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Are you in the NOA?

The Network of Artists (NOA) online directory for creatives has been a long time coming for Dumfries and Galloway. There have been many conversations surrounding the issues of artist isolation, young people leaving the region to fulfil their ambitions and the need for connection and networking for those of all ages and experience to be found in one place.

In 2019, Creative Spaces (formally known as Blueprint100) enabled two of their team members to embark on a short research project – The Gap – which arose from a mutual feeling of being unsure where to go and what to do next in the region. At different points of transition in their lives, this felt like it could be a lonely process of trying to find your feet in a small place, where no one seems to do what you do.

The Gap aimed to explore and question the potential creative pathways and opportunities for young people in Dumfries and Galloway. Through survey and short interviews from a variety of artists and organisations, including Outpost Arts, Young Promoters Group and Wigtown Book Festival, the need for people to know who was on their own doorstep became apparent very quickly. Creatives did not have one platform to connect and share, people did not know how to ask for help or have an awareness that someone nearby could be of great assistance. There was not a platform which collated and shared all that was going on in Dumfries and Galloway which then resulted in missed opportunity and collaboration; broadening those feelings of separateness and leaving creatives wondering if they can continue being an artist in D&G at all.

The Gap also recognized that this was not only a “young persons” matter – it was much bigger than that. There were creatives and organizations of all different ages and skillset throughout the region who felt this uncertainty as to who and what was around them. What could we do to bridge this gap? 

As research ended in 2020, Creative Spaces granted funding for two individuals to co-create and pilot run an online directory of artists. 

In 2021, NOA was born, and we are delighted to be able to finally introduce you to the first version of our website, which we hope you will soon call your own.

NOA aims to become an online directory for all creatives to aid connection, mentorship, collaboration, knowledge, and community. Follow the link, sign up to become a member (completely free of charge), and gain access to all the opportunities and events listed alongside our Directory of Artists. We are open to all kinds of creative beings, take a look: www.networkofartists.com

Please remember this is our first launch of the site, and we are continuously looking for better ways to advocate the Dumfries and Galloway creative community with a hope this will expand to further creative communities, both nationally and internationally in the future. We already have more ideas in the pipeline, so it is likely you may too! Please do not hesitate to get in touch with any of your own thoughts, questions or queries you may have at [email protected]

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News Opportunities

Cafe – Community – Creativity: Exhibition Call Out

The Stove Cafe x Conversing Building

We’ve spent more time at home than we ever thought we would. What sorts of things did you get up to during the past 14 months? Maybe you started painting again, or learned how to knit, or made collages to send to your friends or started taking photographs on your phone. We’d love to celebrate the little acts of creativity we have all made at home, and share them in our café.

The Stove Café and the Conversing Building project would like you to submit or loan your artworks to us for a Community Café Exhibition in June 2021. Works can be 2D or 3D, measuring no more than 60cm in any direction please. All artworks will be displayed in our public café so please make sure that the work you submit is suitable for all ages.

How to Submit

Artworks can be dropped off to The Stove Café during regular opening hours Wed-Sat, 10-3pm, but please make sure you have included your contact details so that we can return your work to you. If we receive a large number of submissions we may not be able to display all works. Please do not submit more than two artworks per person.

If you have any queries about whether your creative work will be suitable, please drop us an email to [email protected], or pop into the Stove café and ask one of our team.

All artworks must be submitted by Monday 31st May 2021.

The exhibition will run from the 2nd to the 30th June 2021.

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Opportunities

What We Do Now Call Out

There are 12 commissions in total of which 10 creative freelancer/artists or arts groups will be commissioned for a year to work in and with 5 places, (2 for each Place Hub) and initiate creative projects with key sections of each respective community. These place opportunities are split between ’emerging’ and ‘established’ artists/creative practitioners. A further 2 creative freelancers are sought to work alongside The Stove Network in the creative documentation (Documentarian Commission) and digital delivery (Digital Producer) of the project.

Find out more about these opportunities and how to apply here:

Call Out

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News Opportunities

Creative Spaces: Call Out for Associate Artists

Image by Jamie Thomson

As part of their new program of opportunities Creative Spaces are seeking 3 creatives – of any discipline and aged 18-30 – to work, learn and develop their practice as part of The Stove.

About Creative Spaces

Creative Spaces is a diverse program within The Stove specifically for emerging creative professionals under 30. It aims to support young creatives to gain experience and have widened access to opportunities such as paid and voluntary work, professional development training, events production and networking.

Creative Spaces uses a peer-to-peer approach to learning and working with young creatives – its program isn’t just aimed at young people but is also influenced, supported and facilitated by them. 

Associate Artist Opportunities

Creative Spaces are currently seeking 3 creatives under 30 to join The Stove team for a 10-month period as Associate Artists. The role includes working on professional arts projects within The Stove alongside developing your own practice and gaining skills & knowledge through practical experience. 

Associate Artists will be supported by The Stove team and our partners including one-to-one mentoring, production support and flexible payment and working formats. 

This is a paid opportunity – you’ll receive a monthly stipend of £560 for the length of the role, plus a project budget of £500.

More Information and How to Apply

For more information on the role, including dates for information sessions to learn more and how to apply, please download the application pack below:

Creative Spaces Associate Artists Application PackDownload

If you have any questions regarding the role or your application, please contact [email protected]

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News Opportunities Project Updates

What We Do Now – The Stove & Culture Collective

What We Do Now: An Introduction

‘What we do now echoes in eternity.’ – Marcus Aurelius

Ideas, Place and Opportunities

Last month, we announced the news that The Stove Network will be taking part in the Culture Collective programme – a major Scottish initiative for culture and creativity to play a role in the nation’s long-term recovery from the pandemic. 

The Project

The Dumfries & Galloway project ‘What We Do Now’ (WWDN) is a pioneering experiment working with creative freelancers, places and communities across the South West of Scotland. 

The Stove will work with five towns across Dumfries & Galloway to develop creative projects that support freelance practitioners/artists to platform and celebrate previously unheard sections in their communities through place-specific, relevant, community-led artistic projects. It is hoped the project will ignite and inspire new imaginative possibilities for the places that we live; with for and about the communities and towns involved. Inclusion, empowerment and creative freedom are at the heart of WWDN, reflecting the Stove’s and others continued practice in community arts and creative placemaking.

The Stove is partnering with Dumfries & Galloway Council, South of Scotland Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland, Third Sector D&G and regional arts organisations Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival, Upland and Wigtown Book Festival to bring together a proposal for Dumfries & Galloway that will see creative freelancers employed to work with communities for up to a year in five ‘Place Hubs’. 

Each Place Hub will be supported to commission freelancers to collaborate and support creative ideas and projects with key sections of each respective community. Creative freelancers will be supported at every stage of WWDN and have access to relevant experience and skills of The Stove and our partners including: one on one support and mentorship, project delivery and production support, flexible payment and working formats that can be responsive to differing needs and working approaches.

Each of the five ‘Place Hubs’ are in or working with communities experiencing disadvantage and took part in The Stove’s research project – ‘Embers: Creative Placemaking in South Scotland’. All have identified sections of their own community where COVID has accentuated existing disadvantage and exclusion and have some experience of working culturally.

The Places

The five ‘Place Hubs’ we will be working with are: 

A’ the Airts – Sanquhar

A’ The Airts is a community arts space in Sanquhar working to contribute to the social, economic and cultural well-being of the communities of Upper Nithsdale by actively encouraging participation in a range of arts, crafts and related activities. They have identified the need to better connect with socially-disadvantaged young people (14-25) in the upper Nithsdale and engage this demographic in identifying, developing and producing activity and work that is relevant to them. 

Castle Douglas Development Forum – Castle Douglas

In the Stewartry the community anchor organisation for What we Do Now is Castle Douglas Development Forum, a community organisation set up to incorporate various civic organisations under one body. CDDF aim to develop a physical performance project with young women and families.

LIFT – Northwest Dumfries

LIFT is a community group focused on bringing together their community in celebration, activity and development of their place. Northwest Dumfries is a housing estate on the outskirts of Dumfries and listed in the top 5% on index of multiple deprivation. WWDN will work with young families and residents living in high-rise flats in the area, focussing on identity and a sense of belonging for children and families to enjoy and feel safe in the places they live. 

Outpost Arts – Langholm

Outpost Arts delivers an ambitious, contemporary and diverse programme of rural arts, offering a high quality creative education programme, multi-generational creative health and well-being opportunities and works to support the regeneration of Langholm & Esk. WWDN will work with Outpost Arts to creatively explore new spaces that community members and groups can use locally, working with a broad range of the community in the process.

Stranraer Millennium Centre – Stranraer

Stranraer Millennium Centre a Community Trust and resource for Stranraer that a regular program of events for community groups. The Stranraer project will work with businesses and other communities that use the town centre to engage with visions for the future of the town.  

The Creative Freelancers

At the end of this month, we will begin the Artist Call Out Process, so please do keep an eye out for opportunities coming up in the next few weeks. The Stove is an organisation that has had collective freelance creative practice at its core for over ten years in embedded community arts practice, and we’re delighted to be able to continue to use this experience to engage creative freelancers and support them in collaborating with communities, Place Hubs and their peers across the project.

10 substantial commissions of one year’s duration will be on offer through What We Do Now – these will be open to people from a range of disciplines and experience. Training will be available for people looking to diversify their practice into community-focussed work. Stay tuned!

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Musings

David Clark’s April 2020 Diary