Arts & Business will hold two “Dragons Den” style events called “Art of the Pitch” to promote the Scottish Government funded CashBack for Communities grant scheme. The first event will be held at the City Halls, Glasgow on Monday 1st December with the second being held in Aberdeen in early 2009.

The matching grant scheme is aimed specifically at encouraging business sponsorship of arts activities to help divert young people from becoming involved in crime and anti-social behaviour. The funding comes from the CashBack for Communities initiative which uses money seized from criminals to provide free activities for 10-19 year olds throughout Scotland.

At the Glasgow event three businesses, Elphinstone, ScottishPower and Standard Life, will each be represented by a “dragon” with a sponsorship budget of £7,500 to spend. Six shortlisted arts organisations will make a five minute sponsorship pitch on an arts project which meets the aims and eligibility criteria of the CashBack for Communities scheme. Pitches will be innovative and engaging - props, art activity, images, any medium can be used during the pitch except PowerPoint.

If a project is chosen by a Dragon their £7,500 business investment will be matched by a £7,500 CashBack for Communities grant bringing a total of £15,000 worth of sponsorship to the arts project.

Barclay Price, Director of Arts & Business Scotland said: “Art of the Pitch gives our business sponsors the ideal opportunity to make a difference to young people’s lives and to promote their company’s commitment to corporate and social responsibility. We are encouraging arts organisations to use their creativity and to do something different with their sponsorship pitch. It will be an enjoyable and informative evening for everyone involved.”

Karen Frost, Community Investment Manager, Standard Life said “Taking part in Art of the Pitch gives us a hugely innovative way of finding out more about new arts projects and to talk to the people involved face to face. It fits very well into the Strengthening Life strand of our Community Investment Framework that concentrates on working with groups addressing issues around poverty and the associated problems that arise from this. Art of the Pitch is an excellent way of helping these vulnerable groups and also a great conduit for bringing public and private sector funding together to achieve this aim. ”

Culture Minister Linda Fabiani said “The cultural strand of the Cashback for Communities initiative is about recycling the proceeds of crime in a positive fashion and using the money to widen opportunities for young people to take part in the arts.

The Art of The Pitch events are a novel and entertaining way of promoting the scheme and moreover, of ensuring arts organisations receive a substantial sum of cash to invest in increasing cultural access for youngsters across Scotland.’’

The deadline for applications is Wednesday 1st October. Interested organisations should visit http://www.AandB.org.uk/Scotland or call 0131 220 2499.