Creative Scotland has confirmed that the University of Aberdeen's WayWORD Festival will receive £150,000 of funding over three years as part of their new Multi-Year Funding programme.
WayWORD Festival is a literary cross-arts festival celebrating unconventional forms of expression and is completely free for attendees. Since 2020, it has supported young people in the North-east of Scotland to plan and host events such as workshops, author talks, performances and exhibitions. Young people join a committee and develop skills in event management, marketing and teamwork, and benefit from confidence building and professional skills development.
Being awarded Multi-Year Funding for the first time ensures the festival will continue until at least 2027, providing more support and opportunities for young people to be involved in arts organisation and event planning through the development of new satellite committees in communities across Aberdeen.
The Creative Director of WayWORD Festival, Dr Shane Strachan, said: “This funding is a fantastic opportunity for us to be able to reach larger audiences and support more young people across the North East. We already have some great events in the pipeline, but are excited to work with more communities to develop activities and opportunities which are important to them. A big thank you to our previous Director, Dr Helen Lynch, for her work and support in securing this funding for the future of the festival.”
The autumn 2024 festival reached over 3000 audience members for the first time.
WayWORD is hosting an event on the 4 February 2025, inviting young people to be part of WayWORD 2025. This free event will allow young people to generate ideas and learn more about the festival committee process. Free tickets for this event can be booked at www.waywordfestival.com
The programme for autumn 2025 festival will be announced in the summer. Join the mailing list to receive updates at www.waywordfestival.com/about