1 February 2023

Join our board

Would you like to help support the brightest and best of Scotland’s young artistic talent? We are seeking new trustees to join the Dewar Arts Awards board.

The Dewar Arts Awards are seeking new Trustees, with relevant knowledge and experience, to join our Board and support the brightest and best of Scotland’s young artistic talent. We are a grant making charity that funds exceptional young artists in any discipline who do not have the financial means to achieve their full potential.

You would be joining a Board with a strong mix of governance, creative and social experience which has led to 1,121 young people being awarded over £6m in funding over the last 21 years. As a Trustee you will be expected to enhance our ability to make the right, life changing, decisions for young people and in turn ensure the future of the arts in Scotland and its impact on the rest of the world.

We’re keen to hear from individuals from any art form but are particularly interested in those with experience of theatre, visual arts, literature, craft, and those who work across mediums reflecting new ways of thinking and working.

As essential as your expertise in the arts, is your lived experience of growing up, learning or working in Scotland, which will help us to better understand some of the challenges our young applicants have. As a charity we value legal and compliance, research and evaluation, cultural education, and financial input, as we oversee an asset portfolio that is managed by professional fund managers. If you have a blend of the above, we would be pleased to hear from you.

Trustees meet five times a year in person across Scotland or online when appropriate. Applications are sifted and collated by the charity’s Administrator but there is preparation required in reading the applications so that you can make grant recommendations and take part in discussions about applicants at the meeting. The number of applications range from 12 to 40 per meeting. There are sub groups which you may be asked to join which meet in between Board meetings usually online. This is a voluntary role but expenses will be reimbursed.

To apply please send your CV and covering letter to admin@dewarawards.org for the attention of the chair.

The closing date for applications is Friday 24th February 2023.

For more information on the Dewar Arts Awards, please visit: www.dewarawards.org

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9 January 2023

Dewar Awardees at Celtic Connections 2023

We’re delighted to see that many Dewar Awardees will be appearing at Celtic Connections 2023, which returns for its 30th anniversary edition this month.

The UK’s premier celebration of celtic music, Celtic Connections returns for its 30th anniversary edition this month. Featuring an ambitious and eclectic programme of music from Thursday 19th January until Sunday 5th February 2023, we’re delighted to see that many Dewar Awardees will be appearing at the festival. Here are some of the highlights…

Catriona Price
Fiddler and composer Catriona Price presents her beautiful debut solo album, Hert – a stunning set of tunes inspired by the poetry of her native Orkney. She also performs as part of Fara.

Louis Abbott
Louis Abbott is performing as part of the Roaming Roots Revue, 10th anniversary concert.

Calum MacCrimmon
Calum MacCrimmon is a member of the band Breabach.Fresh from winning Folk Band of the Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards, Breabach will perform alongside Dervish at January’s festival. 2022 sees the release of their latest album Fàs (meaning growth/sprouting). Heavily inspired by the natural environment of Scotland, the band showcase more progressive elements in their music than ever before.

Duncan Lyall
A Dewar Awardee in 2007, Duncan will play in no less than three concerts during Celtic Connections 2023! The double bassist will play in Phil Cunningham’s band for Beyond the Farther Shore; The Sinners big band with Dean Owens, and a unique and extensive big band brought together for the Celtic Connections 30th Anniversary Concert.

Hamish Napier
Hamish Napier is performing ‘Nae Plans’ with long term collaborator, Adam Sutherland. Taking their inspiration from the spontaneity of traditional music sessions, the two sit down on the stage without knowing what they will play, making for an exciting experience for both listener and performer.

Jenna Reid
One of Shetland’s finest and most accomplished modern-day fiddlers, Jenna Reid will be performing with pianist Harris Playfair, ahead of the release of their long-awaited duo record One Day, due for release in 2023.

Steven Blake
The Annual Pipe Band Concert will feature a performance from piping supergroup Tryst, featuring Steven Blake.

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19 December 2022

Awardee’s short film qualifies for the 2023 Academy Awards

Screenwriter Hannah Kelso’s ‘Night of the Living Dread’ is long-listed for Best Animated Short

Dewar Awardee Hannah Kelso wrote the screenplay for ‘Night of the Living Dread’, a comedy horror that has now been longlisted in the Oscars Best Animated Short category.

Hannah received a Dewar Award in 2018, which helped support her MA Screenwriting studies at the National Film & Television School. Of her Dewar Award, Hannah said: “This industry is highly competitive but I am now in the right place and equipped with the right tools for the future”.

Congratulations Hannah – we can’t wait to see what you do next!

You can watch the trailer for ‘Night of the Living Dread’ below:

 

Read Hannah’s Awardee Profile
Watch Night of the Living Dread

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5 December 2022

Awardee success at the Scots Trad Music Awards

The Scots Trad Music Awards celebrate the scope and scale of Scotland’s traditional music talent, with Dewar Awardees featuring in the winners’ list.

The 20th annual MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards took place at the Caird Hall in Dundee on Sunday 4th December 2022. Organised by Hands Up for Trad, the awards celebrate the scope and scale of Scotland’s traditional music talent, and we were delighted to see Dewar Awardees featured in the winners’ list!

Composer of the Year – Heal and Harrow

The Composers of the Year award went to Rachel Newton and 2006 Dewar Awardee Lauren MacColl for Heal & Harrow, a project inspired by the Scottish witch trials in the 16th and 17th centuries. The project pays a humanising tribute to the women persecuted for witchcraft, exploring historical beliefs in the supernatural and modern day parallels in our society.

Read Lauren MacColl’s Awardee profile here

Folk Band of the Year – Breabach

Formed in 2005, Breabach are now securely ranked among Scotland’s most skilled and imaginative contemporary folk acts. The band features the talents of 2007 Dewar Awardee Calum MacCrimmon on Highland Bagpipe, whistle, bouzouki and vocals. 2022 saw the release of their latest album Fàs, which was heavily inspired by the natural environment of Scotland.

Read Calum MacCrimmon’s Awardee Profile here

Visit the Hands Up for Trad website to view a full list of winners

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4 July 2022

Interview with Sarah Rogers, Rojhe Design

We spoke to jewellery designer and maker Sarah Rogers about how a Dewar Arts Award will support the development of her work.

The Trustees of the Dewar Arts Awards are delighted to announce that we have a new £90,000 fund to support ambitious, talented young people across Scotland who have a passion for traditional rural and craft skills.

Sarah Rogers, a jewellery designer and maker, is the first recipient of an award from this funding stream. We spoke to Sarah to find out more about how her Dewar Arts Award will support her work.

 

To find out more about Sarah’s work, visit her website at www.rojhedesign.com. You can also follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

To find out more about our new funding stream, read the news article here: New funds to support talented young people across Scotland

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Jewellery designer and maker Sarah Rogers working in her studio.
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Blog from Jill Miller

Jill Miller, Chair of the Dewar Arts Awards, discusses our new funding stream.

Having recently stepped into the role as Chair of the Dewar Arts Awards, the responsibility for ensuring that we invest our funds with those who truly need us has never been more pressing.

After two years of a pandemic and the ever-increasing price of food and energy (in fact everything we need in our daily lives), we’re even more focused on connecting with talented young people who need funds to be able to pursue or develop their talent – across any art form.

And now, thanks to the support of the William Grant Foundation, we have additional resources to invest for the next three years. We want to use these funds to extend the work we do to support young people from across Scotland who have a passion and talent in the arts and in related craft areas.

So, if you know someone who is pursuing a specialist craft skill in leather work, glassmaking, jewellery, textiles, wood, stone, instrument making… please connect them with us via www.dewarawards.org

Our application process is simple – visit our Apply page for further guidance and to submit your application. If you require further please contact: admin@dewarawards.org

Read the news article: New funds to support talented young people across Scotland

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New funds to support talented young people across Scotland

The £90,000 fund will enable the Trustees to broaden the scope of their work.

As the Dewar Arts Awards enter their 21st year, the Trustees are delighted to announce that we have a new £90,000 fund to support ambitious, talented young people across Scotland, thanks to support from the William Grant Foundation.

The new fund, to be invested over a 3-year period, will enable the Trustees to broaden the scope of their work. Trustees are keen to receive applications from young people who have a passion for developing their talent or skills across a broad range of interests including:

  • craft skills – supporting training to work with stone, textiles, wood, leather, metals, glass
  • traditional rural skills – you may need help with training / materials / equipment

or

  • you may need help to fund classes or courses that will help you to develop your talent across any art form

The Trustees are committed to inclusion and diversity and are keen to hear from young people of all backgrounds including those who may be care experienced or from under-represented communities.

Applying is easy – find out more and submit your application via our Apply page. However, if you feel you need help you can always contact us at admin@dewardawards.org for further information and support.

The fund is open now and we look forward to hearing from you!

Visit our application page to read further guidance and submit your application.

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Dewar Arts Awards - Supporting Scotland's young artistic talent
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16 May 2022

Jen Hadfield nominated for the Highland Book Prize 2021

The 2007 Dewar Arts Awardee is one of four writers on the shortlist

Dewar Awardee Jen Hadfield has been shortlisted for the Highland Book Prize 2021 for her poetry collection ‘The Stone Age’. Based in Shetland, Jen is a poet and visual artist who has been described as “one of the brightest and most talented poets of her generation working in Britain”.

In 2007, a Dewar Award supported Hadfield to travel to Mexico and research Mexican devotional folk art. This research trip inspired the creation of ‘Nigh-No-Place’, a solo exhibition of Shetland ex-votos in the style of sacred Mexican folk art – ‘tiny, portable, insistently familiar landscapes packed in an array of weathered tobacco tins, incorporating rubrics of very short fiction’.

The following year, Jen published her second collection of poetry, also called ‘Nigh-No-Place’, inspired by her travels in Shetland and Canada. The collection went on to win the T S Eliot Prize for Poetry in 2008, making Hadfield the youngest female winner of the prize. In his role as chair of the prize, Andrew Motion said that ‘Nigh-No-Place’ showed ‘[Hadfield] is a remarkably original poet near the beginning of what is obviously going to be a distinguished career”. His words were proven correct, as Jen went on to win the Edwin Morgan Poetry Prize in 2012, and in 2014, she was selected as one of the Poetry Book Society’s “Next Generation Poets”.

Jen’s most recent poetry collection, ‘The Stone Age’, was released by Picador in March 2021, and has been described by her publisher as ‘an astonished beholding of the wild landscape of her Shetland home’. The collection has now been shortlisted for the Highland Book Prize 2021. Established in 2017, the Highland Book Prize celebrates work that recognises the rich culture, heritage and landscape of the Highlands. Kapka Kassabova, serving on the judging panel for the Highland Book Prize, said of ‘The Stone Age’: ‘In a pantheistic journey of Shetland, Hadfield converses with her environment. The human and more-than-human worlds are perceived to be a seamless whole, and every rock has a voice. This book is a literary, environmental, and spiritual adventure.’

Congratulations Jen – we wish you all the best in the final!

The winning title will be announced at an award ceremony on Thursday 26th May.

Visit the Highland Book Prize website to find out more

Read Jen’s Awardee Profile

If you feel a Dewar Arts Award could support you in your progression as a young artist, or know someone else who might benefit, find out more about how to apply on our Eligibility and Application pages

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10 April 2022

Elaine Woo MacGregor shortlisted for Jackson’s Painting Prize 2022

The 2008 Awardee has made the final 42 from 8948 entries

Dewar Awardee Elaine Woo MacGregor has been shortlisted for the Jackson’s Painting Prize 2022 for her painting ‘Portrait of Nan Shepherd: Camping by the Wells of Dee’, making the final 42 from 8948 entries.

Born in Edinburgh and brought up by her traditional Chinese parents, Elaine moved to Glasgow at the age of 18 to study Fine Art at the Glasgow School of Art. She received a Dewar Award in 2008, which supported a Partial Fellowship Artist Residency in the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson in Vermont. Elaine told us that the Award gave her ‘an exciting opportunity to work in a creative environment within the unique New England setting’ and opened up ‘new directions’ for her practice. In 2012, Elaine’s work was displayed as part of Roots to Shoots, an exhibition celebrating ten years of Dewar Arts Awards in the visual and applied arts. Elaine is now based in Linlithgow and works as an Art Tutor at the University of Strathclyde’s Centre for Lifelong Learning.

The Jackson’s Painting Prize exists to champion exceptional artworks made by international artists at all points in their careers, with tailored prizes that aim to give successful applicants the exposure and resources to support them in their practice. Elaine’s painting ‘Portrait of Nan Shepherd: Camping by the Wells of Dee’, has made the final 42 from 8948 entries to the competition.

In an interview with the Edinburgh Evening News, Elaine said “The painting was inspired by passages in the book ‘The Living Mountain’ and the life of Nan Shepherd. I was interested in finding out about individual writers’ demeanour and habits, as well as sense of place, and how this shaped their identity and the themes in their work.”

“With the break due to the pandemic, I reflected on what it means to be a creative during these times, our relationships with natural and urban environments and our sense of ‘self’.”

Congratulations Elaine – we are proud to have been part of your journey and wish you all the best in the final! The winner of the Prize will be announced on Wednesday 13 April 2022.

Read Elaine’s Awardee Profile

Read Elaine’s Interview with the Edinburgh Evening News

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Portrait of Nan Shephere by Elaine Woo McGregor
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19 October 2021

Dewar Awardees at Celtic Connections 2022

We’re delighted to see Dewar Awardees featured in the programme for Celtic Connections 2022, Glasgow’s annual celebration of folk, roots and world music.

Celtic Connections, Glasgow’s annual celebration of folk, roots and world music, returns from 20 January – 6 February 2022. The festival will see over 2,100 musicians from around the world bring the city to life for 18 days, and we’re delighted to see that the programme features many Dewar Awardees. Here’s a round-up…

Violinist and composer Catriona Price will release her debut album, Hert, and perform a launch concert as part of the festival. Initially inspired by George Mackay Brown’s iconic poetry, Hert (Orcadian Scots for ‘heart’) is a folk, jazz, classical and pop-infused suite in eight movements for vocal trio, string quartet, jazz trio, harp and flute. She is also performing at the festival as a member of the band Fara.

Lauren MacColl will perform new work Heal & Harrow at the festival. A collaboration with Rachel Newton, the two award-winning musicians will interweave instrumental and vocal music with spoken word and visual projections to explore the Scottish witch trials’ cultural and political context, as well as modern-day parallels.

Steven Blake will perform with his band RURA, who are known for their electrifying mash-up of pipes, flute, bodhran and guitar. The concert will feature a premiere of music from their upcoming release, a unique collaborative EP with four folk music luminaries.

Louis Abbott is performing as part of the Roaming Roots Revue, 10th anniversary concert, which will showcase contemporary artists’ dynamic dialogue with iconic forebearers.

Calum MacCrimmon is a member of the band Breabach and they will present a live premiere of their new work Dùsgadh at the festival. Produced in collaboration with BAFTA-winning animator Cat Bruce, Dùsgadh is an animation inspired by a folk tale of the sea maiden, set to new music by the band.

Double bassist Duncan Lyall will be performing in Ross Couper’s New Voices concert.

Hamish Napier is performing ‘Nae Plans’ with long term collaborator, Adam Sutherland. Distilling the essence of a traditional session, Nae Plans gigs involve no set-list – the pair simply sit down together, take a deep breath, and go where the music takes them.

Nuala Kennedy is performing as part of Irish music trio, The Alt, who combine flute, whistle, guitars, bouzoukis and three lead vocals in magically harmonious renderings of favourite songs and tunes.

Jenna Reid will be performing with Harris Playfair as part of Shetland 550, Celtic Connections’ anniversary concert series celebrating the distinctive culture of the islands.

 

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