Peebles, Falkirk and Helmsdale win Creative Place Awards

Three communities have won a total of £300,000 towards arts and cultural projects at the Scottish Creative Place Awards held in Kilmarnock.

Falkirk secured the £150,000 prize for places with under 100,000 residents.

Peebles in the Scottish Borders landed £100,000 for areas with under 10,000 inhabitants and Helmsdale in Sutherland took the £50,000 for those with under 2,500.

Creative Scotland chief executive Janet Archer said all the bids submitted this year had been of a “high calibre”.

Falkirk saw off Dumfries and Orkney to take its award while Peebles’ category contained Arran and the area covering Cove, Kilcreggan, Rosneath, Clynder and Garelochhead.

Helmsdale was up against Kingussie and Ullapool.

Peebles community would use the Award to support an imaginative set of activities, events and installations featuring art and artists within the context of work, study, tourism, leisure and play; the enhancement and extension of the existing festival programme and the development of a marketing strategy in collaboration with tourism and business sectors.

Caroline Adam, General Manager at Eastgate Theatre & Arts Centre, said: “This is a wonderful recognition of the creative energies that make Peebles so special; and a great opportunity to make the town better, brighter and busier than ever.”

Ms Archer congratulated all those receiving awards.

“I look forward to visiting Helmsdale, Peebles and Falkirk to see how this money has contributed to enriching each community through these creative programmes,” she said.

“We received a high calibre of applications for this year’s awards and the judges had an extremely difficult decision selecting the winners.

“Every single submission has evidenced how imaginatively communities across Scotland are using creativity to transform lives and inspire new futures.”

You can read the award announcement in full on the Creative Scotland Website