An Introduction

My name is Stuart Russell, an artist, poet and writer from Scotland and I won a competition to attend the One Young World Summit 2014. The work I do tends to be on a voluntary basis and I very rarely get paid creative opportunities in my native Scotland. It can be disheartening but luckily I have a fantastic family encouraging me to continue, as well as support from elsewhere in Britain. Despite often having a lack of funds, I still manage to do amazing work and achieve wonderful things. I've won several awards for my work in the arts and received a British Empire Medal from the Queen this year. I must be doing something right...Right?

Lord Provost of Fife, Jim Leishman M.B.E & Myself, Stuart Russell B.E.M

Youth unemployment in my area of Scotland is quite high and if you are creative, things are even tougher. The paid creative opportunities here can be limited. All over the world arts funding is first to be cut from any budget and that is sad because creativity does have value. Personally I had a major lack of support here when I started out as a professional artist. It truly frustrated me that no-one was taking my talents, or other young artists talents seriously. I took matters into my own hands and started up a project called ‘Arts In Fife’. 

The project was set up to promote lesser-known artists in Fife and make them known to the general public. Volunteering with numerous art companies allowed me an insight into the sheer amount of people trying to make it in creative fields here. There are hundreds of local artists! The problem with Fife is it’s a large area filled with lots of little towns, it’s fractured and some places are hard to get to. My aim was to connect these small towns, provide a platform for creative people and allow them to see they were not alone, that there is a bigger and better arts community out there.

‘Arts In Fife’ started out as a magazine which was small, handmade and not so professional. It was a simple way for me to show artistic work around local venues. It has since become popular as a positive, inclusive project and has diversified to include a sister project called 'Arts In Britain', looking at regional artwork in the United Kingdom. 'Arts In Fife' also includes books, newsletters, a blog and my own local radio show. I still work hard on the project and run everything alone. It can get lonely but I hope the effort I put in and the passion I have for it shines through. It is my dream to take this project worldwide and create an arts based media empire. I'm currently working on a new website and hope to produce a more professional magazine. I really want to create web videos, get the project on TV, interview worldwide artists and continue in radio.

Radio and magazine creation is something I have been dabbling in since childhood. My best friend and I recorded shows on his karaoke machine and we drew up little magazines based on the radio shows. I never thought I would still be doing it at 22 but its great fun! I have an interest in mass media and a passion for art, so it is logical I try to utilise these skills! I really enjoy interviewing creative people, it is a career I chase! Finding out all about people is fascinating and promoting their work is thrilling! I like to see other young people doing well.

To win a place at the One Young World Summit, I took part in a competition with “Go Think Big” and believe me… I think BIG! I was thrilled to be chosen and I am really looking forward to meeting people similar to myself, people with great ideas and no fear about inflicting positive change upon the world! I am hoping I can talk about arts representation at the event and learn more about business. I really want the opportunity to earn money from my skills in the future so I want to prove I am good at what I do. To succeed in taking my projects and ideas to a worldwide audience would be the best feeling ever. Applying mass media to art is vital for creativity to thrive. I am so excited about the event in Dublin and I would truly like to thank "Go Think Big" for choosing me. I look forward to meeting everyone in October, hopefully some like creativity as much as I do! I have no idea what to expect from all of this, but I can’t wait to find out where it leads me.