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Musings News Project Updates

Championing the Economic Impact of Culture

Kirstin McEwan

On the 19th December 2023, the Scottish Government published its action plan, detailing the delivery methodology of its Culture Strategy for Scotland, originally published in 2020.

This Action Plan, developed in collaboration with the Culture Sector, sets out the next steps the Scottish Government will take to support the development of culture in Scotland.

Roundtable consultations sessions were initiated in 2022, one of which was held in Dumfries in January 2023 and attended by the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture, Scottish Government Culture Officials, and colleagues from across the Culture Sector, including Dumfries-based arts and community organisation, The Stove Network. These sessions looked at how cultural and creative organisations, can work with both Government and public bodies to effect positive change, locally, regionally, and nationally.

With a focus on resilience and three key pillars: Strengthening Culture, transforming through Culture, and Empowering through Culture, the action plan outlines the Scottish Government’s route to delivering their ambitious Culture Strategy.

At the round table consultation in Dumfries, The Stove was able to share with the Cabinet Secretary innovative cross-sector working in Dumfries and Galloway that uses cultural projects to empower people to change things within their own communities. An example being the way Dumfries and Galloway are working with the cultural sector to connect people on the ground meaningfully to strategic economic investment.

The Stove’s work, through What We Do Now (WWDN), a unique and ground-breaking initiative that supports a creative placemaking network within Dumfries & Galloway, working with artists, communities, and organisations, is highlighted alongside other examples, within the action plan’s second chapter, “Strengthening Culture”.

Extract from the action plan:

Champion the economic impact of culture, in particular within the context of community wealth building and creative placemaking….

… The Scottish Government has embraced the internationally recognised Community Wealth Building approach to economic development as a key tool to transform our local and regional economies…

… harnessing local economic opportunities to address a range of challenges linked to addressing depopulation, regardless of whether affected communities are found in rural and island areas, or urban….

… There is a clear link with the principle of creative placemaking, which we know has tangible benefits for communities. For example, The Stove Network’s work across the south of Scotland, funded by the Scottish Government via the Culture Collective project ‘What We Do Now’, connects artists and community organisations to co-develop creative plans for the future of local places. We will learn from the outputs of this work and consider ways of scaling up the approaches taken.

“To see creative placemaking championed within the Scottish Government’s action plan for delivering the national culture strategy is fantastic. What We Do Now in Dumfries and Galloway is just one example of a very exciting strand of practice that is emerging across Scotland to place creativity at the heart of community-led change.”

Katharine Wheeler, Lead for WWDN

The full Culture Strategy for Scotland: Action Plan can be read here

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News Opportunities Project Updates

Cafe Culture: Arts Commission

(This opportunity is now closed)

An opportunity to showcase your work and practice at The Stove.

The Stove Network is looking to commission an artist/creative practitioner(s) or community group to engage creatively with 100 High Street’s award-winning Stove Cafe through our ‘Conversing Building’ project.

Cafe Culture: Arts Commission

Fee + Materials: £1,750

Conversing Building is an exhibition programme hosted in our award-winning venue, The Stove Cafe.

It brings together a variety of creative works and projects that address local issues and engage with our local community, promoting and exploring ideas related to both local and global topics.

Ranging from subjects like ecology, heritage, and local democracy, Conversing Building delves into ideas, and discussions through diverse creative mediums, including sound, textiles, print, and visual art approaches to invite and inspire conversation and interaction with everyone that walks into our doors.

About the Commission

This is an open brief for creative practitioners to apply their own creative approach to the environment.

Practitioners of all types are invited to work with the Stove’s creative department and cafe team to realise a ‘takeover’ of the cafe space. drawing their own creative interpretation into the environment.

We are open to all forms and styles, from printmakers to installation.

We encourage applicants to consider how their work may address or speak to local concerns in an open and inspirational way.

Considerations

Our cafe is a busy space, and we are unable to lose out on seating spaces. Proposals must take into consideration how the work will complement the established environment of the cafe and not disrupt the day-to-day running of the enterprise.

The Stove Cafe is a place where people work, eat, chat, drink and play so do consider this with your proposal.

Proposals should consider how creative interactions with the space are sensitively balanced with the rhythm and life of the cafe and how interaction is best served within it. For example, proposals which require significant floor space are unlikely to work, as too proposals which centre on projected image/film may not be feasible due to daytime lighting obstructing the view.

Traditional exhibitions or previously exhibited work are invited however applicants must consider how the work relates to/compliment the Conversing Building projector, contributes to dialogue connected to our town centre location, and how they may go about re-imagining the work for the space in question.

Previous examples of Conversing Building projects can be found here.

Fee and Materials

The total fee and materials budget available is £1,750.

How this budget is split is subject to your proposal and will be agreed with the selected artist or project before the start of the commission, but must be inclusive of all additional costs including travel and VAT.

Schedule:

  • Application deadline: 5pm, 14th January 2024
  • Selection process: Week beginning 15th January 2024
  • Final selection made: 23rd January 2024
  • Installation dates Week beginning: 11th March 2024
  • Exhibition running time: 18th March – 13th April 2024 (inclusive)
  • Exhibition takedown: 15th April 2024

Application Process

  • An outline of your approach. (max 500 words). Submissions can also be made via video or audio file. If you would like to submit your approach in another format please do enquire with us as we are happy to accommodate any accessibility requirements in this regard.
  • Up to 3 examples of your work
  • A CV (or similar) outlining your experience to date

Proposals should be sent to [email protected] with the heading: Cafe Culture: Arts Commission

If you would like to speak to a member of the team to discuss your idea, please get in touch.

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News Opportunities

Creative Stranraer – Job Opportunity

(This opportunity is now closed)

Our friends at Creative Stranraer are looking for a dynamic and entrepreneurial Hub Coordinator to support our Creative Community Hub in the centre of Stranraer.

Role: Creative Stranraer Hub Coordinator

Hours: 15 hours per week, days and times to be arranged

Salary: £22,000 per annum pro rata (£12.09 per hour)

Term: 6 months fixed-term contract initially (may be extended, depending on funding)

Role Purpose: 

The Creative Stranraer Hub provides a space for the local community to participate in a range of creative activity, run by, with and for the people of Stranraer and The Rhins. Our Hub is a space where people can also access signposting to other projects, initiatives, and volunteering opportunities that welcomes anyone and everyone.

Main Responsibilities:

  • To manage the day to day running of the Creative Stranraer Hub
  • Provide support to the Creative Stranraer volunteer programme
  • To promote and manage room bookings of our space
  • To meet visitors and members of the community with a polite and friendly manner, offering excellent customer service
  • To provide information and signposting to visitors and members of the community
  • Act as the point of contact for all enquiries
  • To support the Creative Stranraer Arts & Engagement Officer with planning and implementing events and activities taking place in the hub
  • Liaising with the Communications and Marketing team, ensuing relevant information is passed on to support the outreach aims of Creative Stranraer
  • To support with basic administration tasks
  • Promote the charity in a positive manner to other businesses and services, encouraging joined up working where possible
  • To undertake other appropriate tasks needed to support the running of the project

Person Specification:

Essential:

  • Excellent organisational and coordination skills
  • Outstanding communication skills both verbal and written
  • Proficiency in digital administration and event promotion tools such as Microsoft office, social media and email
  • Customer service skills
  • Excellent multitasking and task prioritisation skills

If you are interested in this role and want to find out more before applying, please email; [email protected]

How to Apply:

We encourage you to apply in a way that you feel most comfortable or you can fire over your CV and a short covering letter, or video, to [email protected],  explaining why you’re interested and what you could bring to the role.

Just make sure that your application is in by 5pm, Wednesday 10th January 2024

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.

We will accept applications from anyone and everyone who feels they have the skills required to fulfil this role.

Sound like the right job for you? Get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.


About Creative Stranraer

Creative Stranraer is a project based in the Southwest of Scotland which focuses on supporting innovation and change in the historic town of Stranraer and the surrounding areas. Using creativity to connect people with their local environment, Creative Stranraer works in partnership with local and regional organisations to develop new opportunities and projects, encouraging communities to take part in the culture and enterprise to support a new vision for the town.

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News Project Updates

Wild Goose Festival Returns with Soaring Success

The Wild Goose Festival returned for another year of inspiring and educational family-friendly activities and events. Read about our 2023 Festival below.

The Wild Goose Festival returned to Dumfries and Galloway this autumn, bringing with it a flock of exciting events and activities for all ages. The festival, which ran from October 19th – 29th, is inspired by the annual migration of geese to the Solway Firth.

Over the course of the festival, the public had the opportunity to learn about the incredible journey of these birds, as well as the diverse ecosystems and wildlife of Dumfries and Galloway. The festival also featured a variety of creative workshops, interactive storytelling sessions, and nature walks.

A Celebration of Nature, Creativity and Place

The Wild Goose Festival is not just about geese; it celebrates both the inspirational journey undertaken by our feathered friends and our deep connection with the natural world. 

This year’s family-friendly program aimed to engage communities through creativity, education, and play, building meaningful relationships and encouraging people of all generations to reconnect with their environment.

With events taking place throughout the region, from Stranraer across to Glencaple, the Wild Goose Festival saw an audience of around 4200 people celebrating the journey of the geese.

A Hub for Discovery and Creativity

This year’s Festival Hub opened its doors in a brand new location within the Loreburne Centre in Dumfries. The Hub served as an information point for the festival, as well as an accessible space where a variety of fun and creative activities was hosted.

At the hub, members of the public could engage with individuals dedicated to protecting our natural resources, unleash their creativity with artists, and delve into the fascinating world of wild geese, discovering why these birds make their annual pilgrimage to Dumfries & Galloway.

Around 800 people visited the Hub this year, to see the full programme of events that were available, click here.

A Festival for All Ages

The Wild Goose Festival’s family-friendly program cultivated meaningful conversation between generations and encouraged participants to reconnect with the environment around them.

From seasoned birdwatchers to curious newcomers, the Wild Goose Festival 2023 had a range of events for all ages and backgrounds. To view each of our 2023 events visit here.

A Focus on Environmental Awareness

Wild Goose serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of preserving our natural heritage. The conclusion of our 2023 festival Three Sisters – A Story from the Climate Future promoted this sentiment, premiering an immersive audio drama set in 2030 questioning how we will live under the impacts of climate change.

The Stove Networks creative response to this year’s festival was the Keep Looking Up Roaming Exhibition. This exhibition invited members of the public to observe the skies and consider our relationship with the non-human inhabitants of our everyday spaces. The artwork prompted new ways of observing our wildlife and how we impact it, and vice versa.

A Legacy of Inspiration

This year the Creative Spaces team worked with pupils from Laurieknowe Primary School to deliver a series of creative workshops on the migration of Geese and their relevance to the region. Learn more here.

As the Wild Goose Festival draws to a close this year, it leaves a legacy of inspiration and environmental stewardship of the unique biodiversity of Dumfries and Galloway.

The festival’s commitment to engaging communities through art, culture, and nature will continue in 2024.

Visit the Wild Goose Festival website here.

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Musings News

The Stove Goes to Parliament

The Stove is showcased as a leading example of how art and cultural activities can lead change, for and with the local community.

Colin Smyth MSP for South Scotland addresses the crucial role the culture sector plays in our local communities in Parliamentary debate, and spotlights Dumfries based organisation, The Stove Network along with Lift D&G and Midsteeple Quarter as examples of where Art and Cultural activities work to support communities.

“…The Stove have used arts and cultural activities to bring together diverse communities to drive positive placed-based solutions to the challenges people care about, for example, the future of their town centre. Using arts and culture, not as an end in itself, but as a means to deliver a wellbeing economy.”

Colin Smyth MSP

“The Stove is honoured to be highlighted in this way in Holyrood. The ‘Culture in Communities’ report by the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture Committee of the parliament is an important examination of the deep value of participating in culture in communities throughout Scotland. The recent and very welcome announcement, by Scottish Govt, of increased funding for culture is an opportunity to look more deeply into the recommendations of the report and make an innovative shift in the way we support culture in Scotland with dedicated funding for participation in culture, in a similar way to how we fund participation in sport for its health benefits.”

Matt Baker, CEO of The Stove Network

As the Scottish Government builds a budget for culture, Colin Smyth urges; “… we need to better recognise the wider role of culture in delivering that wellbeing economy… by better ring-fencing funding streams for community participation.”

Watch Colin Smyth’s speech here:

Matt Baker addresses the topic of participation in culture and the issues surrounding the current funding model for culture in his blog “A Culture of Participation aka Growing Our Own Culture” published in April 2023.

In the blog Matt discusses the need to review the current role culture plays in supporting communities and suggests a new approach – Participation in Culture Initiative Framework, which could include a percentage for culture across government departments, accountability/collaboration across departments in implementation of participation in culture, regional/place-based approach to implementation and Innovation in funding models.

Read the full blog here

Categories
Musings News Project Updates

Creative Spaces – Laurieknowe Workshops

In the run-up to Wild Goose Festival 2023, the Creative Spaces team worked with pupils from Laurieknowe Primary School to deliver a series of creative workshops on the migration of Geese and their relevance to the region. We would first like to say a huge thank you to Laurieknowe’s P4 class and both teachers who were brilliant to work with!

Creative Spaces team talking to the Primary using a map

The first day Creative Spaces went into the primary school we were pretty nervous. We had a plan but were also prepared to be flexible as we didn’t know what to expect from the class. The P4s were really excited to see us and paid close attention as we introduced ourselves and showed them a short video about bird migration. When we asked them questions afterwards, they were all eager to put their hands up and show off their recall skills. We started to see their different personalities shine through and were reassured by the energy of the class – they were so ready to learn about geese! 

The next task was map-based. We put a big world map onto each of the 3 tables in the classroom and worked in groups to identify the places where the different species (Barnacle, Greenland White-Fronted, Light-Bellied Brent, and Pink Footed Geese) breed. The first challenge for the kids was spotting Scotland (it’s tiny!) and then understanding that the geese fly hundreds of miles to get here from Iceland, Greenland, Svalbard and Canada even though it’s only a few centimetres on the map. We gave them little card cutouts of geese that they could move around the map – some of the kids’ geese were much more interested in flying to Africa and South America than following their usual migration patterns. 

After learning a lot in the classroom about where the geese in Dumfries come from, when and why they come and go, and the challenges they face on their long journeys, we relocated to the hall for an active break. We had come up with a loose concept for a game, where we held up the flags for different countries that the kids had to ‘fly’ between. A few of them played different risks such as predators (foxes, eagles, badgers), wind turbines, bad weather etc. The ‘geese’ had to make it safely to their destination (Scottish flag) without being caught by a ‘risk’, otherwise they would join the obstacles in the middle of the hall. They had a blast with this active learning, amongst the noise and chaos, and enjoyed the challenge of running in V formations like the geese fly. 

Active Break to learn more about geese.

We then went back to the classroom for a drawing activity. Each child received a comic strip template designed by Korey and drew/coloured in the story of the wild geese migration. They were really impressed by Korey’s ability to draw a goose and were queuing up to get his help with it. This seemed to be the recurring theme of the day, with everyone asking Korey to tie their shoelaces as they left at 3 o’clock! It was an all-around successful afternoon, and we went home feeling very tired but encouraged. 

Before starting Day Two, the team were slightly daunted by the task of engaging the class for an entire day about geese and incorporating more research-based lessons. These nerves immediately disappeared when recapped what the class had learned from the previous session and realised how much they had remembered from only one afternoon. 

We decided to dedicate the morning to teaching the class about Goose habitats – what they need to nest and to protect themselves from various dangers. In groups, the kids designed beautiful three-dimensional habitats out of coloured paper and freestanding elements arranged inside shoeboxes. We then moved on to the computers so that the class could complete some further research and fill out their ‘Goose Facts’ booklets.

Colouring in geese cartoon strips

This helped the kids differentiate the different goose species that come to D&G and put all their findings in one place. Just before lunch, we switched things up and held a goose-making workshop where the kids had the choice of dressing our pre-made chicken wire geese in newspaper scraps or making miniature tinfoil geese. What was most impressive was watching the pools of PVA glue and mountains of newspaper scraps disappear and the classroom return to its previous state in a matter of minutes before the lunch bell. 

In the afternoon, we decided to put the kids’ learning to the test with a newsreader task complete with costumes. Finally, we brought in our goose expert extraordinaire Hagen Patterson, to answer all the questions the kids had come up with over the past two sessions. They loved having their burning questions answered and it was hilarious watching the Q&A go off track with a couple of questions (shout out to the pupil who asked which goose was the tastiest to eat). However, the highlight was definitely Hagen’s true-to-life goose calls which showed the class a fun, tangible example of the differences between the various geese species they were learning about. 

We felt a great sense of achievement after the second day as we achieved a better flow between the various lesson plans and felt genuine excitement from the class about geese migrating to our region.

A very magnificent goose!

On Thursday the 12th of October the Creative Spaces team headed into Laurieknowe Primary School for the final time. The class were just as excited to see us, and the feeling was mutual. During the third visit, the team felt more comfortable and at ease with the P4 class. The lessons were well received and as the kids had familiarized themselves with us, they were genuinely engaged, and the lesson continued at a good pace.

The lesson of the day was centred around Scots language and poetry with the theme of Geese. Mia grabbed the class’s attention immediately with a self-written Scots Poem about Geese visiting Dumfries. At this point, it was interesting to see which Scottish words the kids already knew or didn’t know. This was a great way to introduce some Scots Words to the pupils’ developing vocabulary.

So, using words provided (and explained) by us, and some useful goose facts, the children were then prompted to write their own poems. They did brilliantly and it was a great pleasure to help translate regular English words into Scots for the kids. That in particular was something they were all excited about, and even though it wasn’t mandatory, all the pupils stuck to writing about Geese.

The brilliant poems were available to view at the Wild Goose Festival Hub in the Lorebrune Centre during this year’s festival. Towards the end of the day, we also finished off our miniature goose sculptures with some coloured pens and got some great results, which were also displayed in the WGF Hub.

By the 2023 Creative Spaces Team.

Learn more about the Wild Goose Festival here.

Visit the Wild Goose Festival website here.

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