Scottish Ballet and KPMG announce third year of partnership

The partnership will continue to strengthen links between the business and the arts community, as well as support Scottish Ballet’s aim to deliver award-winning productions and community outreach initiatives to make ballet and dance more accessible.

For the third consecutive year, funding will enable a group of children from Cuthbertson Primary School in Govanhill, close to Scottish Ballet’s Tramway HQ, to take part in ballet workshops and see the company perform The Snow Queen at Theatre Royal, Glasgow, building on their successful visit to Cinderella last year.

This year’s partnership has also supported the creation of a highly acclaimed short dance film called ‘Frontiers’ as part of Scottish Ballet’s second Digital Season; a film created by Scottish Ballet’s in-house filmmaker Eve McConnachie, with choreography by Myles Thatcher of San Francisco Ballet.

The sponsorship is supported with year three match funding from Arts and Business Scotland’s Culture and Business Fund, (CBFS) which aims to strengthen corporate partnerships in the arts and increase community engagement. The scheme provides up to £40,000 worth of funding to arts and heritage organisations.

Christopher Hampson, CEO/Artistic director of Scottish Ballet, said: “Our relationship with KPMG feels very much like a partnership - one which is continuing to deliver benefits to both organisations and we look forward to developing further shared opportunities in the coming year. With thanks to CBFS we can genuinely deepen that relationship through community engagement projects, helping us deliver on our mission to inspire on stage and beyond.”

Catherine Burnet, senior partner for KPMG in Scotland, said: “Over the last three years, KPMG’s partnership with Scottish Ballet has helped to deliver investment and support in Scotland’s thriving cultural scene. I’m incredibly proud of the collaboration, particularly our work with Cuthbertson Primary School, ensuring that world-leading productions and initiatives are able to reach out to the next generation of talent. Over the next year, we’ll be working on deepening our shared vision of making Scotland’s outstanding arts scene even more successful, sustainable and accessible.”

Kirsteen Kennedy, deputy head teacher at Cuthbertson Primary School, said: “We love being involved with Scottish Ballet, the children who attend both workshop and performance absolutely love it and benefit so much from the experience.”