As the WWDN project develops, we’re excited to share with you an update from the towns, community groups (place hubs) and artists involved.
Currently in the research and development stage of the yearlong initiative, each of the five towns represented by the project, have begun to outline their respective project approaches, in collaboration with the commissioned artists and place hubs. Over the course of the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing with you, the ideas evolving in each place and hearing from the community groups from each town, with video and images provided by our Documentarian Duo, Patrick Rooney and Kirstin McEwan.
Stranraer is a town in a stage of transition, dealing with the effects of post-industrial decline but with a wealth of human and natural resources.
Working through the project Place Hub, Stranraer Millennium Centre, a state-of-the-art building, facilitating a diverse range of community activities; artists, Hope London and Rory Laycock have begun to connect with community groups.
Testing ideas and encouraging participation through a series of activities involving visual art, animation, music, words and new technologies they aim to encourage people to release their passions about the community.
Their work has begun with seaside-style mini-murals with blank, comic-book thought and speech bubbles for people to dream about possibilities, insert their thoughts and comments, and take photos which can then be shared with the wider community via social media.
It is their creativity and ideas of people in the town that the artists aim to build into their project.
For more information about the artists and to follow their progress click here
The NW Dumfries project is called ‘Living in Flats Together’ and will see artists Alice Francis, Rosie Giblin and Andy Brooke work with the residents of the c.70 flats that make up the six housing blocks on Dunlop Road in Lochside.
The commissioned artists are working through the project Place Hub, LIFT D+G and building a working relationship with Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership who own and manage the flats.
Angie Gilmour explains more about LIFT D&G below:
The artists ran a workshop activity as part of the recent Lochside Gala and got a fantastic response from community members, their focus now is on an initial series of pop-up events for the Dunlop Road residents which will involve food and creative activities, this will be first of series of events aimed at co-creating with residents a shared set of aims for their year together.
The artists hope to develop new spaces for longer-term activities with residents through the year and co-create some meaningful improvements for Dunlop Road.
Follow Andy’s personal blog here and find out more about the artists and follow their journey here.
Stay tuned for the remaining updates from the towns, community groups (place hubs) and artists involved…
OutPost Arts will work with artists Jim Buchanan and Sian Yeshe to re-activate existing play and meeting spaces, and create new digital spaces for young people focusing on themes of ‘Ownership & Voice’.
Emerging artist, Sian Yeshe, is working with young people in Langholm through the Arts Bronze Award in Langholm High School, exploring the role of film and filmmaking in the creative expression of young people’s voices. Whilst in residence, Sian is exploring the use of digital technology to create in collaboration with young people, an online space, owned, managed, and programmed by people under 25 in Langholm.
Artist Jim Buchanan is exploring play as a means of activating forgotten spaces within the town. From play parks to trails, Buchanan is focused on uniting community voices around the possibilities of play through a variety of creative activities from parkour to projection to illuminate and inspire new imaginative possibilities for the future use of these areas.
Find out more about Jim, Sian and Outpost Arts here
A multipurpose arts centre, A’ the Airts, works with the community in the production and development of community festivals, art projects and related activity.
Artists Jack Stancliffe and Saskia Coulson and Colin Tennant are working with A’ the Airts to engage young people in a creative project, exploring their relationship to their town and their voice within it.
Jack Stancliffe, a creative practitioner in fields of education, amateur art, and contemporary performance, will be facilitating a playful and energetic approach, inviting young people into an artistic response to the town, where it was, where it’s going and how we get there.
Filmmakers and photographers, Saskia Coulson and Colin Tennant, will work collaboratively with young people to create visual stories that explore and share their understanding of identity and connection with place, and will invite other creative practitioners from music, design and gaming to connect with and inspire the young people of Sanquhar.
For more information about the artists and to follow the project, click here
The What We Do Now project, in Castle Douglas, has begun by finding practical ways for the community to meet the commissioned artists, Martin Danziger and Kiera Manson.
The artists attended Castle Douglas’ food and bike festival in July, running three short circus workshops for children, on Market Hill in the Talking Horse marquee, which was very well received by the community!
Martin and Keira have engaged an action research approach to get to know CDDF and the community through participating in a live event to understand a better what the community needs and hopes for.
Through conversations, and active participation, we hope to begin to shape our What We Do Now project in Castle Douglas around community interests and needs. Our hopes are to build a vision that incorporates community arts as central to our development of Castle Douglas as a family friendly town and a place for creative play.
Discover more about the artists and CDDF here