This summer will see the launch of two new residency opportunities facilitated by the Cromarty Arts Trust.

The first opportunity is aimed at recent graduates of the four largest arts schools in Scotland – Duncan of Jordanstone in Dundee, Edinburgh College of Art, Glasgow School of Art and Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen. The Trust is offering one artist a month-long residency in Cromarty,with accommodation and studio provided, plus a contribution of £750 towards subsistence and materials. The residency would take place between August and September 2006 and is open to any student who graduates this year or has graduated in the last two years.

“ Our aim is to give people fresh from college a chance to develop their work in an inspiring setting and to gain experience of the kind of public interaction involved in residencies.” John Nightingale, Chair of the Trust said. “This year we have restricted it to the colleges we made contact with through our Highland Art Teachers’ Gathering last summer. The important thing however is that the students apply to their colleges in the first instance as they will be submitting a shortlist to us for final selection. We are looking for an artist who can prove that they will benefit from the experience in a fresh and dynamic way.”

The second residency opportunity is the Cromarty Arts Trust Macedonian Residency Prize, and is dubbed the Highlander’s Revenge because it is only open to artists living and working in the Highlands and Islands area.

Trustee Lindy Cameron explained “Both of these residency opportunities form part of the Trust’s wider Residency Programme. Over the past ten years we have hosted many residencies in Cromarty and have had a diverse range of artists of all genres here from musicians to stone letter carvers, from photographers to painters. All but one of these artists lived out-with the Highlands and we wanted to redress the balance in some way. We coupled this with the fact that last year we hosted our first International Artist’s residency – Sergej Andreevski from Macedonia – who offered us a chance to make a more lasting connection by offering us a residency opportunity in his village Sloeshtica, in rural Macedonia, so we devised this competition and dubbed it the Highlander’s Revenge named after Bruce MacGregor’s fiddle tune!

For this our first year, we invite applications from those working in the visual arts only, but it is our aim to change the art form for each year we run the competition.”

“ We are very grateful to HI~Arts and Highlands and Islands Enterprise for their support (financial and otherwise) which has made it possible for us to offer the winning artist up to one month in Macedonia, with a Fellowship of £1500 and £750 towards travel costs to take place between 25th August and 25th September this year.”

Whilst in Macedonia, the artist will be joined by another international artist so there will be an opportunity for cross pollination of ideas and a chance for them to build links with other communities of artists across Europe.

HI~Arts Director Robert Livingston commented: ‘We’re pleased to be able to support this new opportunity which we hope will forge new international links for Highlands and Islands artists.’

For further details and guidelines please write to Cromarty Arts Trust, Ardyne House, Cromarty IV11 8YE
or email info@cromartyartstrust.org.uk

Applications should arrive by 26th May 2006 for the Student Award, and the 30th May 2006 for the Highlander’s Revenge.