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:

echoes

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

cropped-CCHS-grey-edge-smooth[1]

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

art bus

Confusing Muirhouse signs in Muirhouse causing confusion!

20130403_115043

Muirhouse man Robert Pearson is confused:

Over recent weeks, months and years contractors and Edinburgh City Council have been completing demolition in the Muirhouse area. Other than the odd articulated vehicles going the wrong way through the estate and driving past Craigroyston Primary school at 8.30am, I can say there hasn’t been any real issues.

But now that the contractors have completed their work the diversion, instruction and warning signs still remain in place, many of which now make no sense at all.

Recent high winds have dislodged the signs from there places high up on lamposts and now many are low down causing a danger to pedestrians and others are turning around when it’s windy.

Photographs show Safedem route out pointing in to the estate and others pictures show diversion ends which ended weeks ago. More dangers sign is the Pedestrians warning is at a height which if caught with the wind could easily strike a passerby.

Muirhouse View is still closed according to signage but in fact it has been open for some weeks, albeit it the road is still like a 4 x 4 track.

Hopefully Edinburgh City Council will arrange for these to be removed as soon as possible, but will they leave the large block of concrete which many of these signs poles are housed in?

Robert Pearson

20130403_120504

20130403_115359

20130403_115232

20130403_115211

20130403_115148

Have your say on city centre

A public consultation on proposals to ‘transform’ Edinburgh’s city centre has been launched.

The Council has developed a proposal for improving the City Centre, particularly in the area around Princes Street and George Street, which aims to make the area a better place in which to live, work, visit, invest and study.

The proposed scheme has been shaped by a working group chaired by Planning Convener Councillor Ian Perry, who said: “I think many people recognise that for all its architectural beauty and wealth of enticing shops and amenities, the City Centre is still not yet achieving its full potential. With this public consultation, we’ve got the chance here to really do something for the city centre and we’re determined to find a solution which works best for everyone. I would urge everyone with a stake in Edinburgh’s future prosperity to have their say.”

The Council is keen to hear residents’ views on the proposal and how they would like to see the space used.

The consultation process will also shed light on how the proposals might impact on different users and stakeholders.

The findings of the consultation will be the subject of a future report and any changes will then be trialled to test how they work.

The online survey, which will run until Thursday 9 May, can be accessed at:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6G7MWW9

Two public drop-in events will also be held:

* Friday 19 April, Assembly Rooms George Street, 12-6pm
* Saturday 20 April, Assembly Rooms, George Street , 10 -2pm

Comments can also be sent via e-mail to:
citycentre.vision@edinburgh.gov.uk

Further information about the consultation can be found at:  http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/citycentrevision

What’s your views on Edinburgh’s city centre? What do you mean, Glasgow’s Miles Better!

Let us know!

PRINCES STREET moving on
PRINCES STREET moving on