project. They are Scottish-based Mary Redmond, Simon Starling and Donald Urquhart, Irish artist Siobhan Hapaska working in collaboration with Fiddian Warman, London-based Julienne Dolphin Wilding and Vong Phaophanit, and Olaf Nicolai from Berlin.

They are to work closely with the design team involved in landscaping the area which includes woodland, an open meadow and wetland fed by a network of small waterways leading to the loch.

As part of the project, an education post is to be created to help plan and implement an interpretation programme around the commissions. This will focus both on formal education in schools in the Vale of Leven and on the ongoing interpretation of the works for visitors.

Commenting on the award, Tessa Jackson, Scottish Arts Council Director said: "We very much welcome the approach adopted by the Interim Committee. They are allowing artists to make a significant contribution to the development of this important national resource.

"With the quality of artists involved, I am sure that they will be rewarded by the creation of extremely high quality and innovative works which will complement the beautiful scenery of the area. The education programme will also ensure that local people and future visitors can get involved in the creative process and ongoing debate. We hope that this project will help to encourage greater links between the arts, tourism and the environment in the future."

Also announced today are grants to a number of projects set to benefit children and young people.

Amongst them is an award of £21,000 to Room 13, a group of primary school children who run an art studio and gallery at Caol Primary near Fort William. The studio currently operates one day a week, focusing mainly on visual arts but also including crafts, creative writing, music and dance. The pupils are assisted on a voluntary basis by artists Rob Fairley and Wendy Sutherland, but the facility is managed and run by the children themselves.

The gallery features work by established and newly emerging artists, chosen by the pupils, often as a result of visits to degree shows and exhibitions in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Room 13's curator has also established links with galleries in Edinburgh and London and shows works from them.

Today's grant will allow Room 13 to expand its activities. It will help fund the appointment of the two artists as artists in residence at the school for a year, each spending two days a week at the studio. They will also establish a studio at the youth centre close to the school that will be available to secondary school children in the area and run workshops at the West Highland Museum.

"This is a truly remarkable project,"" said Tessa Jackson. "It is the first time we have had an application from children themselves and we have been extremely impressed by their professionalism.

"Room 13 have run their studio and gallery very effectively for several years now and we are very happy indeed to be able to allow them to expand their horizons."

Contact email(s)

media.office@scottisharts.org.uk

Issued by: Scottish Arts Council