Mavericks wanted
£2K Tom McGrath playwright award open for entries
The Tom McGrath Trust is looking for the next creative ‘maverick’ and has called on professional playwrights and artists to submit their applications for this year’s Maverick Award.
The award is accompanied by a bursary of up to £2,000 and is inspired by Tom McGrath, the poet, playwright and creative maverick who died in 2009.
The Saltire Society is participating in the award as part of its eightieth anniversary celebrations.
The Maverick Award will be offered to the best application for a new project which has writing at its heart, departs from the routine and starts to explore new and imaginative possibilities. There will also be a runner’s up prize of £1,000.
It is open to playwrights and artists with a professional track record who are either born in Scotland, educated within the Scottish education system or who have lived or worked in Scotland for at least four years. The closing date for applications is Monday 3 October, with the winner being announced at a special event in Edinburgh on Wednesday 26 October.
The Maverick Award is offered to an artist who “wishes to explore new territory in their existing practice or to divert from their regular practice to develop new ways of working or new working relationships”. It is made possible with partner support, which this year marks a new partnership between the Tom McGrath Trust and the Saltire Society.
Ella Wildridge, Tom’s partner, said: “This bursary is offered in recognition of Tom’s maverick spirit. Celebrating the new, the innovative and the unconventional is natural territory for the Saltire Society and the Tom McGrath Trust who are excited to be collaborating on this opportunity.”
professional track record
According to the criteria for the award it is open to playwrights with a professional track record in the UK and to artists with a professional track record in the UK who will be “collaborating with other artists for a project with writing at its heart”
This is the third time the award will be given. Previous winners were Mary Paulson-Ellis and Audrey Grant in 2011 and the Village Pub Theatre in 2013. Maverick runners up include Sarah Forrest, Catherine Grosvenor and Andy Cannon (2013)
Full details of the award and the Tom McGrath Trust are available on its website: www.tommcgrath-trust.org.uk A downloadable pdf of the Maverick Award criteria is available at: Maverick-Award-2016.pdf
The award is part of the Saltire Society’s wider £50,000 Inspiring Scotland programme of funding to support young and emerging creative talent in Scotland, recently unveiled to celebrate its 80th anniversary year. More information on the societ is available on its website, here: www.saltiresociety.org.uk
ENDS
