The Arts & Business Scotland Awards winners have been announced at a prestigious ceremony at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh.

Arts & Business Scotland exists to promote mutually beneficial relationships between business and culture. The Awards ceremony is held each year to recognise the most outstanding and creative partnerships between businesses and arts organisations.

Winners across ten categories were presented with specially commissioned award pieces in front of an audience of over 300 guests from business, the arts and the media.

Organisations large and small were recognised, and included businesses from the financial sector, energy sector, drinks industry, legal services industry, business services sector and creative industries. The arts activity supported reached from Dumfries and Galloway to Aberdeen, from Arran to Shetland and Orkney and included classical music, film, festival, literature, visual arts, opera and theatre.

Special individual awards included the City of Edinburgh Arts Award, won by Jonathan Mills, Director and Chief Executive of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Leadership Award, won by Sir Angus Grossart, previous chair of the National Museums Scotland.

Barclay Price, Chief Executive of Arts & Business Scotland, said: ‘It is terrific that in spite of difficult trading conditions Scottish based companies continue to recognise that a partnership with the arts offers real business benefit. From the Glenfiddich project which is a world class initiative using the arts in its Dufftown distillery as a link to promotion of the brand in existing and emerging markets, to Scott + Co’s support for theatre work by the Citizen’s Theatre with disadvantaged Glasgow communities, the diversity of the shortlisted partnerships underlines the range of business objectives with which the arts can assist.’

The full list of Awards made:

Community (Sponsored by Pinsent Masons)

Awarded to a partnership that has used the power of the arts to engage with the wider community

Winners:

• Bank of Scotland and National Theatre of Scotland

• ScottishPower and National Theatre of Scotland

Commended: Baillie Gifford Investment Managers and Edinburgh International Science Festival

Commended: Tesco Bank and The Reading Agency

Cultural Branding Award (sponsored by Shell U.K. Limited)

For a partnership that has reinforced the branding and marketing activity of a business through an innovative use of culture

Winner: Cutty Sark Blended Scotch Whisky and Centre for the Moving Image (EIFF and Filmhouse)

Commended: Burness LLP and The Glasgow School of Art

Commended: Isle of Arran Distillery and The National Trust for Scotland

Enterprising Museum Award (Sponsored by Museums Galleries Scotland)

For an entrepreneurial partnership that has delivered an ambitious high-impact museums experience

Winner: The Royal Bank of Scotland and National Museums Scotland

Commended: Maersk Oil North Sea UK and Aberdeen Maritime Museum

Commended: TAQA Bratani and Aberdeen Maritime Museum

New or Returning Sponsor Award (Sponsored by Freight Design & J Thomson Colour Printers)

For an arts sponsorship by a business sponsoring the arts in Scotland for the first time or returning to sponsorship after three years

Winners:

• Virgin Money and Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society

• Weesleekit and The Bakehouse

Commended: Benromach and National Theatre of Scotland

First in a Lifetime Award (Sponsored by Creative Scotland)

For a partnership that has aimed to take the arts to people and places they don’t normally go, or created arts opportunities for people who would not normally be engaged

Winner: TOTAL E&P UK /Capital Solutions/ Loganair/Northlink Ferries and Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Commended: BAA Glasgow Airport and Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Small Business Award (Sponsored by Black Light)

For an effective sponsorship by a small business (under 50 employees)

Winner: Tangent Graphic and Edinburgh International Book Festival

Commended: A1 Comics and Children’s Classic Concerts

Commended: The Wee Curry Shop and Glasgow Film Theatre

Sustained Partnership Award (Sponsored by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers)

For a partnership of four years or more that has set standards in creative arts-business collaborations

Winner: William Grant and Sons Ltd and Glenfiddich Artists in Residence Programme

Commended: Accenture and Scottish Opera

Commended: Scottish Friendly and Scottish Book Trust

Young People and the Arts Award (Sponsored by Accenture Scotland)

For a partnership that has harnessed the power of the arts to engage young people

Winner: Scott + Co and Citizens Theatre

Commended: Bank of Scotland and Imaginate

Commended: Talisman Energy (UK) and Ferryhill Primary School

The City of Edinburgh Arts Award (Sponsored by The City of Edinburgh Council)

To an individual or organisation that has made a special contribution to the arts in the city

Winner: Jonathan Mills, Director and Chief Executive of the Edinburgh International Festival

Leadership Award (Sponsored by Chevron Upstream Europe)

To an individual who has shown outstanding leadership in the arts during 2011

Winner: Sir Angus Grossart, previous chair of the National Museums Scotland

The judging panel was comprised of:

Jane Ryder, Chair, Arts & Business Scotland (Chair of judging panel)

Sue Bruce, Chief Executive, The City of Edinburgh Council

Lucy Bird, Chief Executive, Marketing Edinburgh

Malcolm McSporran, Deputy Regional Director, Santander Corporate, Commercial and Business Banking, Santander UK Plc

Jim Tough, Chief Executive, The Saltire Society

Source: Arts and Business Scotland