Arts centre Cove Park has been awarded more than £600,000 to help provide a new building and studios at its site above Loch Long.
It is the second stage of an award from Creative Scotland, which described the centre this week as ‘internationally important’.
The total awarded is £621,663 for the redevelopment project at Cove Park, which will focus on replacing the current artist centre building and adjacent studios.
The new, expanded centre at the spectacular 50-acre site on the Rosneath Peninsula will provide dedicated meeting spaces for artists and the general public; public performance and exhibition space, studio space, office and accommodation facilities, and a library/IT suite.
Director Julian Forrester said they had ‘fabulous places to live and work but a small and rather battered central building’ – more than 1,300 people have had creative residencies there since 2000.
He added: “We are delighted with the award, with what it will do for Cove Park’s residencies and we are looking forward to the task of raising the balance of the money!”
Architects Cameron Webster have designed new facilities and work is due to start this year, but the park still has to find the remainder of the cost – £700,000 – and is approaching trusts, foundations and individuals for help.
The first stage of the Creative Scotland funding was announced in September 2012, with £25,000 of development funding, and yesterday the body announced another £9.4m of grants for capital projects across Scotland.
The awards range from £0.1m to £1.5m and will be given to Aberdeen Music Hall and Woodend Barn in Aberdeenshire; Hospitalfield near Arbroath; Dunoon Burgh Hall and NVA’s project at St. Peter’s Seminary in Argyll and Bute; the Fruitmarket and Collective Galleries in Edinburgh; the Citizens Theatre, Tramway, Glasgow Film Theatre, Woodlands Community project and Wasps Artists’ Studios Creation Centre at the Briggait in Glasgow.
The plans by NVA to create a new cultural resource at the partially derelict 1966 modernist building St Peter’s Seminary in Cardross have been given a £100,000 development award and provisional stage two funding of £400,000.
And the refurbishment of Dunoon Burgh Hall, which will provide a destination for a performing arts programme, exhibition space for local and touring exhibitions and flexible gallery workshop space, has been given a development award of £15,000 and provisional stage two funding of £465,000.
Janet Archer, chief executive of Creative Scotland, said: “These funding awards support important elements of the cultural infrastructure across Scotland and will enable exciting and important projects to progress and develop.
“All of these awards, and those that have come before, help to ensure that more people, in more parts of Scotland, can continue to access and enjoy excellent artistic and creative experiences.”
Leave a Reply