Tag Archives: Fiona Hyslop

Youth arts strategy launched

Launch of Scotland’s Youth Art’s Strategy Time To Shine

 

Scotland’s first national arts strategy for young people launched  

Youth arts to receive £5million over next two years

Time To Shine, Scotland’s arts strategy for young people aged 0–25, was launched at the end of last week by Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs and Janet Archer, Chief Executive, Creative Scotland.

The strategy – which is centred around the three key themes of creating and sustaining engagement; nurturing potential and talent; and developing infrastructure and support – sets out a vision and key recommendations to enable Scotland’s children and young people to flourish and achieve, in and through the arts and creativity.

Youth arts in Scotland will benefit from £5m new funding from Scottish Government over the next two years and that this funding will support initiatives based on key objectives of the strategy. The initiatives are:

A major new open fund for organisations to develop new routes for young people to participate in and access arts and creative activity. Applications to the fund will open early in the New Year, via the Creative Scotland website.

The development of a new national digital platform to showcase and connect young people engaged in youth arts activity

The establishment of a National Youth Advisory Group (NYAG). A group of young representatives from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland will be tasked with making recommendations on the make-up and role of the NYAG, working in partnership with Creative Scotland who say that individual organisations will implement additional initiatives based on objectives in the strategy, with all work co-ordinated by a new, soon to be established youth arts programme management team.

The full strategy and accompanying documentation can be accessed here.

IMG_3160s-1Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, said:-“The launch of Scotland’s first ever youth arts strategy is an exciting moment. At its heart, the strategy promotes the real benefits and value culture can have on the development of our young people and our communities.
“The Scottish Government recognises the positive impact that arts and creativity can have and the strategy will, for the first time, provide strategic direction, vision and resources so that we can engage and inspire a whole new generation. Time to Shine builds on the well-established links between culture, education, youth employment and personal development.
“It is not only about providing enhanced access opportunities for all of Scotland’s young people but it goes further to support meaningful career pathways for our talent of the future; be it on stage, the screen, behind the scenes or in our world-leading creative industries.
“Perhaps most importantly of all, our aim is that this engagement with culture will nurture personal qualities that will help our young people to grow confidently as citizens and towards realising their ambitions, wherever they lie in the arts or elsewhere.”
Launch of Scotland’s Youth Art’s Strategy Time To ShineJanet Archer, Chief Executive, Creative Scotland, said:-“The launch of Time To Shine follows on the back of amazing work already taking place in youth arts in this country and the skills, dedication and energy of people of all ages involved throughout Scotland.

“Creative Scotland aims to ensure that this work continues and develops through the Time to Shine strategy. Putting young people at the heart of Scotland’s creative future will mean young people’s lives will continue to be enriched through engagement in arts and creative activity across Scotland.”

To read an extract of Janet Archer’s launch speech, click here.

16-year old Tom Strang from Grantown-on-Spey, who takes part in arts activity with Eden Court Theatre and is one of the young people advising on the make up of the National Youth Advisory Group, said:

“The arts give me a way to express myself through music, drama and dance. I hope that this strategy is taken on board by all arts provision providers in Scotland and reaches out to engage people who may not have had the opportunity to access the arts before. I also hope that it will lead to a future of even more high quality art being produced in Scotland.”

20 year old Jocelyn Gowans from Glasgow who works with YDance, said:-“Being involved in the arts means being part of a bigger picture, it expands your horizons. I hope this strategy will bring art forms together so that practitioners can coexist and create a world of endless imagination and inspiration for Scotland’s young people”.

Follow the conversation via #timetoshine

Photos Drew Farrell

Holyrood to examine The Scotland Bill

The Scottish Government has moved quickly to enable scrutiny of the Scotland Bill by the Scottish Parliament.

In a Ministerial Statement to the Scottish Parliament, External Affairs Minister Fiona Hyslop announced that a legislative consent memorandum has been lodged today, giving Parliament the maximum amount of time to consider the Bill.

Detailed work will be undertaken by a Parliamentary Committee, but the whole Parliament will have the opportunity to debate the changes proposed.

The memorandum sets out the Scottish Government’s analysis and position on the Bill and its recommendations for making improvements.

Ms Hyslop said:-“The Bill requires consent of the Scottish Parliament, so we have moved quickly to enable full scrutiny to commence without delay.

“As we have made clear, we welcome many aspects of the Scotland Bill and the further devolution of powers it provides. However, overall, this is a missed opportunity that does not meet the ambitions this Government – nor indeed the majority of the people of Scotland – have for this country.

“The key test for this Bill should be whether it delivers the priorities of the people of Scotland – to grow the economy, to protect jobs and to ensure proper investment in public services. We do not believe the Bill as it stands will deliver on those priorities, and indeed may hinder them. Careful scrutiny is vital to achieve the improvements that we believe should be made.

“We are particularly concerned about the unanswered questions on the financial proposals which would reduce the resources available for public services in Scotland. Unfortunately, the UK Government has so far failed to give the information that will allow proper consideration of this vital element of the Bill.

“The UK Government expects the Scottish Parliament to foot the bill for implementation of the measures in the Bill. The UK Government’s partial Regulatory Impact Assessment, published today, confirmed that Holyrood will be expected to pay these costs, but provides only indicative costs of £45 million to set up HMRC systems and another £4.2 million per year to operate the flawed income tax proposals. The people of Scotland already pay for the costs of running HMRC through their taxes levied by the Treasury, now the UK Government wants them to pay a second time through the money provided in the Scottish Budget for vital public services.

“We urge the Scottish Parliament to consider the proposals very carefully and to ensure the final Bill is one which everyone can say with confidence will be better for Scotland. We will support the Parliament’s process fully and work to ensure the Scotland Bill evolves into a package of measures that delivers for Scotland.”

In the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey (January 2010), 69 per cent of respondents favoured significantly more powers for the Scottish Parliament. On tax (59 per cent) and welfare benefits (60 per cent), a majority want the Scottish Parliament to make the decisions for Scotland.