Edinburgh Book Festival among organisations awarded Mo Siewcharran Fund grants

Edinburgh Book Festival is one of four organisations to have been awarded a grant from the Mo Siewcharran Fund in its latest round.

The fund was set up in memory of former Nielsen BookData director of marketing and communications Mo Siewcharran, who died in 2017 aged 59. It is administered by the social enterprise Creative Access, and supports internships for groups underrepresented in the creative industries.

Good Chance Theatre, an arts charity; Mark Rubinstein Ltd, a theatrical production management company; and Sound and Music, the national organisation for new music, have all also received grants.

The grants contribute to the salary of an intern for a six-month traineeship, and trainees benefit from a full programme of support from Creative Access to ensure that they thrive in their new role.

With its grant, Edinburgh Book Festival will be recruiting a festival intern to support the festival’s programming team with planning and delivering events.

Creative learning manager Catherine Jones said: “At the Edinburgh International Book Festival, we seek to be an open and inclusive festival that aims to showcase a diverse range of voices from all backgrounds and ethnicities in our events. In 2023, thanks to the generous support of the Mo Siewcharran Fund, we are excited to welcome an intern into our team. We are looking forward to sharing with them our knowledge of events in the literary sector and look forward to supporting them in their career.”

On this latest round of recipients, founder of the fund John Seaton said: “The Mo Siewcharran Fund, now in its fifth year and having already supported over 30 interns in the creative industries, is delighted to welcome these four companies who share the same urgency in wanting to improve diversity. It is pleased, also, to extend its reach to include young people from refugee backgrounds. The quest for greater fairness continues.”