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Author: Kirsty Geddes

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News Opportunities Project Updates

Join Creative Spaces as an Associate

(This Opportunity is Now Closed)

We’re looking for THREE NEW PEOPLE to join our team.

Here at The Stove, we’re all about supporting creativity and helping those who are interested in building a career in the creative sector.

Creativity, by definition, is the the use of the imagination or original ideas to create something.

So, if you’re the type of person who likes to dream up new solutions to problems, can imagine new possibilities and work with your peers to engage with young people from across Dumfries & Galloway in a creative way, this might just be the opportunity you’ve been looking for.

These three positions are offered on a part-time basis for a fixed period of 10 months. Each successful candidate will receive a monthly payment of £560* and will work with The Stove Team on various projects, and with guidance, will learn to develop and deliver a programme of activities and events aimed at the under 30’s.

Fee: £560 pcm freelance contract (equates to 8 days per month at £70 per day)

Duration: 10 months (8 days per calendar month from May – March)

Start Date: 8th May 2023

These opportunities aren’t just for people already working in the sector and you don’t have to be an ‘artist’, have a degree or previous experience to be considered. The Creative Spaces programme is designed to offer you the chance to experiment, provoke, create, and inspire, the only criteria is, you must be aged between 16-30 and have some form of creative work** you’d like to develop.

If you’re interested in finding out more, check out our full application pack here or book to attend our Creative Spaces Showcase on 31st March and hear from last year’s Associates who will be chatting about their experience of being in the programme.

CREATIVE SPACES SHOWCASE, BOOK YOUR PLACE

*Fees are based on a commitment of approximately 80 days over the 10month period (8 days per calendar month at a day rate of £70).

** We define ‘creative work’ as anything from photography, drawing, film, music and performance, to cookery, design and activism. If you have a creative passion and want to explore it further, let us know!

How to Apply

Deadline for Applications: Friday 7th April 23 at midday.

Application Requirements:

Personal Statement (500 words max) or video/audio file (max 5 minutes)
You can use this statement to tell us about yourself, what draws you to the project and what you feel you might be able offer and/or gain through the Creative Spaces Associate programme.
Feel free to be creative with your application, all we ask it that you answer the questions below:

  1. What do think is/are the main challenge(s) facing young people in the region?
  2. Do you have a project, idea, or area of interest* you believe the Creative Spaces programme will help you to develop or realise? Don’t panic! We’re not looking for a fully thought-out project proposal or manifesto, we just want to know what your current interests are and how you see the Associates programme helping you to develop this. This may well change during the course of the programme.

Remember – Be honest. We want to know who you are and what you think this opportunity might be able to do for you. You don’t have to be a wordsmith or filmmaker, just be you!

Please submit your application by email to [email protected] (max file size of 10MB) with heading: Creative Spaces – Associate

DOWNLOAD THE FULL APPLICATION PACK HERE
CLEAR TEXT VERSION

It’s important that our people reflect and represent the diversity of the communities and audiences we serve. We welcome and value difference, so when we say we’re for everyone, we want everyone to be welcome in our teams too. Wherever you’re from, and whatever your background, we want to hear from you.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES MONITORING FORM

*Please note that this idea is just so we can understand the kind of areas you may be interested in and any projects you wish to pursue. This is not a final idea that you have to take forward.

Creative Spaces is a project for the under-30’s that supports the development of those seeking a career in / currently working in the creative industries or community engagement and encourages artistic responses to cultural issues that impact young people in Dumfries & Galloway. Find our more about Creative Spaces here.

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News

Queer Club introduces the ‘Queer Wheel of Fortune’

Learn about the ‘Queer Wheel of Fortune’ and how it operates in the monthly Open Hoose LGBTQ+ activism group.

Image by Patrick Rooney

Queer Club is ran by, with, for and about the local LGBTQ+ community in Dumfries and Galloway. It is a safe, inclusive and friendly space that meets monthly with a whole range of fun activities to take part in, whether you are an advocate or ally, queer or questioning.

Queer Club was established as part of the Open Hoose in 2022 and within its first four months it had already set up and begun managing Dumfries Pride 2022.

Like the rainbow flag itself, Queer Club is a big ol’ clanjamfrie of activism, creativity and entertainment from Queeraoke competitions, powerpoint roulettes, banner making and skills-swaps. Each event is different from the last, and in a new development for the group the activity at each Queer Club session is now decided by the awesome and almighty power of the ‘Queer Wheel of Fortune’!

The Queer Wheel of Fortune

How does it work?

Each month a special guest is invited to spin the Queer Wheel (Queel?) of Fortune, whichever activity the wheel lands on will dictate what the activity will be the next round.

The different activities that make up the ‘Queer Wheel of Fortune’ are as follows:

Queeraoke

Karaoke and lip sync challenges.

Talent Show

It’s time to shine! Whether you’re a side splitting dance Goddess, guitar virtuoso, DJ extraordinaire or simply have a weird story to tell, the talent show is the perfect opportunity to show off a

Book Club

As a collective, we will decide on a book/article or short story to read through the month for dicussion. Whichever book is pitched will make up the Queer Library of the Ewart!

What’s the News?

So, what’s gan oan in the world today? A discussion group to talk about everything new in the Queer Community.

PowerPoint Roulette

PowerPoint Roulette is an improv game where you give a presentation from a slide deck you’ve never seen. Presenters are nominated by the group.

Game Play

In this game, a series of volunteers will each give a PowerPoint presentation containing slides they have never seen, in front of a live audience. For each presentation:

  • The presenter is not allowed to see the slides before presenting.
  • The presenter must deliver each slide in succession without skipping any slides.
  • The presentation ends when all slides have been presented, or after six minute (whichever comes first).

When the presentation is over, the next player is invited to present a new unseen slide deck. Once all players have presented, it’s time to judge the round.

Skill Swap

If the roulette wheel lands on the ‘Skill’ section QC participants are invited to host a workshop/talk/discussion or any other activity to share with the group. It’s that easy!

Queer Crafts

Queerbrodiery, Zine Making, T-shirt printing, up-cycling, whatever takes over fancy!

Film

Simples. Let’s watch a film!

Mystery

At each Queer Club a member is tasked with providing a ‘Mystery’ activity for the group to do. If the pointer lands on ‘Mystery’ the nominated person will announce their activity for the group’s vote.

Learn more about Queer Club:

If you would like to attend the next session of Queer Club, visit the event page here.

As decided by the ‘Queer Wheel of Fortune’, the activity for the March ’23 edition of the group is Queeraoke!

Are you inspired by this Open Hoose group? Want to learn more about Open Hoose and find out how you can start or develop a project for the community? Check out our Open Hoose page for more information.

Categories
Musings News Project Updates

Creative Spaces – Dundee

By Emma Forsyth

At the end of January, the Creative Spaces team, alongside multidisciplinary artist Marly Baker, travelled up to meet with the team at Creative Dundee. We have made contact with this organisation at the Know One Place conference in September 2022, and have been eager to connect with them and see what they are doing in their city. 

We arrived at the V&A to attend the event Plastic Lab: Material Matters. It was four makers from different disciplines talking about the materials they work with. They discussed their relationship to the chosen material, their history and how they see their practice becoming more sustainable as we move forward to a more eco-conscious world. It was very interesting and fun hearing makers talk so passionately about their work.

After the talk, we went through to the Lab section, where we got to ask the designers questions, “meet the materials” and explore samples of their work. 

There was also information about different types of plastic, and how people are trying to create things out of a material that takes thousands of years to decompose. The Lab was very interactive, with people allowed to leave comments on slips on the wall. There had been schools in the Lab before us, and the young kids had filled out some of them with their inventive ways to help the plastic problem.

I was lucky enough to be introduced to John-David Hendshaw who owns production and venue company Sweet Venue, and organises Dundee Fringe. We chatted (and ranted) about accessible theatre, and bringing back old Scottish traditions that can make theatre more attractive to those who have written it off as ‘too artsy’. It was a real meaningful chat to have, and I’m so glad to have made that connection. 

After we left the V&A, we were given a tour of the city centre of Dundee. Walking through the public gardens, Gillian, Claire, and Eilish told us about their role in Creative Dundee, and the projects that they’d been involved in across the city. Their aim is to showcase the creativity in the city, connecting it to the people that live there. We could draw commonalities between The Stoves work and Creative Dundee’s, as both aim to collaborate with their local community to showcase diverse creativity.

They showed us Union Street in the centre of the city, which has now been pedestrianised; the McManus Art Gallery and Museum, a beautiful building in the centre of town; The Keiller Centre home to alternative gallery spaces, and ended in the Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre, a hub for people to create. They have a large print studio with amazing facilities which we got to wander around after seeing the Creative Dundee office and having some lovely snacks.  

Overall, it was a very meaningful experience in Dundee. Being introduced to different creative spaces that have popped up in Dundee was fascinating, exposing people to art in alternative places. The connections made were meaningful and provided a lot to think about and build upon. Thank you to the Creative Dundee team for being such good hosts and showing us more ways creativity can better people’s view on a place.

Emma is one of three Associates currently engaged in a 10-month commission through Creative Spaces at The Stove Network. Creative Spaces is a project for the under-30’s that supports the development of those seeking a career in / currently working in the creative industries or community engagement and encourages artistic responses to cultural issues that impact young people in Dumfries & Galloway. Find our more about Creative Spaces here.

Categories
News Opportunities

We’re Recruiting – NEW Board Members!

THE STOVE NETWORK BOARD:

We’re Recruiting New Board Members

The Stove Network’s Board is currently looking to appoint up to three new board members to replace trustees who have stepped down over the last year.

As both a network and a collective The Stove’s board has evolved to reflect the needs and aspirations of both our team and our 600+ membership.

In looking for new members to join our board, we expect that different candidates will bring a range of skills and experience to The Stove.

We are interested in hearing from people with skills or experience in creative or innovative ways of working who have experience in community development, people or organisational development, funding, or transnational working, particularly within the following fields:

  • Finance & Legal
  • HR & talent management
  • Heritage
  • Hospitality & Events

An understanding of meaningful collaboration, inclusive practice and partnership working also underpin our values. We are particularly keen to hear from people interested in inclusive ways of working in the community.

Planning Session at The Stove’s Away Day with The Board

About The Stove Network

We’re an award-winning arts and community focused collective based on the High Street in Dumfries. We use creativity in all its forms to bring together people and ideas, inspire and support new community-led projects, grow people, opportunities and celebrate our local people and places across the region.

We believe community and creativity are a gateway to help understand our world and empower us to make the changes necessary to support and grow the ideas and experiences we need to deliver a fairer future for all.

One look at the current programme and you will see truly innovative projects that tell you all you need to know about our culture, our mission, what we deliver and how we deliver it.

For more information or to apply:

The Stove Board meets four times a year plus an Annual General Meeting and a handful of subgroup meetings. It’s important our that Board members participate in the life of the organisation between board meetings, advising the team and acting in an ambassadorial role for The Stove Network.

If being part of a new way of working, engaging and making a difference is your thing, please get in touch for an exploratory chat by e-mailing [email protected] before Wednesday 1st March 2023

(Practitioners – please note that being a board member will not exclude you for applying for or undertaking paid work with The Stove)

Categories
Musings News Project Updates

WRITE!

The Open Hoose project that lets your imagination guide your hand.

Unsure what WRITE! is about? Author and organiser, Karl Drinkwater, responds to ten questions about his practice and the monthly creative writing workshop.

What is WRITE! all about?

Specific time set aside to be creative in a short and inspirational burst, surrounded by friends.

Which authors inspire you and your practice?

Rather than individual authors, it tends to be individual books which have some wonderful element that is worth studying to see how the writer achieved their effects. So I might be inspired by the style of The Road (McCarthy), or the scope of The Descent (Long), or the storytelling of The Shining (King), or the characterisation in Jane Eyre (Brontë).

What motivated you to start the group?

When I went on residential writing courses I learnt a lot, but it was often the sessions when we wrote silently to prompts that stuck with me or led to trying out new styles and ideas. I wanted to come up with a format focussing specifically on that feeling. 

How effective do you think writing can be as a form of expression?

It allows you to explore ideas, to be different people, to create something beautiful that may inspire others. To hold our lives up to the great magnifying glass and see them for what they are.

Can you tell us of a time that you were recently inspired to write creatively?

To be honest, as a full-time author, I tend to have my projects scheduled up to a year in advance. For me, the inspiration comes from setting out a plot full of conflict/drama, which has enough detail to provide guidance, but not too much to take away the fun of discovery as I fall through the page and write. 

What is your advice for overcoming writer’s block?

Planning. Without a structure, writer’s block will come and knock.

Where is your favourite place to visit locally to inspire creativity for writing?

I like writing and editing in a pub. The requirement is that it is warm, friendly, and does not have a distracting TV. So normally that would be The Dougie, Coach & Horses, Riverside Tap, or the snug in The Globe.

What do you see for the future of WRITE!

Well, a lot of that depends on The Stove! How can we reach more people? Can it spread across the whole county? (Some people travel a big distance to attend!) Could we run repeat sessions at a different day and time so more people have a chance to join in? I’d like to look at opportunities for publishing creative work from Dumfries & Galloway, open to all residents, not just those attending WRITE! (though obviously the latter would be a key audience for submissions!) Plus I have been working on ideas for a non-fiction book about the craft of writing, and some of the material I prepare for sessions could be my inspiration to get on with it!

Just for fun – what has been your favourite writing prompt shared during WRITE! And how did attendees respond to it?

Ah, there have been so many! I love seeing how the same prompt leads to totally different interpretations. Also, the Titles session (titles of books, stories, newspaper articles etc) was fun. We drew titles from a hat and used them as prompts. Some had been provided by attendees, and it was revealing to see where people’s imaginations went!

WRITE! is the creative workshop at The Stove that gives you the space to guide your imagination and transform it into writing.

Hosted by multi-genre author and editor Karl Drinkwater, WRITE! is designed to allow you to play with words and construct short or longer pieces of work, whichever you desire, and it is open to all abilities!

If you would like to attend the next WRITE! session, click here.

To learn more about Karl, and to visit his website, click here.

Open Hoose is a project at the heart of the Stove’s community venue. Ideas are given the space, time, resources and support of the Stove Network to launch ambitious projects to galvanise and gather our communities together. From climate cafes to bread clubs, jam nights and creative writing groups, Open Hoose offers an eclectic mix of different activities for everyone to take part in. Find out more about groups like this one on our Open Hoose page, here.

Categories
Musings News

Let’s Talk Education

By Morgan Love

The Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) was implemented into the Scottish education sector in 2010, and to mark twenty-years since Scotland last held a national debate on the future of education, the Scottish Government invited groups of people to host conversations focused on the ways in which CfE has been successful, and to investigate what potential improvements can be made for the future.

The championing of education has been a pillar of my life from an early age. Having grown up with a grandparent who was unable to partake in primary education, due to a physical disability, it was sustained throughout my childhood that education is not only a tool that can be used to build a balanced and well-rounded life, but also a gift that should not be taken for granted.

It is for this reason that when the Let’s Talk Education* initiative was brought to my attention, I wanted to use it as an opportunity to gather together organisations working within the creative sector in Dumfries & Galloway, and begin to look at how how we can utilise our networks, skillsets and experience to make a difference in our region and pave the way for a new vision for Education.

Armed with official questions from the Scottish Government and a few topics of interest, I facilitated a discussion with a group made up of eleven practitioners from eight separate local organisations (alongside two educators), and embarked on a conversational journey that provided so much more than expected.

Initially, I set out to explore three topics that could be fed back to the Government, these were:

  • The barriers to accessing creative industries
  • The link between mental health and art
  • How we can aim to implement STEAM (science, technologies, engineering, arts, and maths) over STEM (science, technologies, engineering and maths).

While these three topics became the core of the conversation, the feedback from the participants and insight shared allowed the discussion to evolve, branching out and offering opportunities for further discussion on topics including; the limitation of time and resources for educators, exploring methods of teaching popular in Scandinavian countries, and how education and culture feed into one another.

The overriding takeaway I had from the discussion was that our town, and wider region, is filled with organisations and individuals who care passionately about the young people who live here and about supporting new ways of engaging with them and developing opportunities for them to express themselves through creativity.

My hope is that this conversation is just the beginning, highlighting what could be possible if likeminded people come together and talk about important issues such as accessibility and inclusion.

For me, by facilitating this event, it has become clear that continued involvement with established education providers is an important way for us to engage with young people, to showcase the possibilites and to role-model what is achievable when passion and devotion are at the heart of what you do.

Morgan is one of three Associates currently engaged in a 10-month commission through Creative Spaces at The Stove Network. Creative Spaces is a project for the under-30’s that supports the development of those seeking a career in / currently working in the creative industries or community engagement and encourages artistic responses to cultural issues that impact young people in Dumfries & Galloway. Find our more about Creative Spaces here.

*https://www.gov.scot/news/lets-talk-education/