2022 has been designated Scotland’s Year of Stories, a year in which stories inspired by, created, or written in Scotland will be showcased and celebrated.
Stories are vital to every part of Scotland. Every community has its own tales to tell, places to highlight as inspiration for well-known books and films, visitor attractions that showcase our literary and storytelling heritage and all kinds of places and spaces where stories, old and new, can be enjoyed.
A programme of activity will be designed and delivered in celebration of the Themed Year to support the nation’s tourism and events sectors. The Year of Stories funded events programme will be central to the overall programme of activity delivered as part of the Themed Year.
The YS22 Open Events Fund has been designed to support new, creative event proposals and programming that will provide high profile content created especially in response to the 2022 Themed Year opportunity.
VisitScotland is seeking event proposals that will capture the imagination and help them to tell and to celebrate Scotland’s wealth of unique stories.
Successful proposals must provide strong engagement opportunities that create key moments across the year capable of driving high levels of media coverage, audience awareness and attendance. Both brand new and one-off events as well as high profile new programme strands created to provide additionality within existing events or festivals specifically for the Themed Year are eligible.
A total fund value of £600,000 is available for eligible events planned to take place across 2022. Organisers may apply for individual grants of between £15,000 – £60,000. The deadline for all applications is Thursday 12 August 2021.