The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) has announced an increase in funding for enterprising graduates through its Make It Happen Fund, providing crucial support to graduates as they kick-start their careers.

The fund has been prioritised in response to the current funding landscape, including an increase in the fixed awards to £1,500, up from £1,000 in previous years.

The number of available awards has also been doubled to twenty this year, up from ten in previous years.

Deborah Keogh, the RCS’s Head of Engagement, said: “In the years after graduation, access to a small source of funding can be hugely impactful for testing innovative early-stage ideas, completing a period of research and development, starting a new company or forming a collaboration or collective.

“Following additional support from the Scottish Funding Council this year, we are thrilled to offer our graduates more funding, knowing that this will have a tremendous impact in supporting them as they explore new ideas and contributing to their professional and personal growth.”

Previous recipients of Make It Happen awards include saxophonist Matt Carmichael, a BMus Jazz graduate and finalist in the BBC’s Young Jazz Musician 2020, whose critically acclaimed debut album Where Will the River Flow amassed over three million streams. Matt used funding for the mixing/mastering of an EP.

“The fund gave me the chance to record and experiment making an EP, collaborating with new musicians, pay them and gain more studio experience,” said Matt.

“Without it, this would not have been possible. The Make It Happen fund is an amazing opportunity to give recent graduates the chance to pursue their creative ideas freely.”

Penny Chivas, a graduate of Masters in Learning and Teaching in the Performing Arts, used the Make It Happen award for Burnt Out, a solo dance theatre work about the Australian Black Summer fires.

BA Modern Ballet graduate Rosie Mackley developed a choreographic work with RCS ballet students to explore the difference between internal experience and external appearance while Juliette Lemoine, a graduate of the BMus Traditional Music programme, used Make It Happen funding to create three live music videos to support the release of her debut album Soaring.

The deadline for this year’s Make It Happen Fund awards is Wednesday 25 September at 5pm.

How to apply

• Be a graduate of the RCS within the past three years (2024, 2023, 2022).

• Be a former undergraduate, taught postgraduate, PhD or DPerf student.

• Reside in the United Kingdom and be able to provide the RCS with proof of home address (utility bill or council tax bill).

• Read about the fund and all the guidelines on the RKE webpage.

• Check out the online application form.

• Prepare the application and budget in a document.

• Upload the application and budget (please only upload .pdf or .doc) to the online application.

Potential applicants who may be unsure of eligibility or would like to discuss further should contact Stephanie Edwards (Knowledge Exchange Development Officer) at keadmin@rcs.ac.uk to set up a meeting and discuss ideas.