Young people’s creative pursuits supported by national arts funding

Following a successful second phase of the Access All Arts Fund, 162 young people have been awarded grants towards creative projects and experiences. 

The Fund, which is managed by Children in Scotland, received applications from 340 people across the country in the 2022-23 round.

The Fund was open to all young people who have experienced barriers to the arts and creative experiences. These include factors such as having a disability, living in poverty, having poor mental health or being a young carer or refugee.

Young people aged 11-25 could apply for up to £1,000 to try a new arts activity or develop their existing creative interests to support their wellbeing.

The £86,000 being distributed amongst successful applicants is an increase on last year's figure, with both phases funded by Creative Scotland as part of its youth arts funding.

The first round received 236 applications, distributing £68,000 between 106 young people for a wide range of projects including visual arts, music, film and TV, and creative writing.

Across both phases, children and young people were recruited to design and develop the fund. One of the panel members, Ethan, said of the experience:

"Working as a member of the panel was great. I know what it’s like to receive Access All Arts funding, so it was fantastic to return the feeling to other young people.”

As a panel, the children and young people played a major role in choosing successful applicants from the large number of submissions.

On finding out that she had been awarded funding, one young person said:

"Thank you so so much! I'm absolutely delighted to have received this funding and am feeling incredibly lucky. This is going to have such a huge impact on my craft and is so so so exciting."

The parent of another successful applicant said:

"Thank you so so much for this wonderful news! As Kieran's* mum I’m so grateful to you for the funding as this means he’ll be able to get back to his drumming lessons which he’s missed so much.

"Money is just so tight I’ve been unable to pay for any lessons for him so this is very welcomed news... He’ll be over the moon and, like me, will be so grateful to you."

* Name has been changed for anonymity.