Muirhouse set to stage double arts event next Friday

Muirhouse is the place to be for culture vultures next Friday, with not one but two big arts events planned:

North Edinburgh  Arts is hosting ‘Echoes’ on Friday 12 April at 7pm

A new version of Mamma Mia  has been written by a community group fighting the city council’s plans to close  Castlebrae secondary school.

The Abba track IT, will be  sung by members of the Save the Brae campaign group during a performance of a  play that they have written called Echoes, which will express their opposition  to and frustration over the council’s proposals for the school next  summer.

Among those taking part in  the play is Kevin Finlay, chair of the Save the Brae group, who said: “I think if you go  back in history, any local issues like this have been tackled by using arts to  get points across.”

Around eight men and  women, most of whom are members of Save the Brae will perform the 55-minute play  at North Edinburgh Arts on Friday 12 April at 7pm.

Susan Heron, 54, plays Ina  in the play – a fictional character who has lived in Craigmillar all her life  and doesn’t want the school to close. Susan says the play was a “powerful statement of how Castlebrae school life was and is”.

Tickets are £3 or £2 Good  Neighbours (GN) price. To book tickets please call Box Office on 0131 315  2151

and in the afternoon …

Travelling Gallery visits Craigroyston High School on Friday 12 April 1 – 4pm

with ‘feel-good’ art exhibition

The Travelling Gallery will be visiting Craigroyston High School on Friday 12 April, with its latest exhibition ‘Turquoise Heid’ on board. This curiously named exhibition is a busy group show of established  and emerging artists from both home and abroad.

Working in a broad range of  media including drawing, animation, film, sculpture, photography, performance,  collage and painting, the exhibition will include artists who use a playful,  childlike, feel good essence in their work, sometimes hiding darker depths but  more often making us smile. The simplicity and low-tech nature of many of the  artworks disguises sometimes complex processes and skills but also makes the  exhibition instantly accessible to audiences of all ages.

’Turquoise  Heid’ includes work by artists Matthew Barnes, Olivia Bee, Yeodoo Jung, Peter  McDonald, Alex Millar, Jock Mooney, Kim Rugg, Yukako Sakakura and David  Shrigley.

Visitors can also look out for artist Ellie Harrison’s Early Warning  Sign which the Travelling Gallery is hosting in 2013 and which will sit outside  the vehicle. Utilising the brazen marketing techniques of capitalism, the sign  attempts to grab the attention of passers-by: to remind them of the consequences  of excessive consumption and to force climate change back on the agenda. The  harder the wind blows, the faster they go! www.ellieharrison.com.

The Travelling Gallery is a custom-built, mobile, contemporary art  space inside a big beautiful bus. Supported by Creative Scotland, the Esmée  Fairbairn Foundation and the Museums and Arts Division of the City of Edinburgh Council, the Travelling Gallery brings high quality contemporary art  exhibitions and events to schools and communities throughout Scotland.

North Edinburgh Arts has arranged for the gallery to be open to  the public on Friday afternoon at Craigroyston High School. The Travelling Gallery’s visit has been  supported by the City of Edinburgh Council’s Children and Families Department.

See www.travellinggallery.com for all the  details or ‘like’ on Facebook