Young Scots take to the stage thanks to £880,000 in funding to kick-start arts careers

17 Feb 2022 02:31 PM

Projects helping thousands of young Scots to explore their creative talents are today (THURSDAY 17 FEBRUARY) sharing in £880,817 of Young Start funding.

Young Start, delivered by The National Lottery Community Fund, awards dormant bank account funding to projects that help young people reach their full potential. See full list of projects here.

Could the next Calvin Harris or Sam Heughan come from a Dumfries project which encourages and inspires young people to hone their creative and performing skills?

Despite having no vocational courses available in the performing arts, Dumfries and Galloway has produced many well-known actors and performing artists over the years and that’s set to continue thanks to an award of £78,000 to The Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival. The funding means that they can run their Stage iT project for the next three years, giving many more young people across the region the opportunities and training needed to pursue a career in the performing arts.

Jodie Rae, a 22-year-old musician, songwriter, and actor from Dumfries is one of the thousands of young people who have benefitted from the project so far. Jodie developed a video project which involved a British Sign Language performance of three original songs.

Click here for the full press release