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Speculation was rife at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh over the identity of the anonymous donor of a new £3m arts grant.

The one-off grant is available to any project based in Edinburgh which impresses both culturally and architecturally.

Plenty of organisations were around to stake their claim - from the Edinburgh International Film Festival, who have long harboured dreams of a suitable new festival venue, to the Scottish Photography Museum, who still have their sights set on Calton Hill.

But who is the mystery donor? JK Rowling and Sir Sean Connery have apparently been ruled out but other names were circulating the room.

Some conspiracy theorists also questioned the timing with a review of Edinburgh's arts venues due to be published soon.

Do Edinburgh City Council already have a project in mind?

Council leader Jenny Dawe was quick to dismiss the suggestion.

"It really is wide open to projects and ideas, that's what makes it exciting. It's also really important in this kind of economic climate that culture doesn't fall off the agenda," she says.

And Giles Ruck, chief executive of The Scottish Community Foundation says they're well used to protecting the anonymity of their donors.

"We deal with a lot of anonymous donations. The only difference with this one is the scale of the award."

Interested organisations have until April next year to submit their ideas. The winning project will be chosen in 2010 and must be finished by 2013.

Mystery Owner

One lucky art lover got more than he bargained for at auction last week.

The anonymous fan snapped up a much admired Joan Eardley charcoal drawing - one of the many she made of the Sampson children who lived near her studio in Glasgow in the 1950s.

It cost the buyer £22,000 but he realised he'd got a real bargain when he sent it to be checked over and discovered there was a second work underneath.

The oil painting of the same boy - Andrew Sampson - is signed, leading to speculation that it wasn't being discarded by the artist, but hidden away for future discovery.

The owner, whose Eardley collection has doubled overnight, is keen to find out.