COURIER OPINION: Big Noise Douglas needs clarity on its future
Government funding has saved Dundee's celebrated Big Noise programme - for now - but the group needs to plan for its long-term future.
The Big Noise schemes in Douglas, Dundee, and Torry, Aberdeen, have been saved by a Scottish Government bailout this year. But what of the future? Image: Alan Richardson.
ByThe Courier
Less than a fortnight ago the writing was on the wall for Sistema Scotland’s Big Noise programme.
The Big Noise programme offers music tuition to youngsters in disadvantaged areas. Image: Alan Richardson.
The future of the scheme – which has helped countless young people to grow their confidence through music – looked bleak until an 11th-hour intervention by the Scottish Government came up with £1.5 million of funding.
The celebrations that followed were long and, appropriately, noisy.
But as Conservative MSP Douglas Lumsden points out in today’s Courier, there are questions that remain unanswered about the future of the programme.
Douglas Lumsden MSP is looking for financial assurances for the Big Noise programmes in Dundee and Aberdeen. Image: Kenny Elrick.
Is the intervention simply a stay of execution for a year – or is Big Noise here to stay?
Many who have benefited from the programme will hope it is the latter.
The upsides of Big Noise are clear.
Clarity on its long-term future would be greatly appreciated.
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COURIER OPINION: Big Noise Douglas needs clarity on its future
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