Inspiring Scotland

We are thrilled to announce the two recipients of the Inspiring Scotland Bursaries 2019.

This year’s winner of the 2019 Inspiring Scotland Bursary for Music is Rachel Walker, an Edinburgh-based fiddle player. Rachel will be using this money to attend the Grappelli-Django Camp in the Netherlands to further her knowledge of and practice in the Gypsy Jazz form.

  Rachel Walker Photographed by Marcin Szymborski.

 Rachel says: Receiving this funding means the world to me. I am a fiddle player with a passion for improvisation. Two years ago, I discovered jazz ‘Manouche’ music and was immediately hooked. This bursary will enable me to travel to a world-renowned gypsy jazz camp in the Nertherlands and develop my skills.

The winner of The Alasdair Gray Inspiring Scotland Bursary is artist Claire McGinlay whose proposed body of paintings will focus on the whitewashing of abuse claims at the Sisters of Nazareth Orphanage in the 1970s and 80s.

  Claire McGinlay photographed by Laura Edith Roxby.

Claire says: I am thrilled to have won this award. It reassures my confidence in the work I am currently developing that explores the impact of story-telling to highlight urgent causes. I hope to reach a wider audience and highlight the evolution of our social landscape in relation to art practice.

The Inspiring Scotland Bursaries were created to celebrate emerging creatives, based in Scotland, who demonstrate exceptional potential and whose development will be greatly benefitted by the funds. The Alasdair Gray Inspiring Scotland Bursary, first created in 2017, is open annually to post-secondary students perusing a career in music, fine arts, theatre, dance or cultural studies and seeks to fund innovative, multi-disciplinary creative proposals.