You(th) Decides: seeking bright sparks in Silverknowes and D Mains!

Young people living in the West and Almond areas of Edinburgh are being given the chance to win funding for their very own projects.

Grants of up to £500 are available to win through the You[th] Decides initiative launched this week by the Western Edinburgh and Almond Neighbourhood Partnerships.

Successful projects should meet the criteria of increasing opportunities for children and young people, and could relate to issues such as sports, arts and media, outdoor education, and community participation.

Any groups with members aged between 11 and 18 and living in Drumbrae/Gyle and Corstorphine/Murrayfield areas and any group with members aged between 12 and 18 and living in Cramond, Davidson’s Mains, Silverknowes, South Queensferry, Dalmeny, Kirkliston, Ratho Station and Newbridge can apply.

The funding of a total of £4,000 from the Western Edinburgh and £2,000 from the Almond Neighbourhood Partnerships Community Grants Fund has been allocated to the initiatives.

Successful schemes will be decided on by the students from local schools, members of the Neighbourhood Partnership Boards and Western Edinburgh members of the Scottish Youth Parliament.

Western Edinburgh Neighbourhood Partnership Convener, Councillor Robert Aldridge, said: “We’re running this project again because it was so successful last year. Young people are as much part of our community as adults and have come up with some fantastic ideas in the past. This is a chance for them to show off their talents and make a real difference.”

Almond Neighbourhood Partnership Convener, Councillor Alastair Shields, said: “This is a great opportunity for local young people to have a say in how funding is allocated. We are looking for imaginative projects which will engage young people and increase opportunities for them in an exciting way.”

Application forms for the You[th] Decides Initiative are available from schools and youth groups, or by contacting Steven Kipanda at Western Edinburgh Neighbourhood Partnership:

email Steven.Kipanda@ea.edin.sch.uk

or audrey.primrose@edinburgh.gov.uk

and Steven Stewart at Almond Neighbourhood Partnership:

email steven.stewart@ea.edin.sch.uk

or jim.conner@edinburgh.gov.uk

Closing date for applications? Almond is 23 October and it’s 30 October for Western.

On your bike for Inverleith’s free active travel festival

Expect all things active travel at Inverleith Park this Sunday, when the first Inverleith On Foot and By Bike festival will take place.

From unicycling to orienteering, walking football and bike proficiency, the event will feature a range of activities aimed to change local people’s walking and cycling habits.

Organised by Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership and funded by Transport Scotland through Paths for All, the family-friendly event will also feature a live broadcast of the Tour of Britain finale via a bike-powered cinema!

Transport Convener and Champion of the Inverleith Active Travel Forum, Councillor Lesley Hinds, said: “Increasing walking and cycling is a key priority both in Inverleith and for the Council as a whole, and what better way to encourage the public than through a variety of free, fun and creative activities.

“I hope to see lots of people, of all ages and abilities, coming along to Inverleith Park this Sunday to discover just how rewarding active travel can be.”

The Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership is working towards four key objectives identified by the local community, which will improve the quality of life of people living, working and visiting the area. These are:

to increase physical activity levels
engage better with young people
enhance the community’s enjoyment of open green spaces
and to increase walking and cycling.

Sunday’s event will tackle all four priorities, welcoming people of all ages and abilities, whether they have never considered walking for fun or if they want to chat about taking their cycling skill to the next level.

Other activities on offer will include taster jogging sessions, bike security marking and the opportunity to ‘bling up your bike’. In addition, a range of prizes will be up for grabs, such as a day’s bike hire, a month’s gym membership or new pedometers and backpacks.

The Inverleith On Foot and By Bike festival is run by the Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership with support from local bike shops Ronde, Gamma and Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative, as well as a host of walking, cycling and physical activity organisations, and takes place on Sunday 13 September from 2.30pm to 5.30pm.

Find out more about walking and cycling in Inverleith.

Conference to explore new approaches to tackling fuel poverty

‘Too many people are still living in fuel poverty in Scotland. A new action plan is required.’ – Teresa Bray, Changeworks

“Everyone involved in tackling fuel poverty needs to dig even deeper to wipe out this unnecessary hardship,” says Changeworks, the environmental charity organising this month’s Fuel Poverty Conference in Edinburgh.

The event on Wednesday 23 September will bring together policy makers, service managers and frontline practitioners to share best practice, rethink current approaches to fuel poverty and identify opportunities and improvements for the future.

Speakers include Margaret Burgess MSP, Minister for Housing and Welfare, David Sigsworth, Chair of Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum, Di Alexander, Chair of the new Scottish Rural Fuel Poverty Task Force, Ross Armstrong, Transition Manager for Warmworks Scotland and Amanda Britain, Lead for Housing, Joint Improvement Team.

A person is living in fuel poverty if they need to spend more than 10 per cent of their household income on fuel, to heat their home to a satisfactory standard.

Teresa Bray, Changeworks Chief Executive, said: “With 39% of Scottish households living in fuel poverty it is clear that the statutory target to eradicate fuel poverty by November 2016 will not be achieved. Too many people are still living in fuel poverty in Scotland. A new action plan is required.

“Changeworks has spent over 20 years working with the Scottish Government, local authorities and other partners to address fuel poverty. While many of these initiatives are helping to improve people’s lives, save money and reduce energy use – more needs to be done.

“Bringing together policy makers and practitioners is the only way to ensure any new action plan is built on the latest ideas and experience proven to make the most difference.”

The conference will take place on Wednesday 23 September from 9am – 4.30pm at the John McIntyre Conference Centre, Pollock Halls on Holyrood Park Road, Edinburgh. Cost £50 per delegate.

Book or download the agenda through Eventbrite(http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/changeworks-fuel-poverty-conference-2015-tickets-17763595392) or call Changeworks on 0131 555 4010.

Young talent brings the city together in a celebration of music

Edinburgh Youth Music Festival this Saturday

Edinburgh Youth Music Festival, a vibrant showcase of youth music talent, is welcoming children, young people and their families to participate in this year’s event.

Run in conjunction with a city wide network of youth music organisations such as Totally Sound, Reel Youth Media and Edinburgh Youth Music Initiative, this year’s event is organised by #artcore youth arts and is supported by Creative Scotland’s Time to Shine youth arts fund. It will be a celebration of the quality and diversity of opportunities available for ages 0 to 25.

The Edinburgh Youth Music Festival, organised by #artcore Youth Arts, is a partnership event bringing together youth agencies and projects from across the city. Partners include Totally Sound, The Tinderbox Project, Canongate Youth Project, Edinburgh Youth Music Forum, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Edinburgh College, City of Edinburgh Council’s Youth Music Initiative, Pulse of the Place and the Academy of Music and Sound.

A main feature of this year’s festival is up and coming musicians such as headliners Beeches (above), who will be sharing the stage with exciting young performers from all across Scotland that will cover the full musical range from hip hop to traditional.

The festival is happening at the South Bridge Resource Centre on Infirmary Street, on Saturday 12 September from 12 – 5pm and offers a chance to get into everything; from songwriting to Samba drumming, to advice on pursuing music as a career.

The schedule includes bands Paisley Row, Cameron Jay, Rachel Alice Johnson and headliner Beeches.

Workshops include a Frozen Singalong with the Youth Music Initiative, for ages 5 – 10; Creative Pathways into the Music Industry with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, for age 14 + and Rock techniques with the Academy of Music and Sound for ages 11-25 years.

Further details of the event including a full listing of performers and workshops can be found on the Youth Music festival website:

http://edinburghyouthmusicfestival.org/

#artcore Project Manager, Johnny Gailey, said: “‘We’re really excited to be able to present this year’s Edinburgh Youth Music Festival line up, which sees a host of Edinburgh’s young talent take the stage. Whilst Edinburgh band Beeches are starting to make a name for themselves, it’s just as important to us to highlight all local young talent. Everyone starts somewhere, and there are many budding young musicians in the city.

“Music is crucial to the lives of young people and the festival is a fantastic opportunity for all to be inspired by peers and to work with lots of highly skilled professional musicians and organisations. We want to thank all those involved, who are as excited and enthusiastic about the value of youth music as we are and who made the event possible.”

The Southside’s alive with the sound of music …

No joke: Fringe favourite Adam supports Sick Kids

Aussie comic raises £10,000 for Sick Kids charity

The Sick Kids Friends Foundation (SKFF) has benefited from the generosity of Fringe audiences at this year’s festival, after Australian comedian Adam Hills collected more than £10,000 for the children’s charity.

Adam Hills’ stand up show, Clown Heart, returned to the capital for its third year and was deemed a Fringe favourite. In between his time on stage, kind hearted comedian Adam braved the cold, standing outside the venue urging donations to the Foundation wearing nothing but pants and a dressing gown!

Adam’s Saltire underwear caught the attention of festival revellers on the Capital’s streets and encouraged a fantastic volume of donations across his week long string of sell-out performances.

Adam Hills said: “The Sick Kids Friends Foundation is an amazing organisation that does an incredible job. All I had to do was mention their name, then stand out the front of the venue with a bucket. The audience did the rest.

“They told me stories of friends, family or their own experiences with the Sick Kids. And they were all incredibly generous. It may have helped that I offered to disrobe for anything over five pounds.”

Rachel McKenzie, head of voluntary fundraising at the Sick Kids Friends Foundation, said: “We are extremely grateful that Adam chose the Sick Kids Friends Foundation to benefit from the incredibly generous donations his audience made across the week-long show.

“The Fringe is famous for bringing the best out in everyone that attends and it’s fantastic to see so many people dig deep and raise such a tremendous total.

“The funds are vital in supporting us to ensure nothing gets in the way of being a child for the thousands of youngsters who visit Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children each year. With the help of this generous donation we will continue to transform the experiences of children in hospital so they can be a child first and a patient later.”

For more information on the work of the SKFF visit www.edinburghsickkids.org.

Free and Easy Riders!

Dads can build a bike for their kids for free!

Young dads will have the chance to get together and build a free balance bike for their children, thanks to award winning charity Dads Rock and partners Edinburgh Tool Library and RG workshops.

They are on the look-out for dads aged 25 or under from across Edinburgh to give them all the tools and equipment needed to build a free balance bike for their children.

The weekly workshops start later this month, so if you know a dad aged 25 or under who would like to be part of it, now is the time to get in touch!

Dads Rock developed the idea when they realised there are hundreds of young dads in Edinburgh but there are very few opportunities for them to come together. By running these sessions, young dads will build friendships as well as a free bike!

Dads Rock National Development Officer David Marshall said: “To be given the funding by Big Lottery to support young dads is excellent – so send us the dads!

“This is a fantastic opportunity for young dads to come build a free balance bike – no experience is needed. We are always very keen to help promote, and if possible work, with other great agencies with our projects so we’re delighted to be working closely with Edinburgh Tool Library and RG Workshops to help both run the project and help supply all tools to enable our young dads to build their bikes.”

Chris Hellawell, Director of Edinburgh Tool Library, said: “ETL is delighted to be working with Dads Rock. Our aim is to make tools available for everyone, and by helping Dads Rock in their Build a Bike project, we are doing so. Our only regret is that the bikes will be too small for us to have a go on!”

RG Workshops co-founder Richard O’Connor added: “RG Workshops are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Dads Rock on this project. We are really looking forward to inspiring these young families to get creative.”

The workshops, which will take place weekly at WHALE Arts Agency in Wester Hailes, launch on 28 September, so if you know a dad aged 25 or under who would like to find out more then please contact David on 0131 442 4662 or 07542 084 356.

You can also get more information at

www.dadsrock.org.uk

www.edinburghtoollibrary.org.uk/

www.rgworkshops.com/

Time to Shine? Arts the way to do it!

Culture Secretary visits Youth Arts Hub

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop toured Edinburgh’s Youth Arts Hub yesterday and met young people whose lives have been changed by the Government-funded scheme.

The Edinburgh Youth Arts Hub, called #artcore, received £289,087 of funding from Creative Scotland as part of Time to Shine, Scotland’s Youth Arts Strategy, and is one of nine youth arts hubs across Scotland designed to give young people from all backgrounds a chance to take part in the arts.

The hubs act as focal points for regional youth arts delivery, helping to nurture and celebrate ambition, enthusiasm and talent in Scotland’s young people by improving the regional infrastructure. Young people are given the chance to be involved in running of the hubs themselves.

Ms Hyslop visited the hub, based at the Out of the Blue Drill Hall in Dalmeny Street, and met apprentices working at #artcore as well as members of Youth Arts Voice Scotland, a national advisory group of young people aged 12 to 25 who ensure Time to Shine is informed by the views and needs of young people.

Ms Hyslop said: “It was great to meet some of the young people who have had a chance to participate in arts and culture thanks to Time to Shine, Scotland’s Youth Arts Strategy, and #artcore, and hear about the difference the hub is making to their lives.

“#artcore received £289,087 of funding from Creative Scotland to help it open up access to arts and creativity for children and young people in Edinburgh. We understand arts and creativity can have a huge positive impact in people’s lives, and Scotland’s nine Youth Arts Hubs aim to give young people all over the country the chance to take part.

“Culture, the arts and creativity play an important role in tackling inequality, and Time to Shine builds on the well-established links between culture, education, youth employment and personal development.

“It is not only about providing enhanced access opportunities for all of Scotland’s young people but it goes further to support meaningful career pathways for our talent of the future; be it on stage, the screen, behind the scenes or in our world-leading creative industries.

“Perhaps most importantly of all, our aim is that this engagement with culture will nurture personal qualities that will help our young people to grow confidently as citizens and towards realising their ambitions, wherever they lie in the arts or elsewhere.”

#artcore project manager Johnny Gailey said: “It’s great to have both the Cabinet Secretary, and young people from Youth Arts Voice Scotland, to visit to see how #artcore has progressed, since we got our Time to Shine funding to set up a youth arts hub in Edinburgh a year ago.

“In the past year, we have employed a team of four young apprentices to run our programme of multi-arts activity – we’ve worked with over 500 young people in a series of pilot projects involving gaming, animation, radio plays, circus skills, music, creative writing and self publishing. And we’re now at the exciting point of announcing our expanded autumn arts programme at sites throughout the city, as well as launching our new print social enterprise, Out of the Blueprint.”

Joan Parr, Creative Scotland’s Head of Creative Learning said:

“Placing young people at the centre of the strategy’s aims and ambitions is a core principle of Time To Shine and we are delighted by the extent to which the Time To Shine implementation programme has so far taken its lead from young people.

“#Artcore Edinburgh is very much a youth led Arts Hub and therefore provides the ideal setting for our national Youth Arts Voice Scotland group to reflect with the Cabinet Secretary on what’s been achieved through Time To Shine to date, and what can still be achieved in supporting Scotland’s young people to flourish and achieve in and through the arts and creativity.”

Blair Boyle, YAVS Member, said: “As YAVS we are delighted to be presenting the progress of Time To Shine to the Cabinet Secretary. We are playing a key role alongside Creative Scotland and Young Scot in the development of the strategy implementation programme and we think it’s vital that young people continue to have a strong voice at this level influencing policy and decision making.

“We are proud that Scotland has such a powerful arts strategy for young people and are excited to be at #artcore today to be able to share with the Cabinet Secretary the breadth and depth of the work that is now happenening across the country.”

Chief Executive of Young Scot Louise Macdonald said: “We are really lucky that there is such a wealth of creative talent right here in Scotland and that there are young people who are so passionate about championing it.

“The young people involved in Youth Arts Voice Scotland are nothing short of inspirational in their drive and ambition to make the arts more accessible to young people right across Scotland. Their hard work and enthusiasm is encouraging young people right across the country get involved in arts programmes, securing our future as a creative nation.

“I am proud that we, in partnership with Creative Scotland, have been able to bring these young people together, so they can meet, discuss and ultimately grow their passion together with other likeminded young people.”