Please contribute and help shape future support for visual arts and crafts in Scotland.

We wish to consult with a wide range of individual artists, makers, galleries, and others who contribute to the ecology of the Visual Arts and the Crafts sectors in Scotland. Our aim is to establish a clear picture of the challenges and opportunities faced by those working in these sectors to inform our future plans.

We’ve created a short open call consultation and online e-survey and would really like you to contribute to both, as this will give us a rich mix of views. However, if time is against you, please contribute to the one that you feel suits best.

All responses will be anonymous and will be reported in…

The 13th BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award has opened for entries. We’re looking for talented young traditional musicians from all over Scotland who can play an instrument or sing to enter this prestigeous competition. All you have to do is download and fill in the application form, send in a 10-minute recording on CD, a short biography and paragraph explaining your commitment to a career in traditional music. The deadline for entries is Friday 6th July 2012.

From the entries we will pick 12 young musicians to go through…

Thought it might be good, to give a Finnish glimmer, images that make an impression, that touch me. Been on this island for three weeks now. Every day is lighter. Now it is hardly dark. I thought having lived in Caithness for five years I knew what this seasonal huge outbreathing was like, but this is even more extreme, such a strong experience of light and of a people rejoicing in it, having known its opposite. Even at midnight light still seeps in through the gaps in my blinds. And often it is blue skies.

Then let me take you on a guided whirl around Helsinki. Jump off the ferry and wander round the market stalls on Kaupatorri (market square). Buy a punnet of berries, or fish, or Lapland souvenirs, then stare at the statue of a woman in the fountain. We'll go up the wide…