Friends of Highland Music

Friends of Highland Music Grants

FoHM's Grant Scheme has been set up to assist musicians, students and groups in the study, performance and promotion of Scottish Traditional Music, Song and Dance. Any resident of the Highland or Western Isles local government areas may apply.

Grants may be given towards meeting the cost of specific expenditure related to the advancement of the applicant's knowledge or experience in the fields noted above. Relevant expenditure may include fees for short study courses or workshops, some course materials and related travel and accommodation costs, purchase of study material and costs of producing recordings. This may also cover costs of mounting specific events, or for taking musicians on tour. Grants will not be awarded for the purchase of instruments or accessory equipment. Support will also not be given for expenditure already incurred prior to the Grant decision.

Grants are awarded with a maxiumum amount given of £1,000 per annum.

If successful, Grant Applicants will be required to become Members of Friends of Highland Music prior to the Grant Award being paid.

Here are some recent Grant awards. Descriptions of projects are contained in the Grant Recipients page.

£975 towards Music Books and a Workshop for a Youth Band
£1500 towards he costs of staging a series of local area concerts
£1250 towards the costs of a Step Dancers Group performance
£300 towards the staging of a local North Coast Concert
£1500 x 2 to assist with CD Production by two independent artists
£1400 to support a series of seven Traditional Muisc events in Croy
£500 to support the production of an exciting pipe-related CD incorporating the input of other up and coming traditional musicians
£1500 to support CD production
£250 and £300 for piping tuition
£200 to assist a youngster attend a piping and druming course in Skye.
£300 to assist a youg clarsach player attend the Edinburgh Harp Festival.
£200 towards master class tuition for a young fiddler.
£800 to assist a school ceilidh band's trip to Canada.
£590 towards a young duo's CD production.
£250 towards a young music group's trip to Orkney.

To apply for a grant, applicants must lodge the relevant application form with the Grant Secretary at least two months before the funding is required. If the applicant is under 16, his or her parent or guardian should also sign the form. Applicants musr also read and accept the FoHM Conditions of Grant, download link below.

The award of grants is at the sole discretion of the FoHM Committee whose decision is final and it will not enter into any correspondence on the merits of an application. In the event of the project not proceeding or the costs being less than anticipated, the applicant will be bound to repay the grant or such amount as is appropriate and recoverable by the applicant.

Successful applicants will be asked to submit a report to the Secretary on completion of the project. In addition, they must use Social Media to promote FoHM wherever possible. The FoHM Logo must be used on any publicity material, CDs etc, and can be downloaded via the Links Page.

From time to time, FoHM organises events promoting Scottish Traditional Music, song and dance. Successful applicants who are performers may be asked to make themselves reasonably available to take part without fee.

It will be at the discretion of the Committee to publish details of grants awarded.

Our Grant Recipients Page gives details of previous Grant Awards for guidance.

Grant Application Forms and Conditions can be downloaded below or are available from our Grant Secretary, Mrs Moira Leslie, 16 Southside Place, Inverness IV2 3JE Email: grants@friends-of-highland-music.org

FoHM Grant Application Form

FoHM Grant Application Form - Word Version

FoHM Conditions of Grant

FoHM Membership Application Form

In June 2014, for example, we gave a grant to Culloden Ceilidh Band (below) to assist with their tour of Donegal. Afterwards, each participant wrote to us giving their impressions from the tour. Many made reference to the passion that the local people had for their traditional music and the benefits of experiencing a related but different tradition.

Here are some quotes:-

'a memorable experience' 'a fantastic experience' 'an unforgetable experience' 'really inspiring' 'an amazing experience' 'absolutely brilliant' 'an amazing opportunity'.

Congratulations to the band members and to leader/ organiser Mrs Alison Mackenzie for such enterprise. Our best wishes go to Alison who has just retired from Head of Music at Culloden Academy.