GLASGOW.- The Royal Scottish Academy of Art & Architecture announced the launch of its RSA RESIDENCIES FOR SCOTLAND programme in collaboration with the Scottish Arts Council. With a total budget of some £45,000, the new scheme will provide funded residency opportunities with partner provider venues across Scotland enabling contemporary artists a period of research.

The RSA residency initiatives have often acted as a stepping-stone between art school and fledgling career for many now distinguished Scottish artists; providing the opportunity to work in an environment conducive to the research and creation of new work. With additional funding of £20,000 from the Scottish Arts Council, the RSA have been able to extend their residency programme offering more artists exciting opportunities across the country.

By forging vital new links with artistic centres of excellence across Scotland the RSA aim to develop and spread the initiatives to incorporate more opportunities for young, mid career and established artists. It is intended that there will be increased exhibiting opportunities at the RSA for the residency artists and also links with the collaborators and their own exhibition facilities or networks.

The RSA hopes that partnership with the Scottish Arts Council will strengthen the programme greatly and assist in attracting and supporting emerging and established talent from Scotland to participate at these nationally vital facilities.

Colin Greenslade, RSA Programme Director, comments: “The consortium of collaborators with whom the RSA will work all have a long history of offering quality development to, and presentation opportunities for, contemporary artists. For many, their expertise and longevity has formed the back-bone of artist practice in Scotland for decades.”

Scottish Arts Council CEO, Jim Tough, added: ‘We are pleased to be working with the Royal Scottish Academy on this significant new project, which reflects the heart of our aims at the Scottish Arts Council; to increase the scope and quality of our support to artists, invest in partnerships and support new and innovative ways of working. We are confident that the £20,000 committed by the Scottish Arts Council will have a significant impact on the scale, strength and future of these residencies, which will encourage and sustain visual artists throughout Scotland.

Residency centres taking part in the scheme include: An Talla Solais, Ullapool; Deveron Arts, Huntly; Edinburgh Printmakers; Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop; Hospitalfield House, Arbroath; Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen; The Pier Art Centre, Orkney; Tigh Alasdair Ruaraidh, Lewis; Sabhal Mor Ostaig, Isle of Skye; Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Lumsden; Stills, Edinburgh; Taigh Chearsabhagh, North Uist; and Wasps Studios (Glasgow, Newburgh and Shetland)

The Residencies will be available for periods of one week to up to six months, with monetary awards of up £5,000, and will be open to artists who are currently living and working in Scotland or are Scottish by birth and are no longer be in full-time education. Application guidelines and full details of participating venues are available on the Scholarship & Awards section of the RSA website www.royalscottishacademy.org