You know how names for things at The Stove can be a real challenge (err opportunity?) ….never more so in the case of our new Project Manager! The job title went through unimaginable twists and turns (you might remember it was advertised as ‘Organisational Manager/Projects Coordinator’). Anyways we are delighted to announce that Stove member Ailsa Watson was offered and accepted the role –the first task Ailsa tackled was the job title – ‘Project Manager’ it is!!
Those paying attention will remember that Ailsa joined us in April initially as our Finance Administrator.
A rare photo of Ailsa
Ailsa says she is ‘not really be from anywhere’ – she was born in Paisley and grew up on the West Coast before a globetrotting existence led her back to Glasgow where she met and married a dashing Doonhamer. She is an Art Graduate who has followed an amazingly impressive career path through a mixture of high profile arts jobs and working within the commercial digital sector. Naturally one of the most impressive things on Ailsa’s CV is her role as a producer on The Stove’s ‘First Foot’ project in Jan 2012 – she has been a member since the get go.
Ailsa and her husband have been living between Glasgow and Dumfries for some time whilst looking for the right opportunity to move to the South West full-time. The next bit of good news is that the couple have found a place on the outskirts of Dumfropolis and will be flitting Glasgow in August.
Ailsa is looking forward to seeing more of her D+G pals, making new acquaintances and working with the wider community
This feels like a really significant move for The Stove Network to be now working with genuine administrative and managerial capacity. It has been a long time coming, but that is part of the essence of working collectively – things do take time – but when they do happen we know that we have all travelled together to reach this place.
We had an amazing response to our call for people to take on this role – including others form our incredibly talented membership – it was a tough, tough task making this decision and we’d like to thank everyone that applied…there were many other people that we are sure we will be working with in the future.
One of our standard ways of describing The Stove Network is that:
‘The Curatorial Team decide and deliver the artistic vision for The Stove Network – in this they are supported by a Board, who are responsible for governance and The Stove Network has a general membership of 110 people, ranging from contemporary artists to café-owners, to video artists and DJs.’
Whilst strictly accurate this does not even scratch the surface of how crucial the Board really are….they really are the ‘wise heads on young shoulders’ of The Stove midfield.
Everyone has been looking at ways to continue the momentum of collaborative working in the Board and between the Board and the Curatorial team. Some bright spark suggested an Away Day – where Board and CT could spend some quality time, find out what made each other tick and do some big thinking about The Stove Network…..this is what happened next:
We started by each talking about an object that inspires us or says something about who we are.
Things got even more arduous with a walk along the shore
Board and CT in ‘deep thought mode’
Board members admitted some disappointment when the menus turned out to be People’s Charters for Dumfries
Linda was uncharacteristically sceptical on the merits of Lada Four-Wheel Drive
The day was perfectly timed to help the final push before submission of our application for ‘Regular Funding’ ….loads of good ideas and shared vision for The Stove Network….that was described as more of movement than a business by one Board Member….bring it on!
Standing here in the Spring of 2014 The Stove has an incredible opportunity to make a difference for the future of people and places locally. Through the generous support of our funders: Creative Scotland, Dumfries and Galloway Council, Holywood Trust and Edward Marshall Trust we have the chance to move forward simultaneously on three interrelated fronts:
100 High Street: Converting the Stove building into a fully accessible HQ for The Stove that is welcoming to all and reflects the high quality of The Stove’s ambition.
Our organisation: to be viable in the long term The Stove needs to creatively use the skills and facilities available to us to bring in money that will continue to support of the vision of the arts at the heart of Dumfries. We have business development support to build the foundations of The Stove for the future.
The Stove @ The Stove: we are making a detailed programme of artwork projects between now and July 2015. This will include opportunities for residencies, commissions and volunteering – to be part of new public art events, gatherings, workshops etc.
Working on all three of these fronts at the same time is an incredible opportunity to show what the creative community is capable of when we are given the chance to properly be part of the ‘real world’ (not just fluffy stuff stuck around the edges). Lets get it done!
We’ll be publishing more details of ways to get involved in TheStove@TheStove soon – but do give us a shout if you have ideas about what The Stove could be doing and other folk we could be working with…
For those of you who have been asking ‘what is The Stove’ – here is our latest attempt to define it… this is a work in progress and we are committed to inclusivity in all things… please do chuck your threepenneth in…
The Stove is a project to add creativity to the structures and thinking that will shape a future we all will share.
The project is run by a collective of artists and other active citizens in Dumfries and Galloway. The Stove creates inclusive public art events to engage the citizens of Dumfries in constructive and practical action in the town. The Stove uses a three storey building in the town centre of Dumfries as an HQ for the project and will operate 100 High Street as a social enterprise. The Stove has a membership of over 100 people ranging from café-owners and wild-food chefs to video artists and DJs.
We see the arts not as something solely for an ‘arts audience’, but rather, as a vital contribution to society on all fronts. The Stove is a vehicle for practical partnerships with people and organisations working in Health, Education, Tourism, Regeneration and Environment.
The creative arts are one of the top ten economic sectors in Dumfries and Galloway – The Stove is an expression of confidence, professionalism and ambition for that sector – placed physically and practically at the heart of the evolving future of our region.
The third Big Burns Supper Festival really found its stride this year – there was a palpable feeling that the toon had taken BBS to its heart and was joining in at every turn…..big respect to the festival team and to Doonhamers everywhere!
The Stove joined in too – it has now become a bit of a tradition that we contribute something of the outdoor ambience to BBS (not quite sure how we ended up with that job at a festival in January!). This year we staged the Big Burn – but before we get to that there were a coupl of other wee Stovish things to enjoy – we made a lantern for the procession:
The Stove’s ‘bunch of balloons’ lantern – made by Danae Marshall, Iain Gisbey, Hayley Stephens and Sara Redden. Seen here at the front of the Homecoming Parade – carried by Hayley and Sara and ably assisted by Sara’s daughter Daisy.
Katie Anderson made her own installation ‘Close Enough’ for the close next to The Stove:
‘Close Enough’ by Katie Anderson – domestic wallpaper designs stretched and interpreted in UV paint with an accompanying soundtrack of environmental sound and spoken word
The idea of The Big Burn was dead simple – to tell folk that we were making a bonfire in the middle of the High Street and to see what happened. We hoped to make a place that people would hang out a bit and get a bit of a warm….to bring a little of a familiar bonfire vibe into an unfamiliar setting and see what happened.
Will proved his mettle as firestarter general
No barriers….no problem
The first addition volunteered for The Big Burn came from Phoebe Marshall who brought along hazel twigs, marshmallows and chocolate biscuits. Toasted marshmallow sandwiched between two chocolate biscuits makes a smoor……
Regular marshmallow action on the flaming logs that stood around the fire
Extreme marshmallow toasting
The next unexpected addition was the arrival of the Cairn Chorus who were led to the Big Burn by Wendy Stewart. They sang beautifully for 20 minutes and included the most emotionally stirring version of Auld Lang Syne that I have ever heard. The fact that we were sitting around a fire in Dumfries on Robert Burns’ birthday was lost on no-one.
The Cairn Chorus at The Big Burn
The next intervention around the fire was the arrival of a troupe of mysteriously masked dancers:
Dancers in black and white at top left
There were no clues at all to the identity of the dancers – and if anyone knew, then they were giving nothing away… they melted back into the night just as they had arrived.
One of our Turkish neighbours played a bit of drum and danced briefly… tatties were baked and consumed and tea was had. Then the D+G Fire service arrived and offered to help us put the fire out… who can refuse a handsome fireman with a hose…
D+G Fire Rescue performing at The Big Burn
And that was that really – except that the 20 or so folk who were still around the fire then all help clear away the Big Burn. A human chain was formed and 1.5 tonnes of bricks were moved to behind The Stove… in under one hour from the fire engine arriving there was no sign at all that anything had happened in the square that night – apart from some very happy memories.
Thanks to everyone who made The Big Burn such a success – great craic and lovely to spend time with old friends and new. We have a feeling this just might become a Big Burns Supper regular feature… maybe we might be allowed an even bigger fire next year???
Brilliant to see about 40 intrepid Stove folk braving the dark winter evening to come to the Stove Members Gathering/Catch up/Planning; Thing Meeting last Tuesday night.
Old friends and new friends came and it was particularly good to see people who had helped with Back2Back and taken part in the Nithraid. The Stove is all about reaching out and working beyond the arts….in fact there was chat about whether what we are doing is really ‘art’ anyway- and does that matter.
One of the ideas that seemed to catch peoples interest and agreement was that the Stove should be about inspiring people to take charge of their own immediate environment. Too often people think that they are ‘not allowed’ to do things – we hope that our events have an ethos of ‘just do it’ about them and that others will be inspired to follow suit. We believe that people working form the grassroots with independent and locally relevant initiatives is the way that Dumfries with prosper in the future. (Sermon over!)
Linda followed on with a slide show of images for the Nithraid and it was great that other people brought their own pictures to share too – even if the one of Will and Matt hugging in pink T Shirts might not see the light of day again anytime soon! More pictures from Nithraid – here
Nithraid really seems to have caught people’s imagination – there was a really strong contingent of folk who had taken part and in the race and a collective determination to do it again next year. Mark Zygadlo is leading on this for The Stove and currently working very hard to raise the necessary money for next years event.
Lots of people ask ‘how do I get involved with The Stove?’ – the Nithraid is a great example: The Curatorial Team raised some money to do a Stove project as part of the Environmental Art Festival…..we had a first think about what might be possible and relevant to both our larger programme and that of the Festival. We then put out an invite to Stove Members which said ‘Stove is going to do something for EAFS – it will be connected to the River Nith in some way…if you are interested to be part of this then come along on this day and we’ll all brainstorm ideas together’. About 10 people came to that original meeting…the idea of Nithraid was born and Mark Zygadlo and Stan Bonnar became part of the project team that made the Nithraid happen.
Along the way other folk were pulled in by word-of-mouth and adverts etc eg Roy Kerr from Nith Navigation and all the folk who took part in the race. Then closer to the date we put out another call for people to be part of the crew for the day and we were thrilled that about 12 people came and were part of making the whole thing happen on the day (from being part of the scratch band, to catering, to stewarding, to releasing the banners into the water, to helping get the boats out of the water).
Matt then showed some slides from the Environmental Art Festival Scotland – The Stove was part of the team (with Spring Fling and Wide-Open) that thought up and produced the festival. One of the great things about EAFS was the way it provided opportunities for so many people in D+G to take part and the way different people worked together – just about everyone in the room had been part of EAFS in some way – great feeling!!
Colin talked introduced Dumfries Music Conference with a video from last years event and a run down of this years programme that was starting the day after this Gathering.
Matt then rounded off the presentations with a quick run through of The Stoves 3 year programming plan. In synopsis this breaks down into:
2014 – intensive focus on Dumfries with TheStove@TheStove (including residency opportunities for Stove members)
2015 – First part of year finishing TheStove@TheStove before focussing on the second Environmental Art Festival Scotland for September/October that year
2016 – Year of Architecture in Scotland….The Stove hopes to be a main partner in the festival in SouthWest Scotland and pick up themes form work in Dumfries and across the region through EAFS……imagining a sustainable future for D+G.
Another big push for The Stove recently has been in the way we are using different media in our work. Katie Anderson is now building on the great foundation made by Mike Nicholson on Social Media for The Stove. Our Facebook page has never been busier and Katie has become surgically attached to her IPad it seems.
And if you’re not yet a member and fancy being part of The Stove mission to change the world then send an email to [email protected] and Sheila will send you a membership form. Membership is free and gives you no obligations whatsoever….you’ll just get emails and updates from The Stove and the offer of being involved in projects, commission opportunities and members rates on room hires etc.
