Our 2023-2024 Creative Fund is now OPEN for applications
For information about how to apply in British Sign Language please see the below video.
Please read the guidelines in full, download and complete the application form and send to [email protected] along with any images, video links or files in support of your application. The deadline for applications is Thursday 11th May 2023 at 5pm.
We also accept video applications using spoken English or BSL. Submissions should be sent as a link or file by email by the closing date to [email protected]
If you have any questions about your application please contact us on the email address above and we would be happy to help.
The applications will be reviewed by a panel including members of our staff team, board of directors, external industry representatives and artists and a representative from Creative Scotland. Decisions are expected to be made by the end of May – all artists will be advised of the outcome of their application and feedback will be available upon request.
What we are Looking For
Each year, we receive between 30 and 70 applications for funding, and we are usually able to support between 4 and 6 of these. There is more detail in the guidelines below about the parameters that we use to assess applications. However it certainly helps to have a clearly written, well articulated case for support in your application. For the first time in 2023 we are making available some previous successful applications so that prospective applicants can read an example of how some other artists have approached writing about their plans. With very many thanks to Andrew Simpson and Jessica Innes for allowing us to share these.
A Simpson Example 1 Creative Fund
J Innes Example 2 Creative Fund
How To Apply
Please read the fund guidelines below which will explain the application process and timeline in full. When you are ready, please complete the application form below along with an Equalities Monitoring form which is available here. Please send your completed form in PDF format to [email protected] by 5pm on Thursday 11th May 2023.
Guidelines Creative Fund 2023-2024
Creative Fund Application Form 2023-24
How To Apply in BSL
About the fund
Scottish-based artists of any discipline can apply for up to £6k to explore creative, training or research projects related to puppetry, object manipulation, visual theatre and animated film. Our awards enable specific, time-limited research and development to explore imaginative and compelling new creative ideas, develop technical skills or conduct research.
Each artist will also be supported with mentorship from within and beyond PAS, free tickets to attend work at our festivals and access to the same wellbeing benefits as our staff team. We are looking for great ideas and for artists who can articulate why we are the right organisation to support them and why now is the right time in their career.
Projects previously supported
Since 2008 we have funded over 75 projects through Creative Fund. Here are some examples of projects we have supported:
STEMS by Ainslie Henderson
Ainslie said: “All the projects that I completed in the three years after leaving art school were either commissions, or schemes set up with tight deadlines and objectives. While I enjoyed these challenges, I longed for some space to explore, experiment, wonder and remind myself how to play. I think in our hyper productive society this is a mode of being that is typically, hugely undervalued. I was tired, worn out and beginning to lose my passion for creating. On my receipt of a Creative Fund award, knowing that my studio rent was taken care of, and that a piece of finished work fitting a specific brief was not expected of me, I began to reinvigorate my relationship with what it means to be creative.”
Following its launch in 2015, STEMS was presented with great success at leading animation festivals around the world, winning numerous nominations and prizes including, the Edinburgh International Film Festival’s McLaren Award and being long listed for the 2016 Oscars.
FERAL by Tortoise in a Nutshell
Tortoise in a Nutshell said: “The Creative Fund has been fundamentally instrumental to our success. It has given us the time and space to explore tiny flashes of ideas. It has allowed us to test and experiment and refine those initial sparks into something more tangible. It has allowed us to see what was working and, perhaps even more importantly, what was not.”
Feral has been performed in cities around the world to critical acclaim, and has won many awards including a Scotsman Fringe First, Best Theatre Performance and Best Direction Awards in Kortoski Festival, Montenegro and was a New York Times Critics’ Pick.