GROUPS connected to Paisley’s bid to be UK City of Culture 2021 are in line to share a six-figure sum from a fund designed to stimulate the area’s creative scene.

Councillors will this week be asked to approve a £111,299 spend from Renfrewshire’s Culture, Heritage and Events Fund (CEF Fund), to allow 12 different cultural and charity groups to run a variety of arts-related projects.

The CHE Fund was set up to help unlock Renfrewshire’s creative potential in the run-up to and during the Paisley 2021 bid. This will be the third round of funding since the fund was set up – which saw 44 applications and a total request of more than £700,000 for the judges to sift through.

The 12 projects recommended for approval include £25,000 to Reaching Older Adults in Renfrewshire (ROAR) to use virtual reality and other digital technology to help older people have new cultural experiences, and £15,000 for the Paisley First Business Improvement District to fund a project to produce six pieces of wall art in partnership with local artists and community groups.

Other shortlisted projects include an international tango festival for Paisley, a bi-annual poetry journal, a series of plays on the history of Renfrewshire, and money to help set up a local Scottish-Polish club.

The council set aside £500,000 for the CHE Fund back in 2015, and should the latest 12 applications be approved, £345,401 will have been spent to date. That would also mean 46 projects will have been supported out of 152 applications – and a total funding request of almost £2m.

“Paisley’s bid to be UK City of Culture 2021 will bring massive economic and social benefits to the whole area,” said Renfrewshire Council leader and chair of the Paisley 2021 Partnership Board, Mark Macmillan.

“But if it is to succeed we need to show a thriving local creative scene and a proven ability to stage cultural projects.

“The CHE Fund is key to that – we know there is a huge depth of creativity and talent here in Renfrewshire and the fund is intended to help people show that off.”

Projects funded to date include teenage Kilbarchan animator Morgan Spence’s Paisley 2021 Lego movie, which was released earlier this month and has been seen by millions of people around the world.