Author: Buth Bharraigh and CnES

The case for mediation…. Two different interpretations of events

Press Release from CnES – 26th February 2016

With regard to the former Co-op building in Castlebay, Isle of Barra, the proposed demolition of the property was included in the Comhairle’s successful ‘South Uist and Barra Regeneration Programme’ bid to the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Capital Grant Fund in 2013. This proposal reflected the wishes of the local community, as expressed by Castlebay Community Council following a survey conducted locally in 2012. The proposal was also approved by the Comhairle in June 2014. 

Bùth Bharraigh was made aware of the Comhairle’s intention to demolish building prior to the Comhairle facilitating its temporary occupancy of the building in late 2013 and this occupation was always going to be of a temporary nature.

Castlebay Community Council has recently reconsidered and reconfirmed their decision in writing to the Comhairle, stating: – “Following a Committee meeting held on the 8th February 2016, the majority of Community Councillors have agreed to support the decision made by the previous Community Council, that the old Co-op building be demolished as planned by the Comhairle.”

The Comhairle has been supportive of Bùth Bharraigh since its inception; it remains supportive and will continue to support the organisation. The Comhairle has a policy of advertising opportunities for the lease of business units publicly.  Bùth Bharraigh will be invited to apply, along with any other interested-parties, for the new business units when they become available for let.

A reply to CnES press release from Bùth Bharraigh – 2^nd March 2016

 Bùth Bharraigh Ltd aims to provide opportunities for the local community. We are a market place for local produce and through our activities people have set up businesses, increased income and diversified crofts. We are a sustainable business and we support the local economy. Last year the shop turnover was £54,000 and a further £34,000 went directly to local suppliers.

 Initially, when we applied for the Old Co-op Building we had no idea that it was earmarked to be demolished. CnES promised us a custom built building for the shop and indeed even that we could have input into the design process. In January 2015, CnES confirmed that this was not in fact the case and we would have to apply for a unit and the old co-op would be demolished. We are aware of the demand for business units on the island, that there is a need for businesses to be located at the historic centre of Castlebay and that there is a need for activities and services for visitors to the island.

 By staying in the Old Co-op building we will not create even more demand for business units, we are supporting the historic centre of Castlebay and providing services and activities for tourists. We conducted a survey in Aug/Sep 2015 to ascertain, now that the building was being occupied and a hub of activity, whether public feeling had changed and whether we could now stay in this location. We received 222 responses online and through the Guth Bharraidh and 82% supported us remaining in the Old Co-op Building.

CnES and Castlebay Community Council (CCC) have been sent copies of the survey results but have not acted on it. Since October 2015, Bùth Bharraigh Ltd believed we had been working with CnES to remove the Old Co-op Building from the demolition list so that we would have a secure future. This would enable us to continue to develop and provide security for both our producers and employees. As part of this process we were asked to obtain a letter of support from CCC and CnES were going to contact the Scottish Government Regeneration Department to see if the grant funding could be changed. We invited members of CCC to the Bùth and also offered to make a presentation at the meeting. However, we were not invited or made aware that the meeting was taking place. It is extremely unfortunate that CCC choose to support a decision to demolish the Old Co-op without having all the necessary information to make an informed decision or carry out any consultation with the general public.

And also it seems that CnES did not contact the Scottish Government. It is also unfortunate that CCC then decided to put an article on the front page of Guth Bharraidh without informing us or giving us any chance of reply. We did ask CCC not to send the letter to CnES without first having an advertised meeting on the subject and a chance to get all the necessary information so that an informed decision could be reached. However this request was ignored. We have been left with no choice but to carry on and campaign for a secure future for Bùth Bharraigh. There are too many people now relying on us: employees, local shoppers, producers, crofters and visitors. Since our first survey has not been taken into consideration we are now undertaking a petition. We have over 1000 supporters between the online and paper copies.

We are so appreciative of all the support and messages we have been receiving from local people and from people all over the world. If you would like to sign then please do so online or in the Bùth. We really do hope that a resolution can be reached soon.

Author: Big Lottery

The Falls of Shin Community Project received a huge boost today when Big Lottery Fund Scotland  announced it is awarding the scheme more than £1 million in funding.

They are to give the Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust £1,000,567 to help fund the new Falls of Shin Visitor Centre.

A spokesman for the Big Lottery Fund Scotland said: “With a focus on regenerating the local economy, today’s award will mean the dispersed community will benefit from a new community resource and visitor centre.”

 The Falls of Shin Community Project will replace the previous visitor centre destroyed by fire in May 2013, located between Lairg and Bonar Bridge. The sustainable new building will include a café, shop, toilets, information panels and an outdoor plaza for community events.

Pete Campbell, chairman of Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust, said: “It’s great that the Big Lottery Fund acknowledged the social and economic benefits that the creation of the new community project will bring to the area.

“The development of a modern facility, with activities for all ages of visitors, is essential to the regeneration of the area and will provide important employment and training opportunities. Not only will the communities around the Kyle of Sutherland rejoice at the news of the award but that joy will be felt across the Highlands and further afield.”

A new camp site is to be developed in south Skye – after lottery funds of over £1.1 million were secured this week by the Broadford and Strath Community Company.

The Big Lottery Fund Scotland award of £1,106,019 will create a new 50 pitch campsite in a community woodland in Broadford purchased in 2011. It is hoped the project will provide a busy camping facility and help stimulate the local economy by attracting more tourists to the area.

Alistair McPherson, Chairman of Broadford and Strath Community Company, said: “We receive this good news with a mixture of delight and disbelief. We have been working towards developing this much needed facility and producing an income stream to support community projects for many years. We have had several setbacks along the way, but this injection of capital from the Big Lottery Fund means that we can at last make things happen for the good of the whole community.

“Local people will benefit from the campsite in so many different ways – we’re creating and supporting jobs, there will be opportunities for local businesses with more tourists in the area, and the profit from the campsite will be used to support community groups.”

The Big Lottery Fund Scotland has announced over £2.6 million in funding to three Highland community based projects.

Author: Greenspace Scotland

MyParkScotland is unique. We want to help people discover and support their local parks, but also provide a method of funding park improvements and longer term investments.

This website combines elements of project funding, for individuals and businesses to support parks and projects, with an investment strategy to develop longer-term sustainability and endowment funds.

MyParkScotland is Scotland’s only crowdfunding site specifically for parks and greenspaces. And the great thing about MyParkScotland is that you’re able to Gift Aid your donation and this ‘extra funding’ will go towards building an endowment fund for Scotland parks – helping to safeguard our national treasures for future generations.

See the seven parks that local groups have launched crowdfunding appeals for.

Author: CSS

The campaign to raise funds for the Penicuik Storehouse, launched at the end of last year, has already brought in investment totalling more than £42,000, which represents more than half the Penicuik Community Alliance’s green-light target of £82,100. The funding is required to open a substantial community food and market on Penicuik High Street, which will provide space for a community bakery, café, kitchen, food store and indoor social supermarket.

Over 1670 £25 shares have been taken up so far, by 180 mainly local shareholders either in person or through the online Microgenius platform. The offer promises both a financial and social return on that investment. The share offer is open until March 31st, and it’s hoped the Storehouse will start trading not long afterwards when fitting out is complete. The project has already received strong support from the Scottish Government, Midlothian Council, Midlothian Voluntary Alliance, Social Investment Scotland and Community Shares Scotland.

The Penicuik Community Alliance has secured a commitment from HMRC that all investments in this project will be eligible for the Enterprise Investment Scheme, which means that individuals can deduct 30% of their investment from this year’s tax liability

There’s an exhibition at Penicuik Town Hall during Open House on Saturday 27 February (10 till 2) and Sunday cinema Sunday 28 February (7 till 9). Upcoming public meetings about the project have been set for Penicuik Town Hall on Friday 4 March and Friday 18 March, both at 7pm.

Roger Kelly, convener of the Penicuik Community Alliance, said:

“We’ve been blown away by the strong support we’ve received for the Storehouse idea, both from Penicuik and from further afield. There’s a growing appetite for this kind of project across Scotland – people want to see businesses on their high streets that support each other, and that support the best local food and products. We think this can be a model for other towns across Scotland, and we were delighted to organise a Ministerial visit to the project for Margaret Burgess MSP earlier this month.

“We’ve brought in a lot of investment already, and we’re really grateful for the huge vote of confidence in the project which that represents. But there’s still a long way to go, and we need investors to get on board now to make the project a reality. We think it’s a persuasive case, combining a good return on their investment, a substantial tax break, and the knowledge that they’ll be helping to build the kind of community business that can make

such a difference to our local economy. We’re open to public view outside the Storehouse (formerly Nickel & Dime) in Penicuik High Street in the weeks ahead and anyone who wants to find out more can come along to the Town Hall sessions and meet the team.”

Kelly McIntyre, Programme Manager for Community Shares Scotland, said:

“It’s great to see the progress that the Penicuik Community Alliance is making, both bringing in the investment and doing the hard work that will be required to open the Storehouse later this year. As they pass the halfway mark I’d really urge local people and others with an interest in the future of Penicuik to look them up online and see how much they can afford to invest. 

“People often feel they have to choose between finding investments with a good return and finding socially useful causes to back. With the Penicuik Storehouse, as with community shares in general, investors get both in one package. It’s an increasingly popular model for projects like this across Scotland, and we have helped similar enterprises bring in more than £3m in investment over the last eighteen months alone.”

Author: Stephen Naysmith, The Herald

A “GAGGING” clause designed to muzzle charities who speak out about controversial policies will not be enforced by the Scottish Government.

The controversial law designed to prevent state-funded charities from criticising contentious government policies such as welfare reform was significantly beefed up by UK ministers at the weekend.

They ordered that, from May, a clause must be written into all government funding deals with charities ensuring that the money is not to be used to criticise politicians or attempt to change policies.

Charities that do not comply risk further payments being stopped and any funding already received could be clawed back.

Charities say the move will have a chilling effect on the ability of many to campaign against flawed government action.

Now the Scottish Government said they would continue to invite constructive criticism of its own policies.

But the robust stance from Holyrood means charities could end up using Scottish Government money to campaign against UK Government policy.

Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil said the Scottish Government would not add the clause to any grant offer letters and he is to write to the UK Government objecting to the rule.

 “In Scotland we recognise third sector and equalities organisations play an important role providing a voice on public policy for communities and we have no intention of adding this clause to our grant offer letters,” he said. “This planned change could make it difficult for some third sector organisation to highlight the issues that are affecting some of the most vulnerable people in our society. We have appropriate and well-designed controls in place to ensure that public money is spent for approved purposes only.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon reinforced the position at the charity conference The Gathering in Glasgow yesterday [Weds], saying that she saw charities as a “critical friend”.

However she said Holyrood was powerless to prevent Scottish-based charities funded by Westminster from being affected by the anti-lobbying clause.

The UK Government has argued that it is wrong for taxpayers’ money to be given to pressure groups to fund lobbying rather than good causes or public services.

However critics argue the new law is essentially a ‘gagging’ clause designed to appease Conservative MPs who are angry at relentless criticism from some charities which speak out over unpopular polices, particularly in areas such as welfare reform and child poverty.

John Downie, director of Public Affairs for the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), said providing services and campaigning on related issues often go hand in hand for charities

“This is a deliberate political move, and a continuation of the UK Government’s war on charities that has been running for the last 18 months,” he said.

“SCVO does not accept any distinction between campaigning or service organisations. Service delivery provides essential insights into the issues faced by the most vulnerable people in society. It is essential that this is used directly to inform public policy debate.

“We fundamentally reject the notion that government funds should not be used to resource lobbying, campaigning or informing public policy, voluntary organisations not only have a right to campaign and lobby government but a duty to do so.”

Enable, one of Scotland’s leading learning disability charities, said that had the rules been in place last year, they would have prevented it running the #StoptheBus campaign which won the Campaign of the Year at the Herald Society Awards.

Jan Savage, executive director of campaigns at Enable said: “Our #StoptheBus campaign achieved a significant change for people who have learning disabilities by resolving a policy issue that had seen people with learning disabilities lose their access to a bus pass.

“It was a real victory for people who have learning disabilities, who spoke up and campaigned on an issue that matters to them and is a perfect example of what third sector organisations like ENABLE Scotland can do to improve the lives of others through campaigning.”

Unrestricted charitable funds allow Enable to help give people with learning disabilities a voice, Ms Savage said: “We have also campaigned with our members on issues like education for all and the closure of long stay institutions.”

The UK Government argues it is not gagging charities and they will be free to engage in lobbying but should not fund this sort of activity from government grants.

Author: Scottish Government

 Scottish Community Action Research Fund (SCARF) in a nutshell

The Scottish Community Action Research Fund (SCARF) ran from 2002 -2009 and provided support to community groups to carry out research in their community into issues of concern to them. The purpose was to provide communities with the support they needed to evidence the need for change.

The issues

With over 100 community groups benefiting from SCARF the issues researched were wide and varied ranging from Community Land buy outs in Assynt through to the need for community premises in Drummore, Mull of Galloway. Common to all groups was the desire not to rely on anecdotal evidence but to carry out research and provide clear evidence of the need for change.

The approach to the issues

Groups who successfully applied for SCARF were supported by a mentor, who acted as a friendly critic and supported them, to develop their research plan, carry out their research, analyse findings and present their findings to decision makers in ways which would influence their support for change. Groups also received small scale funding to support the research process and to help them publish their findings.

Evidence of success

Three evaluations of SCARF and discussions with SCARF projects confirmed that:

·         individuals reported increased skills and confidence

·         groups reported greater confidence and a higher degree of focus and connection to their own communities

·         several groups successfully used the evidence they gathered to achieve changes in the services provided to them, or obtained funding to provide better services or facilities for their community.

·         many groups used their research and findings to support funding applications to carry on or extend their work

Key lessons emanating from the experience of running SCARF were as follows

There is considerable demand from communities to be able to carry out research for themselves and provide clear evidence of the need for changes to services or facilities available to their community.

The provision of mentor support is crucial for many groups, giving them a single point of contact for support, advice and encouragement.

The ability to evidence the need for change by communities, through research, is a major factor in actually achieving change.

One great thing

The unique aspect of SCARF is that it provided a single point of contact where community groups could obtain financial and ongoing support from an experienced mentor to help them develop and carry out research which provided them with evidence of the need for change, and a locus for working together to share learning and experience.

Author: Glen Smith, University of Tromso

For the past three years I have been engaged in research into how marine spatial planning will affect the management of Scotland’s coastal, foreshore and inshore areas (up to 12 nautical miles from the coast). The new planning system will be guided by the National Marine Plan (2015), and regional plans will be formulated within the 11 new Scottish Marine Regions. Marine planning partnerships – comprised of local experts, practitioners and stakeholders – will work within each of these regions to tailor the plans to local needs. The system is designed to allow more local ownership and decision making about specific issues within their area. 

In the course of my work I have become less interested in the technicalities of planning at sea, and more interested in what this new infrastructure means for local democracy and the voice of coastal and island communities. For several reasons it appears that the democratic foundation of marine spatial planning in Scotland might not be as strong as is claimed. 

Firstly, the consultation system supporting decision making in the marine environment is far from perfect, and often exclusive. The Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST), for example, has faced this problem. COAST is one of the UK’s leading community marine conservation organisations. Their achievements are quite remarkable, including the establishment of Scotland’s first no-take zone in Lamlash Bay in 2008. However, despite the high level of local support, the organisation has been denied input into consultation on the management options for marine protected areas and is unlikely to be represented in the new local planning partnership. It appears that COAST will be overlooked in the latest governance infrastructure for marine resource management. 

Secondly, marine spatial planning immediately raises questions over the role of the Crown Estate (Commission). This organisation owns and manages over half of Scotland’s foreshore and almost the entire inshore seabed. It negotiates leases on this space with any new actor wishing to develop a project, as they will require anchorage or some point of contact to the seabed. Although stringent environmental regulations and impact assessments are followed, the democratic input by local communities into these lucrative business deals is often limited. For many, marine management is an exclusive realm dominated by those bodies who possess the skills, knowledge, and expertise in the field: Marine Scotland; the Crown Estate; Scottish Natural Heritage; the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. 

For planning in Scotland’s seas the starting point is typically ‘blue growth’, project development, nature conservation, and conflict resolution. These are challenging issues that do indeed require careful planning. However, the starting point is rarely local democracy, subsidiarity, or strengthened communities, even though the government is committed to improving these aspects of Scottish life.

The key to raising the profile of coastal and island communities may lie in introducing a new concept into land reform debates. I propose we call it ‘marine land’. The 2014 report by the Land Reform Review Group clearly states, “the land of Scotland in this context is the territorial land area of Scotland, including Scotland’s seabed out to the 12 nautical mile territorial boundary” (p16). And yet this area is rarely more than name-dropped in debates over land reform (and, indeed, in the rest of that report). Seen from a governance and decision-making perspective, the Crown Estate is a private landowner. So why do we not consider more radical ways to increase input by communities in marine resource management, such as community buyout of marine land?

Critics will cite the lack of expertise and funds in communities, the need for a unified vision for Scotland’s seas, and concerns over the true intentions of communities owning the seabed. My research is focused on imagining what a new governance system might look like that addresses such concerns. Following through with the planned two-stage reform of the Crown Estate is an important element, as is continued strong guidance from the National Marine Plan. The potential roles of local councils, development trusts, and Community Land Scotland all need to be considered. Communities will also need to be able to count on localised scientific support. The devil is in the detail, and the details are complex. 

Terrestrial examples have proven that land buyout by communities can be risky. They need to be financially stable. Local governance structures need to be flexible, yet robust. And what happens if they fail? Who takes responsibility?

But successful projects have brought measurable community benefits such as job creation, population retention (and growth), increased investments and improved facilities, as well as less quantifiable benefits such as social trust, belonging, a sense of place and identity, and new local democratic institutions.

I do not advocate the immediate sale of all ‘marine land’ to communities. But I do propose that we address the worrying absence of the seabed in land reform debates. And I propose that we address the worrying absence of community development in marine spatial planning.

Author: Kevin McKenna, The Observer

My sadness at never having possessed sufficient artistry as a child in my quest to become a professional footballer did not really last all that long. In fact, if I was being honest with myself, I’d known from my early teens that no amount of dedication would ever replace the absence of anything resembling pace or my inability to locate any team mate with a pass without first consulting a map. I still have nightmares about my first representative game. My pride at being selected to represent my district began rapidly to diminish when I discovered that the little Merlins around me were doing things with the ball of which I was only capable in my fantasies. I found I had brought a whole new meaning to the word “immobile”.

Often since then I’ve had cause to wonder what might have unfolded if, instead of spending hours every week haplessly seeking the key that would unlock the mysteries of trapping a football, I’d chosen to attempt to play a musical instrument. I’m not fooling myself that I’d have been good enough to be let loose in a tuxedo with a violin or anything like that. But after a few years, I feel sure I might have got a tune out of a guitar. My ambitions would have been modest. It’s not as if Scotland doesn’t possess a sufficiency of public houses that at least one of them, on one enchanted evening, could not have given me a stage for a little while, before its audience knew what was happening.

It might have been different if something like the Big Noise Youth Orchestra had been around. This orchestra, which first captivated the Scottish public one rainy summer’s evening in Stirling in 2009, is a cultural gem. I’ve attended many concerts, mainly of the head-down-and-batter variety of heavy rock and even spent several years observing productions by Scottish Opera while trying to flog ice cream and programmes at the back of the dress circle in Glasgow’s Theatre Royal. But none of them moved me as much as watching those young people that night in Stirling.

They were almost all from the Raploch estate, a neighbourhood that has encountered more than a degree of social and health inequality and which does not feature on any of Visit Scotland’s guides to the historic and cultural delights of Stirling. Yet the noise they made that night in front of friends and families, many of whom will never have encountered any live orchestral performance, was simply beautiful. Who knows how many young lives, otherwise destined for troubled and uncertain futures, were turned around by the experience of that evening? The Big Noise Scotland initiative is inspired by the Sistema music project, originating in Venezuela. Its aims and philosophy are so clear and make so much sense that you wonder why it hadn’t been tried long before then. And, in the eight years since, you also wonder why it doesn’t feature at the heart of the social equality programme of every one of Scotland’s 32 local authorities. In its mission statement, it talks of “drawing a line under the past and nurturing a new generation of children who grow up in an environment saturated with intensive and immersive music making. We work with children from birth through to adulthood.

“While our most obvious triumphs are musical, our purpose is to use that music making to equip children with confidence, resilience, ambition and a multitude of transferable skills to support them across all areas of their lives. The ultimate goal is to boost educational performance, health and wellbeing so that children grow to achieve their full potential, contributing to positive communities with fewer costly problems.” It is all of that and more. For, underpinning this, is a sacred process of helping children discover the gift that accompanied them into this world, be it their musical talent or the equal status that began to evaporate moments after they were born. During this, they come to understand that they are worth something, that they matter.

It tells a world where, increasingly, an individual’s worth is measured only by his ability to make money, that no one has yet been born who can’t make a difference to someone else’s life. Yet, Stirling Council, whose financial backing has been crucial to the success of Big Noise Raploch, is reported to be considering a significant reduction in its backing as public service cuts start to kick in.

Since the Raploch orchestra was established, two others have materialised: in Glasgow’s Govanhill and in Aberdeen’s Torry estate. Each of these communities, like those in Raploch, experiences ingrained challenges in health and social deprivation rooted in poverty and inequality. The results they have achieved in helping children recognise their gifts and to acknowledge that they can be best utilised by being equal parts of a bigger whole, an orchestra, are beyond argument.

In last year’s evaluation report of Sistema Scotland’s Big Noise programme the economic worth to the nation was laid out thoroughly. This was commissioned by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health and Education Scotland and revealed in fine detail the hugely positive economic projections over a 70-year period, which began to materialise as early as year six of programme delivery.

The improvement in the lives of individuals and in the community of Govanhill, if the Big Noise programme is sustained for the long term, are not difficult to translate into the dismal argot of financial profit and loss. After six years this is estimated to be £9.18m then rises to £15.57m and £28.91m at years nine and 15 respectively. This is surely a conservative estimate for a sprawling community just south of the Clyde, which has become run down and delinquent over the past 20 years or so. It factors in thousands of lifetimes of health gains, employment activity, increases in social aspiration and associated reductions in criminal behaviour.

In the UK, we confer the title “national treasure” far too readily on mere troubadours and chroniclers. It is a title that ought to be reserved for Sistema Scotland and its Big Noise programme. As such, it ought to be ring-fenced by Holyrood to protect it from the depredations of austerity.

Author: Voluntary Arts Scotland

From small island communities to big cities, from knitters to singers – our Epic Awards shotlist is a wonderful reflection of the voluntary arts in Scotland.

We’ve spent many hours reading through all the wonderful applications we received, and making some tough decisions in order to draw up a shortlist of eight groups.

Now it’s your turn – who will get your vote in the People’s Choice Award? It’s time to meet the Epic Award Scotland shortlist . . .

Epic Awards Scotland Shortlist

alter:nativity – Group of rural Aberdeenshire villagers who staged an alternative nativity inspired by the present day refugee crisis.

Deeside Knitwits – Braemar craft group that brings together knitters of all ages, both locally and internationally, to create fundraising yarn bombing projects.

Guthan an Iar – Gaelic singing group from South Uist in the Outer Hebrides, which is keeping local song-poems alive through public performances.

Hidden Door Festival – Festival featuring music, theatre, film and visual art, run entirely by volunteers and held in formerly derelict places in Edinburgh.

Kilmarnock Railway Station Heritage Trust – Volunteers who turned disused platform rooms into a vibrant hub of historic and cultural activity.

Rusty Boat Theatre Company – Port Glasgow youth theatre group that plugged a gap in local provision and found unusual venues to perform in.

Sew La Tea Dough – Upcycling clothing group in Glasgow’s Govanhill area, that passes on skills, saves money and helps the environment.

Stramash Stornoway – Volunteer-run festival that gave musicians on the Isle of Lewis a much needed chance to perform and meet each other.

Author: Voluntary Arts Scotland

Into film? Like going to the movies? Ever considered putting on your own cinema night?

Grow Your Own Cinema is an exciting new project by Cinema For All and Voluntary Arts Scotland set up to encourage voluntary arts groups to put on their very own film events.

•             Perhaps your group meets regularly in a town hall or school that has the potential to double up as a screening venue?

•             Do you have a cinema in your local area but would like more say in what films you’d like to see?

Grow Your Own Cinema is here to help!

We’re inviting voluntary arts groups not currently directly involved with film or community cinema, to send us expressions of interest with a view to taking part in Grow Your Own Cinema over the course of 2016. You don’t need any previous experience of screening films as full, free training will be provided.

Please send your expression of interest to: Morvern Cunningham, by either emailing morvern@cinemaforall.org or in writing to Morvern Cunningham, c/o Voluntary Arts Scotland, Creative Exchange, Edinburgh, EH6 7BS, with the following details:

•             Name of your voluntary group

•             Brief description of your group’s activities

•             Location of your group

•             Contact name

•             Contact number

•             Why you’d like to participate in the Grow Your Own Cinema project and how your group or community could benefit (max 150 words)

If you are able, you could also include the following information:

•             Nearest cinema to your location

•             Potential screening venues at your location (e.g. town hall, school, etc)

Deadline for expressions of interest: Tuesday 1 March.

Please note: Grow Your Own Cinema is a Scotland-wide skills development programme. However, not all expressions of interest guarantee involvement in the project at this stage.

The project aims to develop film exhibition skills within voluntary arts groups not currently working with film in areas of low cinema provision, to enable them to form new film clubs and community cinemas around Scotland.

Grow Your Own Cinema is a 12-month project funded through Creative Scotland’s Screen Skills Fund and is delivered in partnership with Cinema For All and Voluntary Arts Scotland. Cinema For All (previously the British Federation of Film Societies) is the national support and development organisation for the community cinema sector in the UK. Voluntary Arts Scotland promotes participation in creative cultural activity across Scotland.