Brora Artist Nominated for Scottish Variety Awards 2013

It's great to see that Lola Nicol, Artist, from Brora has been nominated in the Best New Scottish Artist/Designer category in this year's Scottish Variety Awards.

To see all the nominations and vote in any of the categories, follow this link:
Lola's website is here; Link

Starter for 6 Roadshow - Inverness. 8th November 2012

If you're looking for support for your creative venture, here's a  message from the Cultural Enterprise Office about the 2013 Starter for 6 Programme:

"Starter for 6 is Scotland’s premier start-up and investment programme for creative industry entrepreneurs and is now in its seventh year. 

Originated by Nesta, the programme has been produced and delivered by the Cultural Enterprise Office since 2009. In that time Cultural Enterprise Office has developed the skills and talents of 162 businesses and 187 participants and awarded over £490,000 in investment to 88 new creative industry start-ups. 

This year's Main Programme will run in Glasgow/Edinburgh and Dundee The programme provides successful applicants with: 

• Four enterprise training sessions designed to provide you with the business skills to turn your idea into reality. The sessions cover  costing, pricing and marketing to pitching and presentation skills giving you confidence and providing you with the content to build a robust business plan. 

•  Peer mentoring or coaching. 

• The opportunity to network and share ideas with like minded entrepreneurs in training sessions and events. 

•  The opportunity to become part of the growing Starter for 6 Network. 

• The opportunity to pitch for up to £10,000 of grant funding at the end of the training programme in order to take your business forward. br />"

The Inverness Roadshow will take place at the Ironworks on the 8th November and details can be found here:

"Bye Bye B&B" - a new Book from Joan Campbell MBE

Author, tourism guru, Chair of  The  Federation of Small Business up here (and good friend of Business Gateway) Joan Campbell MBE has a new book out  - and its Highland launch is taking place in Waterstones, Inverness on 1st November.   If it's anything like her previous books - it will be very funny, informative and a damned good (Christmas?) present.

For more info about the book and its launch, follow this link to Joan's website.

Indian Summer being Filmed in Durness

 A major new film, starring Kevin McKidd and Ashley Jensen is planned to be made in Durness in Spring 2013.  Indian Summer is set in 1967 and describes the impact on a Highland family of a Native American US Marine's arrival in their community.

This is just the latest in a series of films and TV programmes made in the County, capitalising on Sutherland's scenic assets -  and also on the availability of local skills and support.

For further details, contact Trish Shorthouse at the Highland Film Commission: www.scotfilm.org

"The Greatest"

© Christina Jansen

Probably one of the most haunting and touching pictures you'll see this year.  The unmistakeable profile of Muhammad Ali at the Olympic Stadium - reflected in a portrait by Lola Nicol.

Lola, who lives in Brora, Sutherland, is a recently-supported PTYBS business and was commissioned to produce a piece to commemorate "The Greatest's" 70th Birthday.  The painting is part of a major exhibition being held at the Smokehouse Gallery in London.

Link to Lola's website: 

Link to PTYBS/PSYBT:

Elphin Music Festival

 This coming Saturday (14th July) sees the Elphin Music Festival being held in and around the Elphin Community Hall.  There's an incredible amount of entertainment  - culminating in a performance by The Naked Strangers and other great acts.

For more info. about the Festival, follow this Link

Business Gateway - Specialist Teams

In Business Gateway Highland & Moray we've just formed a few specialist teams from within our ranks looking at key sectors to the Highland econonomy.  I'm on the "Creative Industries" and (unsurprisingly, some might say) the "Food & Drink" teams.

The aim is not to substitute for any of our hard-working partner organisations but just to find a way of finding out what's going on in each of these sectors, identify the key players and then passing this information on to our colleagues and clients. Similarly, each team can pass on details of Business Gateway activities to the relevant suppoprt agencies; hopefully avoiding duplication and gaps.

The Creative Industries group had brief meeting yesterday and we were pleased to welcome Gordon Brown of "Brown's Gallery" who gave us some pointers about existing support provision, his own concerns and his work with North Highland Connections.

If anyone out there connected with the Creative Industries (or Food & Drink sector) wants to make any comments about how Business Gateway can help or just wants to keep us posted on any events and activities, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Business Gateway Music - Fiona J MacKenzie

Fiona J MacKenzie has just released her brilliant album "Archipelago" and is touring to promote it.  The tour includes Kenya, New Mexico, the Scottish Parliament  - and Lochinver Village Hall on 21 August 2012.  For more details and a quick listen to the album, visit Fiona's website.

HCA/NADFAS Grant - Call for Entries

Our good friends at Hi-Arts have brought this to our attention:

"The Heritage Crafts Association (HCA) and the National Association of Decorative and Fine Art Societies (NADFAS) are delighted to be working in partnership for the first time to offer The HCA NADFAS Grant 2012. 

One of HCA’s key aims is to ensure that heritage crafts skills of the highest standard are passed from one generation to the next. Support of our national heritage has been one of the cornerstones of NADFAS since its inception in 1968. This grant will specifically support traditional crafts that contribute to our living heritage e.g. basketry, weaving, wood working, shoe making, metal working and so on. 

The grant primarily looks to offer help for the training of apprentices. However NADFAS and HCA are well aware that apprenticeships are not the only route to learn a craft skill and other training routes are included..."

For more information, follow the link

Mandy Haggith on Mike Ellis, Woodsman

There's a great article on the Northings Blog about Helmsdale's Mike Ellis, traditional woodsman:

"MOST of the crafts people I have interviewed are keen to be thought of as artists, so it is interesting to meet someone who views being seen as ‘arty farty’ as ‘a danger.’ Mike Ellis works as a woodsman, and though some of the things he makes may be beautiful, they are not, in his view, works of art.

IN Mike’s workshop, its walls lined with an extraordinary collection of tools, there is a gate, hand-made from greenwood, its shape coming from the natural bends of oak and ash branches held together with beech pegs. Such an object has both the value of scarcity and is refreshing to modern eyes, so used to the geometric precision of industrial products. I could easily be persuaded to call it art, but it’s not at all clear Mike would be pleased if I did....."

Read the rest of the article here

Business Gateway Music - Abagail Grey

Here's a cute little video by Abagail Grey  - filmed on the shores of Loch Ness and featuring a bit of dancing...

Ripples Crafts in the News

Nice article in Saturday's Herald about Helen Lockhart of Ripples Crafts, yarn dyers in Assynt: (Link to Herald Website)

Link to Ripples Crafts

goNORTH 2012

The 6th & 7th June sees the welcome return of the Highland's premier creative industries showcase.

From goNORTH:

"goNorth was launched in 2001 to provide a platform for artists from the north of Scotland to showcase for music industry and media representatives on their own patch. Originally hosted in several venues on Aberdeen’s Belmont Street, we briefly relocated to Dundee, before settling in Scotland’s most northerly city, Inverness. The event has since developed into one of the country’s leading Creative Industries Festivals, covering a much wider remit from Screen and Broadcast to Designer Fashion and Publishing. 

goNORTH 2011 proved our most ambitious and successful event to date and we are determined to top it this year by bringing together a much wider selection of leading creative industry figures. We intend to deliver a world class programme of panels, workshops, film screenings, training opportunities, Q&A sessions, camera equipment and special effects showcases and a global marathon of live music showcases."

Full details of all this year's goNORTH activities  - and how to register - can be found here.

Creative Industries Newsletter - January 2012

Here's a link the latest edition of HIE's Creative Industries Newsletter - packed with useful information about opportunities and events.  This issue includes registration details for GoNorth 2012.


Creative Industries Team Newsletter (pdf 343kB)

Business Gateway Music - Rachel Sermanni

Here's a brand new video of Carrbridge's very own, Rachel Sermanni, performing "The Fog" from her forthcoming EP "Black Currents".

 

For more info, see Rachel's  website: www.rachelsermanni.net.

To order the EP: http://www.townsend-records.co.uk/stores/rachelsermanni/

 

The Last Time - A Short Film

Here's a Youtube link to Sophie McCook's wonderful little film, "The Last Time", shot in Achnasheen:

Henrietta's New Shop

Henrietta Ludgate, ace fashion designer & PSYBT client from Strathpeffer has opened her first store.  Based in Whiteley's Centre in London, the store will showcase Henrietta's work and house her design studio.

Full story from Tellusfashion.com
Henrietta's website: (Link)

Apparently, Christmas is Coming...

OK, it's the first mention of the Festive Season on this blog but, in addition to brilliant gifts from makers across the Highlands, there are some extremely talented young people supported by The Prince's Scottish Youth Business Trust who can solve all your Christmas gift uncertainty.

To prove this, PSYBT has produced a Gift Guide showcasing the work of dozens of their clients  - and you can download it from here : PSYBT Gift Guide 2011

By the way, if you're a Highland PSYBT client (past & present) and you'd like to be included in any future PSYBT promotions, please get in touch with PSYBT Regional Manager, Alithea Watson

Creative Industries Newsletter - October 2011

HIE's Creative Industries Newsletter; ever-interesting and packed to the brim with news, training and funding opportunities is available for download here: Link (329k)

Creative Enterprise Fund

Miniature Dinosaurs - pic Rob McDougall

A fund for budding entrepreneurs has been launched to support creative young people (aged 15-22) to develop their skills and enterprises.

Creative Scotland and Young Scot see the Creative Enterprise Fund as providing a means for Scotland’s young people to develop their artistic talent and unlock opportunities within the creative industries.  The new Fund aims to promote the values of creative enterprise and leadership, creating positive pathways to employment and providing wider benefits to local communities.

The Creative Enterprise Fund can award young people up to £200 on an individual basis and £750 for groups of three or more.  Playing at today’s launch were Stirling’s young, pop-rock band Miniature Dinosaurs, who had received funding through Creative Scotland and Young Scot’s previous grant initiative, the Arts Action Fund.

Alban Dickson, bass guitarist for Miniature Dinosaurs said: "Creative projects are all about passion, but a bit of extra support right at the beginning can allow dreams to materialise.  This is a fund which can apply to any concept a young person might have.  It allowed us to go on our first UK tour!  But the possibilities are huge, be it making a film, producing a theatre piece or even a work of art."

Applications are now open and young people can download an application form from the Young Scot Extra website.  The closing date for the first round of applications is the 14th November 2011.  To find out more about the Fund and for guidance on how to apply, young people should contact the free Young Scot InfoLine on 0808 801 0338, between Monday and Friday 10am-6pm.