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The Stove Network shortlisted for SURF Award

We love a good press release at the stove…..

Dumfries Artists Collective, The Stove Network have been shortlisted for the prestigious Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum (SURF) Awards for 2014. Launched in 2003 these awards have become the benchmark for best practice in urban regeneration in Scotland.

The Stove Network have been shortlisted in the Creative category which highlights best practice in arts-based projects that contribute to local regeneration efforts. The Stove Network have been nominated for their pioneering work in placing the arts and culture at the heart of regeneration efforts in Dumfries and in particular for their ‘innovative and exemplary arts practice in the context of national cultural and economic strategy’.

Commenting Stove Curatorial Team Member Matt Baker said – ‘It is huge for us and for Dumfries itself to be getting this national recognition for what is happening in the town.’

‘The Stove Network works in close partnership with other arts organisations locally such as Big Burns Supper, Moat Brae, Theatre Royal and Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre as well as DG Unlimited. SURF understands about partnership and this recognition is for all of us. The public really began to notice a buzz about the arts in the town after Dumfries was shortlisted as Scotland’s Creative Place for 2014 – the Creative Dumfries project was a massive communal effort by everyone connected to the arts and regeneration in the town’

‘Currently we are unable to use our premises on the High Street whilst DGC carry out essential accessibility improvements. Unfortunately these works have been subject to significant delays and this has curtailed the projects that we have been able to do over the last few months. However we hope people will have seen the potential of our work through events like the Nithraid in September, we are gathering an amazing group of people around our organisation – so just imagine what we will be able to do when we are fully functioning in 100 High Street!’

In June The Stove Network worked with more than 40 local groups and individuals to create a ‘people’s charter’ for the town which they launched as part of Guid Nychburris celebrations. The launch included members of the public hurling wet sponges from the town fountain at giant banners that changed colour when wet to reveal the Charter.

15.BMX on Sands
BMX and skaters take to the Whitesands as part of Nithraid 2014

On September 13th the artists staged the second running of their Nithraid event which saw more than 4000 people reveal the potential of the town’s riverside carparks as public space with an artist’s street market, roller skating, skateboarding and BMX. Nithraid is a ‘dangerous sailing race’ in which sail powered craft negotiate the river NIth from the Solway Firth into the centre of the town on the highest tide of the year.

The winners of the SURF Awards 2014 will be announced at the Radisson Hotel in Glasgow on 2nd December.

More about the SURF Awards available on their website here 

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Musings News

Bordeaux and Public Space

The Stove have been coined ‘cultural ambassadors for Dumfries’ as last week we packed our trunks and headed off for Bordeaux.

Why Bordeaux you might have asked?
To which we may have replied, 

‘Although it is undoubtedly bigger, better and sunnier, Bordeaux has several interesting parallels with Dumfries: it was a one-time great trading port on a river; its historic buildings and waterfront had suffered from misuse and neglect. The difference comes in how it has succeeded in regenerating itself in the last decade or so, with a strong focus on culture and environment.’ Indeed.

Bordeaux’s vast infrastructure and city centre regeneration over the past 15 years has focused largely on the riverside, and the design and creation of people friendly places over vehicle orientated ones.

Time and again we gravitated towards the area, for meetings, coffee, discussions and – possibly our most favourite public space, the fountain –also known as the Mirror.

The Mirror, which alternates between a shallow pool and ephemeral fog, forms part of the promenade extending along the river – filled with people on all manner and number of (human powered) wheels. Glasgow based artist Jacqueline Donnachie’s Slow Down project has been tested in a few towns and cities, most recently in Glasgow in the run up to the Commonwealth which sees bikes fitted with chalks that mark the routes taken by cyclists in the city to encourage cycling use… Cycling Dumfries looks to improve cycling closer to home – how could we think about our transport differently?

The city centre’s new look and feel, as well as Bordeaux’s Unesco Heritage status, has had input too on a cultural front with the AGORA (Architecture, Urban Planning and Design) biennale which has grown out of the regeneration works in the town into a fully fledged national event of it’s own standing. This year AGORA coincides with the Nithraid – taking place from 11th – 14th September.. but more on this later!

Of course, as much as the city centre is all absorbing and beautiful, the Stovies got an itch to explore a little more into the periphery spaces of Bordeaux – so we took (the very sleek) tram up to the Bacalan area – which is pretty serious about it’s regeneration on all fronts, as new builds and cranes jostled for space amongst established arts and social enterprise organisations.

Le garage moderne – a social enterprise with groups across France, teaches practical mechanics whilst also doubling up as exhibition space, and artists studios and office spaces – it caught the Stove’s wildest imagination – we’re quickly realising that we could outgrow 100 High Street…

And finally for this week – we’ve become a bit obsessed with the space out the back of the Stove, as we explore the mechanism for creating a new rear entrance for 100 High Street, discussions have been ongoing as to how to alter the sense and atmosphere of a place, especially one with shared use and ownership. Grand plans are being finalised as the impact of 100 High Street and it’s relationship to it’s surroundings grows and changes from the forgotten Happitt store into the Stove proper… as ever, we’ll keep you posted.

Les Vivres de l’Art – one of the wildest creative spaces we came across in Bordeaux.

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Musings News

The Regeneration of Dock Park

The Stove set up temporary residence one afternoon last week in the newly regenerated and renovated Dock Park as part of the ongoing festivities celebrating the park’s clean face. In anticipation of this year’s Nithraid, we took to the river – send massed flotillas of paper boats downstream and out to the Solway. 

The boats were christened after famous links to the Park’s history including: 
The Great Pedalo (Kirpatrick MacMillan – inventor of the bicycle and honoured by the footbridge) 
The Dragon Slayer (.. St Michael’s Bridge at the top of the park)
The Tweed Rose (Rosefield Tweed Mills on the opposite bank) 

The Rosefield Mills featured as part of one of Lisa Gallaher’s pieces made for TDRM: Dumfries during InBetween Dumfries. Working with local artist Evelyn Gray, Lisa produced a tweed coat incorporating Evelyn’s sketches of the mills…


 The two week long youth festival coinciding with the school holidays was envisioned to shape how the park as a public space could be used by the good folk of Dumfries, and the re-instate the park within the psyche or awareness of the town, as opposed to a periphery space. 

With the park’s Victorian history, could a new fashion for a contemporary promenading culture be re-invented?

promenade (ˌprɒməˈnɑːd) 
 — n 1. chiefly ( Brit ) a public walk, esp at a seaside resort 
2. a leisurely walk, esp one in a public place for pleasure or display 
3. ( US ), ( Canadian ) a ball or formal dance at a high school or college 
4. a marchlike step in dancing 
5. a marching sequence in a square or country dance 

 [C16: from French, from promener to lead out for a walk, from Late Latin prōmināre to drive (cattle) along, from pro- 1 + mināre to drive, probably from minārī to threaten] 


On walking around the park, The Drying Ground particularly caught my interest – as Glasgow City Council looks to impose new rules on the use of their public parks, with Drying Grounds clearly outlawed: 

” 11.1 No one shall in any park, except with the prior written consent of the Director: 

 (f) hang linen or other material, beat, shake, sweep, brush or cleanse any carpet, rug, mat or other article. “

The full list of proposed banned activities includes organised sports, gatherings of more than 18 people, walking more than 4 dogs and outdoor education – a full and interesting article on the A Thousand Flowers blog.

The importance on non-commercial public spaces, and their benefit to town and city life not just in terms of regenerating the surrounding areas but also in creating spaces (and therefore towns) where people want to be is discussed by Animal Behaviourist turned City Planner for NYC, Amanda Burden in her recent TED talk (available here) 

As groups like the Incredible Edible‘s continue to promote and grow a greener vision for the town, how can the parks play an active role in this? How do these public spaces become once again instilled as part of the townscapes’ sense of self? As 100 High Street remains closed for the time being, do keep an eye out for the Stove in exile throughout the town over the next few months, and if this great weather continues, we can maybe reconvene our meetings in the park.. 

Categories
Musings

Stove and Regeneration

Lately we’ve been thinking a lot about The Stove as an opportunity to put our money where our mouths are in thinking about the society we live in. We’ve been inspired by the New Economics Foundation to think about the way we work, and crucially, invest in services and people locally.

The ‘leaky bucket’ – how easy it is for new investment in a place to be allowed to escape and lose its long term effect – from ‘Plugging the Leaks’ – New Economics Foundation

Money, like other aspects of life, has become controlled by distant organisations who, as the recent economic turmoil has demonstrated, do not necessarily have our best interests at heart. As the New Economics Foundation put it, our economies have become like ‘leaky buckets’, money that should be staying and circulating locally being sucked out to distant corporations and shareholders.  This all adds to our vulnerability in times of increasing uncertainty, rather than reducing it.

Local enterprises are more likely to employ local people, provide services to improve the local quality of life, spend money locally and so circulate wealth in the community, promote community cohesion and, by reducing transportation of goods from across communities, are likely to have a smaller environmental footprint.’

‘Plugging the Leaks’ – New Economics Foundation

Lets use the resources of The Stove to give the maximum effect in our local economy and society –  if you’ve got ideas about ways The Stove could be effective in assisting regeneration locally then please do get in touch  [email protected]

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