STIRLING'S NEWEST FESTIVAL GETS £10K FUNDING BOOST FOR REBRAND

FVSE, the organisation behind the delivery of Stirling Highland Games since 2014 has successfully evolved the event into Stirling’s newest cultural event, The Sruighlea Festival [Sreee-lie].

The new festival aims to continue attracting visitors to the host region from not just the UK but from overseas as it seems there is an ever-growing appetite for a multi layered Scottish cultural event. With highland games competitions, a foodie festival and now a live music event on offer, it promises to be well worth a visit.

Director Matt McGrandles explains, “Over the last few years we have been tweaking the offering to visitors to see what works and what doesn’t. Last year’s event went very well so we are looking to build on this and grow the offering, so we can attract more visitors.”

With the Festival looking to increase its numbers, the FVSE team have been working since last September on securing more funding partners. As such, the recent matched funding support of £10,000 from Cultural Business Fund Scotland (CBFS) has now allowed FVSE to appoint their new Creative Festival Partners, Nettl Stirling to help develop its branding and online presence, a key part of the Festival’s growth.

CBFS aims to encourage businesses to sponsor arts and heritage activity within Scotland for the first time and this new fund brings creative projects – large and small – vividly to life.

Carl Watt, Head of Programmes at Arts & Business Scotland, added: “By matching their sponsorship pound for pound, the Culture & Business Fund Scotland aims to encourage many more businesses that are new to cultural sponsorship to sponsor cultural projects throughout Scotland. It also seeks to strengthen long-term collaboration by offering ongoing support for those businesses sponsoring cultural projects in their second and third years. Nettl Stirling’s sponsorship of The Sruighlea Festival is a fantastic example of how businesses and cultural organisations can work together for mutual benefit. Companies who support the arts, such as Nettl, benefit from the opportunity to showcase their expertise with a wider audience.”

He continued, “Developing the branding and online presence of The Sruighlea Festival will no doubt boost visitor numbers to the event and will make a positive, long-lasting impact that inspires and enriches the local community in Stirling.”

Alan Gunning, Director at Nettl of Stirling are really exciting to be working on the branding and web development for this year’s Sruighlea Festival. Having attended 2017’s Stirling Highland Games, he saw the tremendous effort that the FVSE team went to in putting on such a fantastic event.

He commented, “Last year, the hugely successful foodie festival, traders’ village and the first ever evening of music with the Sruighlea Sessions added to a fantastic atmosphere and brought a great day to a majestic close. Now that we know how to pronounce Sruighlea, we were delighted to be approached to create the branding and website (including a bespoke ticketing system) for 2018’s Sruighlea Festival. We’re proud to be supporting this wonderful, cultural and local event.”

The Festival promotes itself as a weekend destination and believes it has something for everyone. Matt concludes, “with the great news that we have now secured support from both CBFS and Nettle Stirling, it allows development of The Sruighlea Sessions, our live music part of the event where we are looking to attract 3000 additional visitors in the evening. The Project is a massive funding jigsaw, but I am delighted it is all coming together to create a cracking event for Stirling on Saturday August 18th.”

Tickets for The Sruighlea Festival can be bought in advance from their new web site www.sruighlea.scot in March 2018. For further details please contact FVSE on 01786 273556 or email your enquiry to office@fvse.org.uk