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)
Open and accessible drawing workshops. No experience needed, for any age or ability. Only £8 with all materials provided – pay on the door
Drawing for Enjoyment returns to The Stove on the High Street in the centre of Dumfries with a focus to getting back to the essence of drawing and enjoying the meditative and restorative qualities it brings to well-being.
Covering lots of accessible subjects and methods, these sessions are perfect for beginners or for anyone who wants to develop their practice.
Starting with a ten minute demonstration at the beginning of each session with some guided handouts to aid progress through the class.
Join the For Enjoyment community and get creative in a relaxing friendly and supportive environment.
No need to book but there are limited spaces in the cafe space so don’t be late!
Level Access in rear of building through adjacent close to left-hand side of the Cafe (facing the front of the building). To ensure your experience with us is as best as it can be, please do let us know if you have any specific access requirements and we’d be happy to help. Please email Kevin or Sal on: [email protected] or phone 01387 252435 and speak with one of our team. We are able to provide walk-throughs of the building before attending our events as well as assign seating before your arrival.
Open and accessible drawing workshops. No experience needed, for any age or ability. Only £8 with all materials provided – pay on the door
Drawing for Enjoyment returns to The Stove on the High Street in the centre of Dumfries with a focus to getting back to the essence of drawing and enjoying the meditative and restorative qualities it brings to well-being.
Covering lots of accessible subjects and methods, these sessions are perfect for beginners or for anyone who wants to develop their practice.
Starting with a ten minute demonstration at the beginning of each session with some guided handouts to aid progress through the class.
Join the For Enjoyment community and get creative in a relaxing friendly and supportive environment.
No need to book but there are limited spaces in the cafe space so don’t be late !
Level Access in rear of building through adjacent close to left-hand side of the Cafe (facing the front of the building). To ensure your experience with us is as best as it can be, please do let us know if you have any specific access requirements and we’d be happy to help. Please email Kevin or Sal on: [email protected] or phone 01387 252435 and speak with one of our team. We are able to provide walk-throughs of the building before attending our events as well as assign seating before your arrival.
Last month, the Creative Spaces Team headed out on a ‘go see’ trip to Out of the Blue in Edinburgh. Situated in the heart of Leith, the old Drill Hall is home to a collection of artist studios, a café, exhibition & event space, and Out of the Blueprint.
Out of the Blueprint is a social enterprise print studio that uses Risograph and Gocco printing. As someone with experience using both processes before, I value the benefits of the low-cost, quick printing method, as well as the eco-friendly inks that are used. Overall, I was keen to learn more about how a print studio like this was created and continues to run.
Upon arrival, we sat down for a coffee and Johnny Gailey, the co-ordinator of the organisation. He detailed the journey that the social enterprise has been on in the last 28 years – starting as a modest gallery space on Blackfriars Street right up to its current home in Leith. OOTB also operate the Bongo Club, which acts as a revenue stream alongside it for the majority of its existence. In 2015, Out of the Blueprint expanded to the drill hall, and has now grown into a social enterprise, with any money that is made throughout the organisation going straight back into the project.
After chatting over a coffee in their warm, eclectic café, we headed to the exhibition space where Johnny showed us the selection of work that was for sale. He also explained some more about the binding facilities they use and how their current artist residencies worked. We all loved a zine called ‘Sun’ created by a young creative called Coocoora who completed a residency at the studio.
Next, we headed through to the print studio where Johnny introduced us to Beth Thompson, the print studio manager and editor of Counterpoint magazine (an independent Risograph-printed magazine). Beth explained how the Riso machines work and showed us some of the work that has been created at Out of the Blueprint.
Speaking with Beth was inspiring as her passion for Risograph was infectious and it was fascinating to see how artists from different disciplines understand and implement the process. A great example of this was a zine that we all loved titled ‘Drums and Silence’ created by Cal Mac, an artist working between sculpture, sound, print and video.
Before we headed home, we were lucky to be able to see Maria Stoian’s exhibition of work in progress titled, ‘Forgeries’ that she created during her recent residency with Out of the Blueprint and pick up a couple of pieces from the gift shop.
This visit to Out of the Blueprint was so helpful for me to understand what possibilities there are for printmaking in Dumfries & Galloway. It’s exciting to see a sustainable, eco-friendly, and affordable print studio thriving and giving young people in the area the opportunity and resources to produce creative projects.
Want to join our team as the Stove’s Marketing Assistant?
We’re on the lookout for a new teammate to help us support all the great community focused events, activities, and opportunities The Stove has to offer.
Job title: Marketing Assistant
Hours: 28hrs per week, can be worked flexibly over 6 days Monday – Saturday (Typical core hours 10-4, Monday – Friday – some weekend and/or late-night work may be required, advanced notice will be given)
Salary: £20,000 pro rata, (equates to £16,000)
Holiday entitlement: 27 days (Includes public holidays)
Pension: Auto-enrolment via NEST pension scheme with 3% employer contribution
Led by the Head of Communications & Engagement (HCE) the Marketing Assistant will form a core part of a small, but effective, communications team and will support the overall outreach strategy of The Stove Network and our portfolio of regional projects, by telling our story, supporting our activities, and celebrating our community.
Key Responsibilities:
General
Assist in creating and updating digital content on multiple platforms, including website, social media accounts, blogs, and emails
Assist with the coordination of on and offline marketing and promotional materials
Collaborate with the communications, creative and production teams to develop project specific marketing strategies
Help identify market trends and key opportunities for innovation
This is an exciting opportunity for the right person to join a small but effective and dedicated communications team based in the heart of Dumfries. We are looking for a creative and content savvy person who can bring ideas to life.
The ideal candidate should have a creative flair, understand the principles of digital marketing, be IT savvy, have a friendly and approachable manner with great writing skills and the desire to learn and develop.
Experience in an office or hospitality environment would be a bonus, but if you don’t have this, don’t worry, it doesn’t mean you’re not the right person!
Here at The Stove, we believe creativity can make a positive difference to the lives of our local and regional communities. Through dedicated projects, commission opportunities and collaborative working alongside our local authority, community organisations, local businesses, and charities, we aim to create a place where culture, community, and enterprise work together to support a new vision of the town and the wider region.
Check out the full job pack, and if you have any questions let us know by emailing [email protected] or calling 01387 252 435
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, Friday 9th December 2022
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.
Anthony Schrag and Caitlin McKinnon’s paper, “Exploring the Boundary-Crossing Nature of ‘Creative Placemaking’: The Stove as ‘Adaptor/Converter’” features in the internationally renowned publication, Field.
Field is a journal of socially-engaged art criticism and responds to the remarkable proliferation of new artistic practices devoted to forms of political, social and cultural transformation. Frequently collaborative in nature, this work is being produced by artists and art collectives throughout North, South and Central America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
Schrag and McKinnon’s paper explores, in depth, the concept of creative placemaking, and the role of The Stove Network in developing and spearheading this idea within its current methodology and its approach in Southwest Scotland.
Creative Placemaking, is defined by The Stove Network through the WWDN project as: a community led approach that uses creative activity to support collective decision-making and positive change for people and the places they live. This paper explores the relationships between people, place, and creativity, (Creative Placemaking) and “how this ‘new’ concept of place-based creative works is being implemented within the (UK/Scottish) cultural sector, with particular attention placed on The Stove, in Dumfries.”
Dr Anthony Schrag, co-author of this paper, recently contributed to ‘kNOw One Place’, Scotland’s first forum dedicated to the discussion and ambition of creative placemaking, produced by The Stove Network and supported by South of Scotland Enterprise and Culture Collective (funded by Scottish Government and coordinated by Creative Scotland). This future-thinking discussion on how communities can use creativity to lead the development of their places, featured a series of online webinars and a mixture of open space discussion and expert reflection, exhibition, and original artworks. Drawing people from public, private, independent, and charitable sectors together to share and co-create an agenda for creativity and placemaking for the future.
In the following video, Anthony explores Creative Placemaking, specifically focusing on the idea of a ‘boundary crosser’ using his recent paper as reference:
Matt Baker, Orchestrator, The Stove Network emphases the critical role that creativity can play in the development of community led planning.
“The focus of creative placemaking is to bring under-represented voices from the community into conversations about the future of the area in which they live, through active creative projects. To bring together people, communities, groups, and organisations, public, private and third sector agencies to develop common ground on community-led planning and enterprise.”
Watch Matt as he explains what Creative Placemaking means, in this context, and how it is making an impact through What We Do Now (WWDN), The Stove Network’s creative placemaking pilot project that has been underway for more than 12 months in Dumfries & Galloway. This ground-breaking, collaborative project works with artists, communities and organisations in Castle Douglas, Dumfries, Langholm, Sanquhar and Stranraer.
Caitlin Wallace, an Inspire Graduate with Dumfries & Galloway Council, has explored further the relationship between artists and Places through the strategic partnership Dumfries & Galloway Council has with WWDN.
Caitlin Wallace
Working closely with the project to understand the opportunities within Creative Placemaking for community-led planning and development, specifically as a tool for communities to develop their own Place Plans, Caitlin spent time interviewing the participants of WWDN about their projects and Creative Placemaking approach to working within their communities.
Throughout the WWDN pilot Katharine Wheeler, Partnerships and Projects Development Lead at The Stove Network explains;
“Our focus for the project was to connect artists and community organisations together, to develop creative activities and projects in their communities with the intent for wider social change and wellbeing for those involved.”
Katharine Wheeler, Speaking at kNOw One Place in September 2022.
In this review, Katharine looks back on the first 12 months of the project and not only celebrates successes, but also identifies challenges and opportunities for the future.
This approach to collaborative working practice, leads the way to a new future of creative placemaking in Southern Scotland. To discover more about WWDN and Creative Placemaking in Southwest Scotland, visit: whatwedonow.scot
Exploring the Boundary-Crossing Nature of ‘Creative Placemaking’: The Stove as ‘Adaptor/Converter’
About the Authors
“Dr. Anthony Schrag is a practicing artist and researcher, and Senior Lecturer at Queen Margaret’s University (Edinburgh). The central focus of his work examines the role of art in participatory and public contexts, with a specific focus on social conflict, agonism and ethics. His PhD and current research examines the notion of ‘Pro-Social Conflict’ within participatory and social-practice projects. His most recent publication The Failures of Public Art and Participation (co-edited with Cameron Cartiere) was released in Sept, 2022. He is currently the Primary Investigator on a RSE project developing a Rural Art Network (Scotland). He has worked nationally and internationally, including residencies in Iceland, USA, Canada, Pakistan, Finland, The Netherlands, and South Africa, among others. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants including Royal Society of Edinburgh, The Hope Scot Trust, Creative Scotland, British Council, Royal Scottish Academy, the Dewar Arts Award, Standpoint Futures as well as a Henry Moore Artist Fellowship.
Caitlin McKinnon is an SGSAH funded PhD Candidate exploring Arts Management Education. Caitlin has sought to immerse herself in the arts and cultural world in a variety of different positions. Highlights include co-founding a community arts zine in her hometown, volunteering with a Toronto Artists Collective during their takeover of a vacant subway kiosk and working at the Lakeshore Grounds Interpretive Centre to run story-based workshops for the local community. More recently, Caitlin has worked on several different research projects commissioned by Creative Scotland, British Council (Scotland), Engage Scotland, as well as organisations such as Out of the Blue, the Stove, and SESQUI Canada. As a developing researcher, Caitlin’s research interests include discourses of arts management, professionalisation, cultural policy, and relations of power in the cultural sector.”
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