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Opportunities Project Updates

Creative Commission – What We Do Now: Lockerbie

WWDN: Lockerbie

(This Opportunity is Now Closed)

Lockerbie Old School (LOS) in collaboration with the Stove Network are seeking to commission a creative practitioner(s) to work with LOS, its board, and local partners in engaging the community through an arts project exploring themes of possibility, identity, and re-connection.

Fee: £3,500*

Time: Flexible. To be agreed in early stages of the commencement of the project.

*There is a separate production budget associated with the project for materials and other expenses.

The Brief:

The creative practitioner(s) will work in Lockerbie, based at their High Street location, and use their practice to develop a project/series of events/artwork which invites the involvement of local people. The creative practitioner(s) will lead this co-created process to inspire new connections between people in the town and through this for possible future identities for the town to emerge which can be part of LoS’s ongoing work for the local community to take charge of its own future.

Following the key themes of; Possibility, Identity, Re-Connection, the creative practitioner(s) will work with key partners, community members and the residents of the town, it is expected the creative practitioner(s) will connect with individuals and groups in skills-based activity and conversation to understand, interpret and explore the future identity of the town.

LOS are eager to collaborate with a creative practitioner with a ‘hands-on’ practice in textiles, design, or craft to engage the community in new skills, utilising a dynamic creative practice to inspire and awaken new perspectives, ideas and hopes for the future. The project, it is expected, may serve as a prototype for forthcoming arts and community activities involving the wider community locally and regionally.

The commissioned artist will work with the Stove Network and LOS in determining the direction and approach of the project through a research an development period agreed by all parties, outlining key interaction points and determining the most beneficial approach to realise the project’s aims.

WWDN: Lockerbie, contributes in part to the ongoing ‘creative place-making* network’ of Dumfries & Galloway entitled What We Do Now. A collaborative project placing creative practitioners with community anchor organisations across Dumfries & Galloway, working with communities in a co-created process to explore and develop imaginative possibilities for residents, communities, and groups across the region.

The project, initially funded by Culture Collective, is one within a national network of socially-engaged, community-based creative practice across Scotland. LoS alongside the Stove Network are eager to hear from practitioners with experience in community-embedded practice, workshop facilitation and production.

*We define Creative Placemaking as: a community led approach that uses creative activity to support collective decision-making and positive change for people and the places they live.

About Lockerbie Old School:

The Lockerbie Old School Community Hub (LoS) are an anchor organisation for change within the town of Lockerbie and the DG11 postal region, aiming to put local people at the heart of regeneration efforts for their town. The Trust is run by a Board of volunteers who are working towards a number of significant projects in Lockerbie. Having been successful in gaining ownership of the former Academy through a Community Asset Transfer they have advanced plans to develop a not for profit but financially viable Community Venue where the people of Lockerbie can gather, learn and grow as a community. LoS are in the process of acquiring a permanent base on the High Street. It is intended that the space be a test-bed for future activity and will feature a community workshop space as well as act as a ‘front door’ to the Lockerbie Old School project for the local community to engage in.

How to Apply

To apply please send the following before 5pm, Wednesday 15th December 2022

  • Letter of Interest. This should tell us why you are interested in the commission, why you think you and your practice are suited to this opportunity and give us an outline idea of how you might approach the project if you were successful (NB we are NOT looking for fully formed project proposals at this stage – we are committed to arts practice whereby a project is formed by being in a place and working with the people there)
  • CV. This should tell us about your personal history, your experience and to date and give us an idea of the skills that you have.
  • Up to 5 examples of previous work. If you do not have 5 don’t worry – we are committed to making opportunities for people at all stages of their career, this is exactly the kind of thing we can discuss in an initial chat. We are looking for you to show us what you do in the way that you are most comfortable and happy with and can accept submissions in weblinks, photo files, sound files, or physical works (though please don’t send us original artworks!).

Please send your application to [email protected]

Submissions should not exceed 10MB in size. If you want to send or deliver a physical submission our address is: The Stove, 100 High Street, Dumfries DG1 2BJ

Selection Process

We are keen to hear from practitioners at all stages of development and from all disciplines. We’d encourage anyone interested in finding out more about the opportunity to get in touch for an initial informal chat – particularly people at earlier stages of their careers as we can explain more about what is involved in a project like this and what to include in an application. Please email [email protected] and we’ll arrange a time to talk (BSL interpretation is available)

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.

OPTIONAL EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FORM

Categories
Musings News

Spring Public Art Musings

From Public Art Lead Katie Anderson

Public art isn’t always the big things.

Sometimes it happens in the small scale: intimate interactions, one to one conversations, temporary actions; the testing out of ideas can happen in many forms and take on different guises.

The Stove’s public art practice roams between the two – scaling large productions for our annual festivals and events, creating spectacles such as The Tower of Light last December, but also taking a moment to mark the small changes in our calendar – welcoming the return of the swallows, re-visiting familiar spaces in the town, and occupying space for conversation and exploration.

Helen Walsh’s installation, Swoop! fell into this category. Following a call for ideas and artworks that explore or encourage a renewed awareness of seasonality and in response to our need to better adapt creative working in response to the needs of our environment and wider climate, Helen’s proposal invited participants and audiences to take the time – through construction of our felt flock to discovering them in situ – noticing our avian neighbours arrival, and signalling the transition towards the summer months. Working with volunteers and HNC students from Dumfries and Galloway College who contributed to ‘the swoop’ (collective noun for swallows, of course), the birds made their temporary appearance in the rafters of Dock Park’s Victorian bandstand at the weekend.

Welcoming the swallows opened up a wider conversation about how we open our doors here, to all from the seasonal return of transitory populations like the swallows, to tourists and visitors, New Scots and folk moving here for work, safety and inspiration. Our Migratory Routes trail mapped out routes in miniature around the park, inviting visitors to walk routes taken by visitors and residents from both current and historical lives in Dumfries.

We printed postcards to send out a welcome from Dumfries, chatting about icons and monuments that represent the town and the people we would like to welcome to the town. Small conversations to measure the undercurrents.

The bandstand stands witness to the comings and goings of the park, occupied occasionally by children playing games or looking for an impromptu ball game court, but predominantly standing empty – waiting for the start of a performance. The HNC students were also invited to imagine their own public art installations for the bandstand as part of the public module element of their coursework, and during a return visit they shared a dazzling collection of ideas, from community weaving projects, to projections, found object mobiles and light works – their proposals moved through similar scales of spectacle to intimate, personal experiences, inverting the space and exploring the edges of their practice and ambition. Inspiring stuff!

Public spaces like the bandstand hold incredible potential: as a platform, a soap box, a space of celebration, announcement, and declaration. As we enter the summer months our outdoor spaces come into their own, but who are the voices we should be hearing from these platforms?

Categories
Musings News Project Updates

Introducing – High Street Multiverse

By Martin O’Neill

It’s likely that the Marvel fans among you might already be well acquainted with the ‘multiverse’ theory, for Marvel, an all-too-convenient premise to string-out an empire of franchises and merchandise to rival Dolly Parton’s wig collection.

But for those who think Iron Man’s a cut-price Forman grill, let’s steal from the internet to better explain it…

The multiverse is a hypothetical group of multiple universes.[a] Together, these universes comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, information, and the physical laws and constants that describe them. The different universes within the multiverse are called “parallel universes”, “other universes”, “alternate universes”, or “many worlds”.

Thanks Wikipedia!

Imagine it. An infinite web of universes born from even the smallest encounters, where realities blur and bend from even the smallest decisions.

Where whole worlds of stories and sorrows, memories and hopes as vivid and colourful as your own exist within each passer-by.

Supported by DGU, the High Street Multiverse is a digital, public art project working with 5 emerging writers from the region, this unique initiative supported writers to craft five individual audio stories to be placed within the town centre of Dumfries, through a specially designed series of QR code sculptures, the artworks will immerse listeners into new imaginative worlds, traversing time and space.

Under the mentorship of writers Des Dillon, Karen Campbell and Karl Drinkwater, emerging writers Carolyn Hashimoto, Davey Payne, Cameron Philips, Kris Haddow and Jasmine McMillan, worked together in a 4 month period to craft 5 unique tales inspired by Dumfries High Street. These immersive and imaginative works were later recorded, mixed, mastered and designed by producer John Dinning to create immersive audio works, adding an exciting new layer to the tales.  

As part of the project’s conclusion an accompanying publication is set to launch on Friday March 11th at the Stove Café, alongside the artworks themselves. The evening will feature talks and readings alongside a preview of the works themselves. This exciting project culminates alongside a creative writing workshop with Multiverse writer Carolyn Hashimoto exploring the doors and portals of the town the next day.

We hope you can join us in celebrating a new imaginative addition to our town centre, where worlds hidden in the undergrowth of the streets or in the reflections of passing strangers will be heard for the very first time.

1000 years from now lies only 5 minutes from here…

High Street Multiverse Launch: Meet the Makers of the Multiverse

March 11 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
TO BOOK YOUR PLACE, CLICK HERE

High Street Multiverse Writing Workshop: Doors & Portals

March 12 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
TO BOOK YOUR PLACE, CLICK HERE
Categories
News

Dumfries Tower of Light: Reflections

Post by Stove Public Art Lead, Katie Anderson

Dumfries Tower of Light: Image credit Ruari Barber Fleming

On Sunday, 19th December the Dumfries Museum Windmill Tower was lit up as it never has been before, with over 1000 individually lit candles gracing it’s unique architecture. The idea was first floated in 2020 when Dumfries and Galloway Council was looking for alternative ways to mark a Christmas Lights Switch On, but that could be hosted in a safe way for families and local folk to gather. The Stove Network team, working closely with Dumfries and Galloway Museum’s grew the idea but it wasn’t to be – first a delay caused by shipping issues from Europe, then followed by a change in covid19 guidance, meant that the project had to take a back step for the year.

Installing individual candles onto the facade of the Museum’s Windmill Tower

Fortunately since then, we’ve been able to build up the plans to host the event again this year – and finally, with a perfect evening, this temporary art installation took place. Each of the candles was hand placed on the many surfaces and edges of the Museum building by the installation team, and had to be taken down in the same careful manner to avoid damage.

The front steps of the Windmill Tower lit up at night. Image credit: Ruari Barber Fleming

Meanwhile, inside the Museum, specially opened for the day, were hosted crafting workshops with artist Helen Walsh creating felt robin tree decorations, inspired by the Victorian’s love of feathered friends in their festive greetings, and a series of puppet performances with Clydebuilt Puppet Theatre. The Jaggy Thistle Bistro also set up a pay-what-you-feel takeaway café for the afternoon, which completely sold out within hours!

The Tower illuminated, captured by Evie Copland

Marking one of the darkest days of the year, the Tower of Light came to life as the sun set – and was serenaded into the dark by the wonderful Cairn Chorus choir who stopped by to sing a collection of pieces. Visitors were invited to take a walk up through the Museum gardens, following light trails to view the artwork and look out over the town. Also visiting the site was Susi Sweetpea Fairy, who took the time to share stories, songs and conversations with those visiting. Over the course of the evening we welcomed 400 folk into the Museum grounds for a closer look and the opportunity to reflect on a challenging year and the New Year to come.

As part of the event, the Stove team gathered hopes and wishes for the year to come, which were all displayed on our Christmas tree – now available to view in The Stove Café – ranging from the poignant and heartfelt to playful and inspiring. In exchange,  craft packs were gifted out to take mini Museum’s home to decorate and hang on trees at home.

The moon making a star appearance. Image credit: Ruari Barber Fleming

The whole event was live streamed by Derry and Greg from the Battlestations crew, you can watch it back via our Youtube platform HERE and was also recorded using aerial footage by Stewart Gibson of Odin Aerial Solutions, see the beautiful film footage he recorder HERE

Stills captured by Stewart Gibson at Odin Aerial Soultions

As ever, these events can only take place with the hard work of the team and volunteers – special thanks to everyone who pitched in to make the Tower of Light happen, from cherry picker rescues, to guiding visitors around the site, hand lighting every candle to performing – the magic of moments like these is created by all those who contribute. Thank you! Special thanks also to the Museum’s team for all their support and trust throughout the project, and to DG Council for their support.

Image credit: Ruari Barber Fleming

Now what to do with 1,000 candles…

Categories
Opportunities

Dumfries Fountain Project: Opportunities

The Stove Network is delighted to share some new commission opportunities to work as part of The Dumfries Fountain Restoration Project, a collaborative project between The Stove Network and Dumfries and Galloway Council.

We have three current opportunities:

  • Dumfries Fountain Public Art Commission
  • Young Filmmaker Commission
  • Young Musician or Composer Commission

These three opportunities have been created as part of the engagement phase of the project, which looks to work with local people to share the history of the fountain and Dumfries’ Water Story, and support interaction with the second phase of the project, which will include the complete refurbishment of the Fountain. Commissioned artists will work alongside and be supported by our Engagement Lead on the project, and The Stove’s Public Art Lead.

Public Art Commission

The Stove seeks to commission an experienced artist, designer or maker to design a permanent artwork to accompany the restoration of the Dumfries Fountain.

The commission is for the delivery of a fully costed and complete design for a permanent artwork to be developed alongside a creative community engagement project in the ‘water story of Dumfries.’ Further details and how to apply:

Public Art Commission

Young Filmmaker Commission

The Stove seeks to commission an emerging young filmmaker to document Stage One of the Dumfries Fountain Restoration Project.

We are looking for someone to document the programme of engagement, tell the story of the fountain and create a digital legacy for the project. Further details and how to apply:

Young Filmmaker Commission

Young Musician/Composer Commission

The Stove Network seeks to commission an emerging young musician or composer to create an original soundtrack composition for film as part of The Dumfries Fountain Restoration Project.

We are looking for someone to work collaboratively with our documentary filmmaker to create an accompanying soundtrack for their film documenting the history and restoration of Dumfries’ Fountain. Further details and how to apply:

Young Musician/composer Commission

Our two emerging commission opportunities have been supported and funded by The Holywood Trust, a charitable organisation which aims to help young people in Dumfries and Galloway.

Deadline for Applications: Sunday, 13th June 2021

For further information about this opportunity, or to ask us specific questions about this project please email [email protected].

Categories
News

Elsewhere: First Images

Thank you to everyone who took some time to visit Elsewhere last weekend, it filled us with hope to see the town again from fresh perspectives and in new lights.

The first of our images from the weekend are now available, thanks to photographer Kirstin McEwan.

If you weren’t able to attend in person, much of the wonderful work we included as part of Elsewhere is available to view online, see a selection of links below.

Elsewhere was supported by Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Regional Arts Fund.

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