Official Contact Information for Scottish Gaelic Arts

However you've found your way here — as a curious supporter, a potential funder, or a community group with an idea, this page explains how to reach us.

Getting in Touch

Most of the conversations that matter to us start with a single email. A retired schoolteacher in Skye writing to ask whether her grandmother's waulking songs might find a home in one of our archives. A festival organiser in Glasgow wondering if we can help fund a Gaelic poetry stage. These notes arrive without ceremony, and we read every one.

Pròiseact nan Ealan exists to support and grow Scottish Gaelic arts across performance, literature, visual work, and the cultural hubs that hold communities together. Reaching us is deliberately simple. Our Director, Mairi NicLeòid, oversees inquiries directly, and you can write to her at [email protected].

If you'd like context before you write, the About Pròiseact nan Ealan page explains what we do and why, and the Leadership & Team page introduces the people behind the work.

Before you write: a short note about who you are and what you're hoping to achieve helps us route your message to the right person faster. There's no formal template — plain language is welcome, in Gaelic or English.

Opportunities for Donors and Volunteers

Support for Gaelic arts rarely arrives as a single large cheque. It arrives as a sum of smaller commitments, a translator who gives a weekend, a family that funds a year of children's céilidh workshops, a photographer who documents a community event at no cost. That mix is what keeps the work resilient.

For donors

If you're considering financial support, write to Mairi with a sense of what moves you. Some donors care about a single discipline, say Gaelic-language theatre. Others want their gift to follow need wherever it's sharpest in a given year. We'll talk you through where contributions go and what they make possible, and we're candid about the fact that not every project can be funded — choices have to be made, and we'd rather explain them honestly than promise everything.

For volunteers

Volunteers shape this organisation as much as any budget line. We look for people who can teach, translate, document, host, or simply turn up and help an event run. You do not need fluent Gaelic to contribute, though a willingness to learn a few phrases goes a long way with the communities we serve.

Tell us what you can offer and roughly how much time, and we'll match it against what's actually needed rather than inventing a role to fill.

Grant Inquiry Protocols

Grant inquiries follow a clearer process, because public and trust funding usually comes with its own deadlines and reporting expectations. We've structured our side to respect both yours and ours.

1. First contact

Email Mairi with the working title of your project, the discipline it sits within, and the funding window you're working toward. One paragraph is enough at this stage.

2. Scoping

We'll reply to confirm whether the proposal fits our remit and what supporting detail we'd need — budget outline, timeline, and the Gaelic-language or cultural dimension of the work.

3. Review

Eligible inquiries move to a considered review. We aim to give a clear answer within a reasonable window rather than leaving applicants waiting indefinitely.

A note on timing. If a national funding deadline is driving your application, tell us at first contact. We can sometimes accelerate scoping, but we can't bend a funder's calendar, and a late start is the most common reason a strong idea misses its window.

Good to know: grant decisions reflect available resources in a given cycle, and a positive scoping conversation is not itself a commitment of funds. We try to be transparent about that distinction early.

Community Partnership Details

Partnerships are where this work becomes lasting. A one-off concert entertains for an evening; a partnership with a local school, a Gàidhlig playgroup, or a regional arts centre can keep a tradition alive across a generation.

We collaborate with community groups, educational bodies, heritage organisations, and venues across Scotland. The shape varies. Some partnerships are programme-based, building a season of events together. Others are about sharing what we know — helping a small cultural hub set up its first Gaelic storytelling series, or connecting a visual arts and literature group with practitioners they'd struggle to reach alone.

What we ask of partners is straightforward: a genuine commitment to Gaelic language and culture, and a willingness to share credit and learning openly. What you can expect from us is the same.

If a partnership feels like the right fit, write to Mairi NicLeòid at [email protected] and describe the community you serve and what you'd hope to build together. The best collaborations we've had began exactly that way — a short, honest message about a real need, sent by someone who'd done the groundwork in their own community first.