Scottish Arts Council (SAC) is supporting the research and development of community art projects, with a series of recent awards totalling GB£262,878. Nine grants were awarded at a meeting of SAC's Lottery Grants Panel, including funding to develop new works for Dykebar Hospital, four 'labyrinths' in Argyll and art workshops for Glasgow’s asylum seekers. The award to Dykebar Hospital will involve artists in the design and commissioning of the hospital’s new psychiatric Acute Admissions Unit, as well as providing art throughout the other areas of the hospital site. In Argyll, the local authority is developing an environmental art project which will involve local children and young people in researching the folklore and traditional tales of labyrinths, to be incorporated into a series of four open-air artworks in the local area. Seeking Freedom is a major art exhibition to be brought to Glasgow by Amnesty International. Due to begin in April 2003, at the city's Gallery of Modern Art, the exhibition will highlight the plight of asylum seekers past and present, comparing the experience of those who escaped persecution in Europe during the 1930s with present-day arrivals. The SAC funding will support a series of workshops with artists from different disciplines, planned over a 14-month period. SAC Director Graham Berry has welcomed the awards and has noted that the aforementioned recipients represent ‘just a handful of the exciting and innovative projects that are currently invigorating the arts across Scotland.’ The full list of grant recipients is, as follows: Renfrewshire and Inverclyde Primary Care NHS Trust (Paisley) - received £8,239 towards the first phase of developing a program of contemporary public art for the new Acute Admissions Unit at Dykebar Hospital. Argyll & Bute Council - received £4,117 towards a feasibility study into the research and development of a series of labyrinth-inspired artworks, inspired by traditional and local folklore and in harmony with the local environment. Perth Theatre Limited - received £76,703 towards the cost of upgrading the theatre’s main stage sound and lighting systems. City of Glasgow Council - received £28,500 towards a series of workshops with asylum seekers, refugees and residents, based around the themes of the Seeking Freedom exhibition. Imaginate - received £68,000 towards a Co-ordinator post for the performing arts for children. North Ayrshire Council - received £9,440 towards the costs of developing a performing arts project for 40 children from across the authority’s area, culminating in a performance at the Magnum Theatre. Kintyre Juvenile Pipe Band Association - received £24,241 towards bagpipes, drums and piping tuition starter kits. The grant will allow band members currently practising on chanters and drum pads to progress onto full pipes and drums. Feisan nan Gaidheal - received £27,801 towards the cost of purchasing clarsachs, accordions and fiddles for the organisation's musical instrument bank, which provides instruments to local Feisan for tuition, as well as for hire to other musicians. Peacock Visual Arts - received £15,837 towards the purchase of video, editing, lighting and audio equipment, which will allow it to replace outdated, second-hand equipment and increase the quality and quantity of the work it produces with established artists and community groups.