Arts 25 February 2021
Falkirk Community Trust awarded £30,000 from Youth Access Fund
Falkirk Community Trust is delighted to announce that we have been awarded £30,000 by Creative Scotland from the Scottish Government emergency Youth Arts Funds to help ensure children and young people continue to have access to creative opportunities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to the pandemic, 24% of children and young people in Falkirk Council area were living in poverty and with the pandemic having a disproportionate impact on people in poverty unfortunately, we expect child poverty across the area to increase.
David White, Chairman – Falkirk Community Trust said: “I am thrilled we have been awarded this money which will enable us to create a programme of music activity for children and young people currently living in poverty. The programme will help them explore and develop their own music skills; build confidence and capacity in their abilities; and widen access to a range of other activities that are currently ‘off limits’ to them due to a number of barriers, not least economic.”
The funding bid was developed in partnership with the Falkirk Council Fairer Falkirk team in the context of ‘Towards a Fairer Falkirk 2019-2024’ - the Falkirk Community Planning Partnership’s anti-poverty strategy. This partnership is committed to addressing the impact that poverty has on children by ensuring that those living in low income households have an opportunity to develop new skills..
The project aims to support young people aged 11 – 14 years to access out of school creative activity, with the opportunity for participants to work with musicians to:
- learn to play a trad musical instrument
- explore and develop music technology
- research the music of the Falkirk area – from the traditional songs of the Trysts to the present day
- create music/ sound works for publication on music sharing platforms
We also anticipate that there is the potential for the project to impact positively on participants’ learning experience both through the project and across school life in general.
Councillor Cecil Meiklejohn, Leader of Falkirk Council said: “Developing this project will mean that many children and young people living in poverty will now have an ability to develop their musical skills and talents. Falkirk Community Trust is working on a programme that previously would have been out of bounds for many and this is just part of the overall plan to help alleviate child poverty in general.”
The Falkirk initiative is one of 92 projects across Scotland to receive emergency Youth Arts Funds to ensure access to creative opportunities for children and young people as we move through and out of the COVID-19 pandemic. It forms part of a £4m Scottish Government youth arts funding package delivered by Creative Scotland.