SCOTLAND's top talent school has held talks with West Lothian council over its plans to cease free tuition for stringed instruments.
Professor Jeffrey Sharkey, principal of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, told MSPs he has met with the council to urge them to keep string provision alive.
He said: "You have to start certain art forms very young at primary school.
"If you don't start strings in primary school, if you don't start ballet in primary school, then you will be too late to even begin to approach the level that you would need to study at the Royal Conservatoire.
"Further than that we want to make the case in partnership with all parties and with government that the country will benefit from the creative learning that access to the performing arts provides."
A West Lothian Council spokesperson said: “We held a constructive meeting with Professor Sharkey, and will be exploring further the ideas discussed.”
www.rcs.ac.uk
SCOTTISH author Maggie Ritchie’s book Looking for Evelyn has been shortlisted for the prestigious Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize 2018.
It is one of six novels recognised by the prize, which celebrates the best adventure writing.
The winner’s prize money is £15,000.
“I'm so pleased that Saraband agreed to publish Looking for Evelyn, so pleased people are buying it, and unbelievably thrilled that I have been shortlisted for an award sponsored by such a talented and successful author," said Ms Ritchie, who lives in Glasgow.
Published in 2017, the book combines inspiration from both her childhood memories of life in Africa and her experience as a journalist.
Maggie grew up in Zambia and is an award-winning author and journalist who has written for a range of national newspaper titles.
Other novels on this year’s shortlist for best published novel include: Rory Clements’ Nucleus; Jane Harris’ Sugar Money, Tyler Keevil’s No Good Brother, Abir Mukherjee’s A Necessary Evil and James Wilde’s Pendragon.
www.saraband.net
THE ARMY is returning to the Fringe for another season of staging drama and dance.
The force will be hosting six shows at its Hepburn House drill hall, run with the Summerhall venue.
Productions bring shows from Fijian, Icelandic and Polish sources, and includes The Troth, by Akademi, a dance work about the WW1 soldiers from rural Punjab.
The shows will run from August 10-25.
www.summerhall.co.uk
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