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The Stove and Midsteeple Quarter at Edinburgh International Culture Summit

Summit team photo of all international Culture Ministers attending (43) and speakers at the conference…’Where’s the Stovie?’

The Edinburgh International Culture Summit happens every two years and is a part of the Edinburgh Festivals month in August. This years summit took place on 22-24th August and The Stove (inc Midsteeple Quarter) was delighted and honoured to be ask to address one of the break-out sessions of the conference.

The Summit takes place in the parliament at Holyrood and is chaired by the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament – Ken Mackintosh MSP. Our First Minister attended the first day and gave a speech of welcome to delegates where she highlighted the growing world status of Dundee as a cultural destination. The programme includes public sessions with keynote speakers – but also private break-out sessions where ministers are able to discuss new ideas without fear of being quoted in teh media. It was one of these sessions that featured The Stove’s Matt Baker, who gave a 10 minute presentation on how artists had been involved in community-led regeneration in Dumfries and then sat on a panel discussion with representatives of the Altofest from Naples and the Head of Arts and Culture from Google – the Panel was chaired by Martin Rose of the British Council.

One of the break-out panel discussions at the Summit – not the one involving The Stove, but same format

The overall theme of the Summit was ‘Culture – Connecting Peoples and Places’ – this was developed in three themes (one each for the three days) ‘Culture in a Networked World’, ‘Culture and Investment’ and ‘Culture and Wellbeing’. The Stove was part of the ‘Culture in Networked World’ theme and our Policy Round Table was ‘Re-imagining and Re-connecting to Culture’ – during which Matt had to tell the assembled Ministers that the word ‘culture’ is banned in The Stove – as it just serves to exclude so many of the people in our local community.

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NW Dumfries Photography Group visit to Portling

The NorthWest Dumfries Photography Group has been working with Solway Coastwise over the last few months, finding out more about places in the region and photographing the amazing views.

Image by Grant McIntosh.

Solway Coastwise is a project that is discovering coastal place names and the stories behind them, and are encouraging local people to share the inspirational Dumfries & Galloway coastline through activities, events, electronic and printed media. The Solway Coastwise Project aims to give everyone in these coastal communities the opportunity to communicate their passion for their coast, bringing the cultural heritage of this fantastic landscape alive.

Image by Kirstin McEwan.

Our latest trip took us to Portling with Nic Coombe, where we found out more about the area and the wildlife and plants that can be found on the beach. We also explored the many caves on this beach and found out more about the Stake Nets on the shore.

For more information about Solway Coastwise, visit their website here.

If you are interested in joining the NorthWest Dumfries Photography Club, please email [email protected] or send a message to the Creative Futures Facebook page here.

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Nithraid 2018 Celebrates with Dumfries Community!

Sailing Race winner Mark Zygadlo
Sailing Race winner, Mark Zygadlo Image Credit: Kirstin McEwan

August 11th saw our sixth staging of Nithraid, a fun family event that takes place on and around the river with an estimated 2,000 in attendance. The daring sailing race, which involved two races this year, starting from the Solway Firth and sailing up the river Nith was made possible by one of the highest tides of the year. While waiting for the boats to arrive, visitors and families were invited over to The Mill Green to enjoy our Nithraid Village which had food, live music, free activities and entertainment.We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who came along to Nithraid this year, and a special thanks to those who were involved making it one of our biggest Nithraids yet – whether you were working, volunteering or just came along to cheer on the sailors. We were happy to see so many stay on for our second ‘Nithraid Nighttime’ as well and help us continue the celebrations into the evening.Nithraid is a celebration of the town’s long relationship with its river, highlighting the way the Nith connected Dumfries to the rest of the world through trade, goods (including Coos) and sailpower. It is created and produced by The Stove Network and is part of our mission to make creative opportunities for local people to be involved in the future of Dumfries. A total of 8 boats took part in the sailing race, with all boats carrying a small cargo which must be delivered into the town to complete the race. The winner of the sailing boat race was Mark Zygadlo and the coastal rowing race was won by Alnmouth.

Mark was absolutely delighted to have won after five years of trying. Commenting on his win, he said, “Nithraid is a unique race; it takes you from the sea right into the centre of Dumfries and is visible from the shore along most of its length. It is such a good sail that the competitive aspect of it, though definitely there, is not the only thing that matters to the sailors. There’s time to chat to other boats as you pass them and negotiating the bridges is always an exciting spectacle. Dumfries is really fortunate to have such a glorious river at its heart and Nithraid celebrates it.”A large crowd of people joined in with the legendary Salty Coo procession, starting from The Stove and finishing at the Mill Green. This year, Dumfries based production and arts company ‘The Maddjakkalls’ were commissioned to create a magical and mysterious procession with their collective of artists and performers.Visitors to Nithraid were then treated to an afternoon of great food and fun family activities. Local music acts played throughout the day, organised by young musician Ruari Barber-Fleming. Amongst the acts were Ellie McConnachie, Liv McDougall, Corrie Russel, Kate Kyle and Benji Haynes. Community groups and organisations hosted several free workshops including zine making, badge making, stone carving and mosaic making. This year, Nithraid also celebrated international relationships with young people from around the world through the ‘Amaze Me Leader’ Project. Their week-long visit to Dumfries and Galloway culminated in volunteering for the day at Nithraid and helping organise events and activities.

As part of Nithraid 2018, The Stove Network commissioned local musicians Double Down Disco to create a performance for Rosefield Mills – something to publicly mark the moment of this much-loved local landmark waking from a long sleep. Double Down Disco provided a sonic adventure in two parts which visitors enjoyed on the Double Down Disco dancefloor in the Dock Park. The soundwork included sounds from the hillsides to the mill, woven into a worker’s story, then fast forwarded to a place brought back to life and play.For the second time, Nithraid also continued into the evening for ‘Nithraid Nighttime’. Visitors to Nithraid were invited back in the evening for food, an outdoor cinema, campfires and tales from Mostly Ghostly and music provided by Soundsystems.

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Meet Ruari – Music Stage Manager at this year’s Nithraid!

Earlier this month, we selected a young local musician to undertake music stage management at this year’s Nithraid River Festival on Saturday 11th August. Ruari Barber-Fleming from Castle Douglas has been selected to run the small acoustic stage that is held as part of the festival to showcase up and coming talent from around the region. The previous years have included regulars from the Stove’s monthly open mic nights, Brave New Words, as well as other musicians who are based within Dumfries & Galloway.

Ruari has been involved in the Dumfries music scene for several years now, having previously played in local band ‘Gracefell’ as well as photographing live music and working with various artists around the region. He is hoping that through this opportunity he will be able to deliver something unique for the visitors to Nithraid and believes that the stage is a great platform to showcase some local talent.

Ruari feels very positively about the music scene in Dumfries and feels it has been thriving the past few years with a gig frequency that is extremely impressive for the size of the region that it is. He is very passionate about originality and sincerity when it comes to live performance of music, and from this he hopes to be able to deliver just that – performances that the audience can latch on to and connect with the artist.

The commission will provide Ruari the opportunity to work with members of the Nithraid team to gain experience of all aspects of running a music stage at a festival including programming, design/build, marketing, sound engineering and equipment hire. There will be extra opportunities to integrate and learn through this commission with support from Euan Macrory, who undertook a similar internship in 2016 and now programs events both as part of the blueprint100 Curatorial Team and other festivals such as Moniaive Folk Festival.

The Nithraid music stage will be part of the ‘Nithraid Village’ situated on the Mill Green on Saturday 11th August and will run from 12pm until 4pm. Visitors to Nithraid are also invited to join in with other activities happening in the town and around the River Nith. The Salty Coo procession will kick off the day, leaving from Fountain Square on High Street at noon and arriving at the Mill Green at approximately 12.30pm. The Nithraid Village provides a jam-packed day of family friendly activities for all ages, which includes live music, food stalls and creative workshops which include stone carving, public art, zine making, upcycling, origami, badge making and recycling.

For more information, including how to take part in the races (or anything else!), please visit www.thestove.org/nithraid

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Double Down Disco for Rosefield Mills!

Dumfries DJ duo, Double Down Disco, have recently been selected to create a soundwork for Rosefield Mills as part of this year’s Nithraid River Festival in Dumfries. Nithraid is an artist-led public event produced by the Stove Network that is now in its sixth year. The festival is sited around the Mill Green area and for 2018 the event is expanding to include other nearby sites on the river. Double Down Disco will be using Rosefield Mills to stage a temporary public soundwork on 11th August.

Double Down Disco is the musical partnership between two Dumfries natives and DJs, Les Ross and Lewis Boddy. Best known locally as a Disco DJ duo playing B2B at parties and festivals, the pair are looking forward to a brand-new challenge; creating an immersive sonic adventure for the Rosefield Mills soundwork at this year’s Nithraid.

Les and Lewis are both excited to be producing an original piece for such an iconic building in their home town, and feel this is a great opportunity for them to be able to showcase their abilities and ambitions.

This year, we are using Nithraid as a creative platform to support community efforts. Rosefield Mills, a former Victorian textile mill, is an iconic Dumfries landmark. Over this past year Dumfries Historic Buildings Trust have raised the money to purchase the building (by public donation and a grant from the local council). They are now working on ambitious plans to bring it back into use for the town.

Nithraid takes place between 12noon and 6pm on Saturday 11th August, and the soundwork will begin at 4pm. As the immediate area around the Mill is not suitable for public accessibility, the audience is invited to listen from the other side of the river at the Dock Park.

Double Down Disco will also be hosting workshops in the lead up to Nithraid. Their ‘Double Down Drop-In’ will be at the Stove as part of Dumfries Music Conference’s event ‘DMC Social’ on Thursday 19th August at 7pm, where participants have the opportunity to play with samples and sounds on a Midi Controller and Midi Keyboard, helping to contribute to the overall sound piece at Nithraid.

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Lowlands Writer in Residence

The Stove Network is delighted to announce the appointment of poet Stuart. A Paterson in the post of writer-in-residence as part of their new Lowland project which looks to create a living story of Dumfries over the next three years by placing professional writers within the community to reflect a town in an important place in its history. Former BBC Scotland Poet in Residence, Stuart commented:

‘I’m delighted to become writer in residence for the Stove’s Lowland project for the next three months. Putting creativity and art at the heart of Dumfries’s town centre regeneration is an exciting thing in which to be involved. Poetry and art ought to be accessible and enjoyable for everyone, no exceptions, and relevant to the place it’s in. I’m really looking forward to engaging with the people of Dumfries to create and share ideas of what we want our town to be, to produce work which will make folk smile, think and feel they’re part of, not apart from.’

Lowland is a project to help connect people with literature activity in the town and help contribute to an evolving series of installations, artworks, readings and events which will stimulate and grow creative responses of what it is to live in Dumfries right now. Working alongside community groups and other town related activity, Lowland hopes to ignite Dumfries’ creative ingenuity in the written word and highlight a town at a peak of ambition and creativity.

Lead artist, Martin Joseph O’Neill of the project commented:
‘It’s a really amazing opportunity to be able to not only support our local professional writers over the next few years in different ways, but is also is an opportunity for people with an interest in reading and writing to break through. With the Stove’s Brave New Words open mic events growing month after month, this is a chance to really make our mark, showcasing emerging and professional writers on the national stage in an innovative and exciting way.’

For further information on the Lowland project email [email protected] or pop along to Brave New Words, hosted every last Friday of the month at the Stove, 100 High Street