Sean Connery’s family handpick two Glasgow art charities to support in honour of the legendary Scots actors legacy

A Glasgow film school and Govan media charity are two of four projects across Scotland backed by the family of Sean Connery to ‘honour the legacy’ of the beloved Scottish actor.

The Glasgow Media Arts Centre on Trongate and The Portal Arts in Govan was visited by the son of Sean, Jason Connery, to see first-hand the impact the centres have on the lives of young aspiring filmmakers and artists. It’s one of the first projects to be launched by the Sean Connery Foundation, which was launched in October.

The foundation has committed three years of their support to both charities, as well as Screen Education Edinburgh, and the Station House Media Unit in Aberdeen.

A total of £1,000,000 has been pledged by the foundation to the four media charities. The organisations will share the £1 million over the next three years, supporting the four media charities charities up until 2026.

The Sean Connery Foundation was set up by the actor’s family on the second anniversary of his death to ‘accelerate positive change in areas of interest and importance to Sir Sean and his family.’

Sir Sean’s son Jason, an actor, director and co-founder of the FirstStage Studios complex in Leith, said: “Before he was a globally recognised movie star, my dad was a lad from Fountainbridge, and he never once forgot that whilst talent might be distributed equally, opportunity is not.

“By supporting access for passionate young people to the screen sector, no matter what their circumstances, we’d like to help dreams come true. We hope that young people with an appetite for visual storytelling and a curiosity about the many behind-the-scenes jobs that make movies possible, will reach out to our grantees and get involved.

The Portal Arts, a media charity based in Govan, uses filmmaking as a tool for community engagement, raising issues important to the community, and representing local people. It recently launched a film production arm to focus on ‘impact filmmaking and bringing unheard voices to wider audiences.’

The Glasgow Media Arts Centre, founded 1982, is involved in youth work in the community, film education & training, film commissioning schemes, open access screening events, outreach work, employability, and engagement with the people of Glasgow.

Stephane Connery, Sir Sean’s son and chair of the foundation, said: “The screen sector has enjoyed strong growth in recent years as more global productions choose to shoot their film and TV in Scotland, providing good jobs for industry-ready young people.

“Our screen-education grantees offer a wide variety of programmes that introduce participants to the possibility of a career in screen production, often for the first time, and provide a clear path into an exciting industry that is too often considered out-of reach.”

The family of the Edinburgh-born screen icon hope the funding will help capitalise on the “strong growth” seen the Scottish film and TV sector in recent years and encourage more young people to consider a career in the industry.The organisations have been selected for support due to their long-time commitments to offering a “hands-on” introduction to a huge variety of filmmaking roles including writing, producing, acting, editing, set design and costume-making.