The secound wave of initiatives to be funded by the Gaelic Arts Strategic Development (GASD) Forum were publicly announced at the Ceolas Summer School on Thursday 6th July 2006. 

The projects and organisations who had received funding awards were announced at a special GASD Reception, in conjunction with the 10th Anniversary celebrations of the award winning Ceolas Summer School on South Uist. It was especially appropriate to announce the awards at Ceolas as the summer school received funding for both a Musician in Residence and a Trainee Manager from the GASD programme.

The evening saw a host of figures from the Gaelic arts enjoying a great night with the Uist community, with plenty of good food and drink, not to mention great company. The party then moved to St Peters for a Ceolas concert where they were entertained with an evening of Gaelic song provided singers such as Rona Lightfoot, Kathleen Macinnes and Cathy Ann Macphee.

The event was also an opportunity for GASD to raise the profile of its own work, and inform people on the work of the forum. The GASD Forum acts as a collective voice for the Gaelic Arts and focuses on three strands - Skills Development, Showcase Development and Audience Development. The £400,000 GASD Programme is funded by the Scottish Arts Council and Bord Na Gaidhlig and the awards are determined by the GASD Forum.

The second round of applications to the Programme attracted more than 25 applications for Artists Residencies, Arts Traineeships and Gaelic Showcase events. Over £100,000 was awarded to 16 projects across Scotland over the next 2 years.

This round, 9 Artist’s Residencies were awarded funding, as follows:

1. Highland Council was awarded £5000 for a creative writing residency at Gaelic Medium schools across the Highland region – Leabhar na Gaidheal Oga.
2. An Tobar was awarded £1,666 for the project Sgeulachdan bhon Taigh Tasgaidh - a series of residency partnerships working through the community with plcenames, archaeology, poetry, proverbs, and oral traditions.
3. Urras Shohairle was awarded £7,250 for the project Eadar an Saoghal’s a’ Bhiothbhuan, for residencies to assist with their showcase celebrating the work of Sorley Maclean.
4. Moira Maclean was awarded £1,000 to develop her project Taigh Fhaire, which will involve decorating an abandoned croft house as a permanent artwork on the Lewis landscape.
5. Taigh Chearsabhagh was awarded £6,800 for Enrique Uribe Jongbloed to complete his residency - a major part of which involves producing a video on the subject of the Gaelic language and its relationship to the Arts.
6. Department of Celtic at Glasgow University was awarded £5000 for their Sgriobhadair project.
7. UHI Benbecula was awarded £6,000 for the project Neach Ciuil.
8. Ballachulish Community Arts Association was awarrded £10,000 for Ceilear! – a song project for Lochaber.
9. Anne Campbell and Jon Macleod were awarded £5,000 for the Bragar Moorland Project, working in the Lewis peatlands.
10. Ceolas was awarded £7,500 for a Musician in Residence.

4 Showcases were awarded funding:

1. Taigh na Gaidhlig Mhealanais was awarded £5,500 for the Songs & Music of Duthaich Mhicaoidh
2. Eden Court Arts Education was awarded £7,000 for Gaelic Youth Theatre which will showcase the best of Gaelic Youth Theatre as part of Highland 2007.
3. Urras Shomhairle was awarded £7,250 for Eadar an Saoghal 's a' Bhiothbhuan – a musical celebration of the work of Sorley Maclean for performances during the Scottish Year of Highland Culture 2007.
4. Maggie Macinnes was awarded £7000 for her showcase, Oran na Mna – Song of the Women

Three organisations were awarded £7,500 each for traineeships. These were:

1. West Highland Animations
2. Feisean nan Gaidheal
3. Ceolas Uibhist Ltd

The Forum is chaired by Agnes Rennie who said, “The GASD funding scheme has been, by definition, an opportunity to encourage new and innovative artistic endeavour in the Gaelic Arts. The range and quality of applications received in response to the invitation for Round 2 applications has been tremendous and demonstrates the energy and vitality across all art forms in the Gaelic Arts at the moment. The GASD fund is very small compared to the total amount of funding applied for, but this will reinforce the case for both Bord na Gaidhlig and The Scottish Arts Council to continue to support and develop the Gaelic Arts.”

The Audience Development strand has been developed with the appointment of Audience Development Manager, Kirstie Anderson, in January 2006. She comments, “It is essential that we are constantly developing new audiences In order to keep any art form alive, We have to learn more about who our audiences are, and more importantly, who they are not. Once we have a greater understanding of this, we can understand what motivates them, and we can communicate with them more effectively”.

The GASD Audience Development strand has funded a largescale research project into the impact of the Gaelic Arts in the Western Isles and Skye and Lochalsh. The survey is the largest ever piece of research into arts and culture in this area, arriving on the doorstep of 7,600 houses at the beginning of June. The results will provide information on opinions on the Gaelic Arts in general, and on specific art forms and their impact on the economy, tourism, and society. GASD have also funded a similar project based in Glasgow, looking at the audiences for Gaelic Arts in an urban environment. This will be led by An Lochran and is due to take place at the end of summer.

The awards are determined by the GASD Forum which represents six key Gaelic arts organisations – Proiseact Nan Ealan, An Comunn Gaidhealach, Comhairle Nan Leabharaichean, Feisean Nan Gaidheal, the Tosg theatre company and Seirbhis Na Meadhanan Gaidhlig. The GASD Forum is an informal alliance that is managed by Proiseact Nan Ealan, The Gaelic Arts Agency.