Artist and craft makers grant reminder - VACMA

Orkney’s artists and craftmakers are being reminded the Visual Artists and Craft Makers (VACMA) fund is again open to applications.

The VACMA scheme is aimed at supporting artists in the county to develop their practice.

The scheme is supported by Creative Scotland through funding from the National Lottery in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Orkney Islands Council.

The 2021-22 scheme offers two levels of grants:

• Bursaries of £750 for experienced artists.
• Bursaries of £500 for New Graduates / Emerging Artists. Applicants must have less than 5 years’ experience outside of education or training or to have graduated in 2015 or later.

Funding can be used to support developmental research, skills training, studio work, exhibitions and mentoring.

There a two rounds in the 2021-22 scheme - the deadline for this round of submissions is 17:00 on Tuesday 26 October 2021. A second round is planned for early in the new year.

The Council's Arts Officer, Emma Gee, said: “We are delighted to be entering this eighth season of the scheme in Orkney with the support of the National Lottery, HIE and Creative Scotland.

“This fund is a hugely important part of supporting this sector and has helped many local artists to make a mark and extend themselves, helping Orkney continue to feature strongly in the national arts landscape.”

Eight artists based in Orkney benefited from bursaries totalling £5,750 in the 2020-21 round of the grant.

One local artist who has benefitted from last year’s VACMA scheme is artist and animator Martin Laird.

Martin is an artist and animator from Orkney, working in both traditional and digital media. He says his work is primarily concerned with his own cultural identity as both an Orcadian and a Scot – adding that he is motivated by “a sense of social conscience and concern for the future.”

Martin received a VACMA grant in 2020-21 and says it has helped him take advantage of recent advances in computer animation.

“While I have done sound recording and audio editing on video projects in the past, the equipment and training I purchased with the VACMA award has enabled me to take this in a new creative direction and work on animation and sound design in tandem in a way not previously possible to me.

“Creating animation on a computer can be very time consuming and hardware intensive. I had been working with hand-painted 2d cut-out animation, but am now able to make more use of 3d modelling and digital drawing tools, as well as render the results in less time.

“My first project taking advantage of this is an animated re-telling of an Orcadian folk tale, called The Fairy Dance, which draws on the wealth of history and folklore contained within traditional Scottish fiddle music and Orcadian legends about fiddlers playing for the "fairy folk". I really hope the Orkney public enjoy it.”

Preview clips and more information can be found at thefairydance.com

“Thanks to the equipment and training I could access with my VACMA grant, I now feel more confident about trying something more complex in the future. Animation is a challenging art form limited only by imagination, and there is much to learn.”

Alongside writer Fiona Grahame Martin has also recently released an illustrated history book called Rebel Orkney, which is about various uprisings, protests, and activism that have taken place in Orkney over the last 850 years. This ranges from the betrayal and martyrdom of St. Magnus, to the Rousay clearances, to the uranium mining protests of the late 1970s.

Martin says the VACMA scheme has been instrumental in opening up new directions and opportunities: “I would encourage other VACMA applicants to think carefully about how the grant money might be used to advance their practice in new directions, or to realise projects that might otherwise be difficult.”

His top tip for applicants? “Just be straight-forward and informative.”

An exhibition of Martin’s work is on show at the Loft Gallery in St Margarets Hope, until 28 September. To book a viewing, email info@workshopandloftgallery.co.uk - visit http://www.workshopandloftgallery.co.uk/ for more information.

More information about the VACMA scheme, application packs and case studies can be found on the Council website at www.orkney.gov.uk/vacma.