OUR STORY

Where did MADE come from?!

MADE was founded in 2018 after Stacey had a conversation with two friends on the grass outside of Eden Court, during Xpo North Festival.  Talking about the frustrations of nothing happening and the desire to see more accessible creative provision in the Highlands, Island and Moray, an informal agreement was made to ‘just start doing stuff’ and become part of the solution.  

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Having not long moved back to Moray, Stacey quickly realised that the cut to arts development within the council had a profound effect on the regional sector.  Pockets of grassroots activity had started to grow, and agency starting to move back into communities, however, it wasn’t distributed overly well across Moray and cohesion and collaboration were lacking.  This was the motivation behind starting Moray Arts Development Engagement.

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Between 2018 and 2021, MADE delivered ad-hoc projects as a way to start establishing a profile whilst Stacey remained in full time work at UHI.  From creative health initiatives using print making and spinning, to creating short films about male suicide, MADE started to find a place in being flexible and adaptable to local needs.  It was during this time that MADE accidentally fell into what has become its USP – being responsive to communities through creative interventions, rather than an organisation offering regular core activities like art or dance classes.

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To the outside, this might cause MADE to seem inconsistent, but in reality, we always have two key factors that are core to every project we do – people and creativity (in the widest sense).  This approach has seen us expand to being invited into more strategic spaces – looking at regeneration of Elgin Town Centre to consulting on the Forres Conservation Scheme.  We are now seen to be a key player in the local landscape alongside Findhorn Bay Arts, Dance North Scotland and WildBird.

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Our structure hasn’t changed hugely since 2018 – MADE is still run by Stacey, but on a paid basis since 2024.  Our bank of freelance artists continues to increase, and we are now active in the space of supporting artist development through training and early schemes, as we understand the positive impact this also has on community delivery.  Our funders remain varied – from Foundation Scotland and the UK Arts and Prosperity Fund.  We have also started to move into statutory tenders (Creativity Skills Network with the Moray Council Employability Team), research (via the AIM Collective) and into submitting consultancy bids in collaboration with Helen Avenell Heritage Associates (Forres Conservation Scheme, Leanchoil Trust).  We also have an ongoing partnership with Historic Environment Scotland that sees us contracted each year to engage with young people through heritage.  2024 also saw us hit a milestone; we were successful in our application to the Creative Scotland Open Fund, which gives us confidence and capacity to deliver across 2025!

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Between 2018 and 2023, our first 5 years of operations, MADE has:

• Secured over £300k in funding 

• Provided paid opportunities for over 40 freelance artists, with 50% provided 2+ jobs

• Delivered over 25 community-led projects

• Engaged meaningfully with over 2000 people and built a social media presence of 2k

• Ringfenced £5k in reserves

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We have loved every minute of learning, adapting and growth - MADE was founded with and for Moray's community and it will continue to be what it needs to be, even if that means consistent change.