‘Completely unsatisfactory’ is the view of a Scottish Parliament Committee on hearing Creative Scotland’s response to questions about its Regular Funding process. Continue reading Creative Scotland funding process ‘completely unsatisfactory’, says Holyrood committee
More funding for Edinburgh – but some high profile capital projects lose out
CREATIVE Scotland has announced the network of organisations that will receive Regular Funding for the three-year period, April 2018 to March 2021. Among the new recipients is Tinderbox, based at North Edinburgh Arts, who will receive three year funding of £300,000. Continue reading Creative Scotland announces organisations to receive three year funding
Arcadeum project artists Hans K Clausen and Lindsay Perth have officially presented two new public artworks created in collaboration with North Edinburgh residents and NHS staff commissioned as part of a public art residency with NHS Lothian.
Yesterday Hans and Lindsay unveiled two public art commissions for the newly built Pennywell All Care Centre. Supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland’s Open Project Fund, Edinburgh & Lothian Health Foundation and NHS Lothian the commissioned artworks have been created in collaboration with North Edinburgh residents and NHS Lothian staff through a series of projects since February 2016.
Artist Curator, Hans K Clausen’s The People’s Museum of Memory and Myth is a celebration of North West Edinburgh through the ordinary and extraordinary, the unique and the ubiquitous. Following in the tradition of the ‘Wunderkammer’ The People’s Museum of Memory and Myth is a curated collection of everyday objects elevated to precious artefacts with the intention of generating curiosity, reminiscence, association and wonder.
Housed in a bespoke cabinet in the foyer of the Pennywell All Care Centre, 9 vitrines are stacked upon a reconstructed railway baggage trolley each populated with artefacts collected from communities and individuals within North West Edinburgh. Each item represents fragments of social history from the community and individuals who live and have lived in and around Muirhouse and North West Edinburgh. These fragments of history, factual and mythical, aim to ignite memories, generate conversation and connect people through the power of objects.
The objects have not been selected because of profound historical provenance or monetary value but for social, nostalgic or sentimental significance and to celebrate the diversity of local histories, personal experiences and collective stories; from a grandmother’s handbag imbued with personal and sentimental memories, to a megaphone a symbol of collective activism and protest, to a world champion’s boxing gloves.
To deliver this project Hans has worked closely with local residents and organisations researching and collecting objects and narratives. The design and construction of the museum cabinet has been a collaboration with Old School Fabrications, while the signed and numbered People’s Museum of Memories certificates to be presented to all donors was a collaboration with artist and designer, Genevieve Ryan.
Hans said: “Building The People’s Museum of Memory and Myth has been a joy, I’ve been continually impressed by the enthusiasm and generosity of the people I’ve met and entertained by the stories, memories and passion that has been generated.
“I hope The People’s Museum of Memory and Myth is not just a collection of seemingly ordinary and unrelated items but a visually stimulating way to remember and celebrate the personal and communal stories and myths that helped define this community. If conversations are started, memories preserved, stories told and myths created as people wander past I will feel I have done my job.”
Artist Lindsay Perth has created a stunning interactive glass lighting installation. Hand blown glass shapes created by members of the community, NHS staff and Lindsay suspend from the ceiling. Each of the 52 pieces is unique in its colour and shape as chosen by its maker, personally blown and formed in workshops in the glass department of Edinburgh College Art. When all these highly individual pieces come together they form this ‘community’ of remarkable glass lights. Glass makers have engraved their signatures on their pieces, underlining the artworks sense of local identity.
The artwork is interactive, the lights responding to people’s movements below. Light animations are triggered and play out within the glass pieces, moving around the artwork. Waves of rich colours and reflections impact the new health centre’s entrance space.
Lindsay said: “I wanted to work with glass for this commission to create an artwork that explored a material that is both fragile and robust at the same time, qualities that could be seen as similar to our own humanness.
“Each piece is unique, all the makers choosing their own colours, shapes and blowing their own glass. These differences come together to create a beautiful collection of colour and light. Key to the artwork is that it responds to people’s presence, the lights give back some energy to the people and to the space.
“Workshops supported by glassmaker Ingrid Philips were incredibly inspiring experiences. We were given the opportunity to be really creative and learn about glass and literally breathe life into the installation that I hope will engage, delight and illuminate this new building. Particular thanks too to my collaborator on this project the awesome designer maker Mark Kobine.”
Speaking at the unveiling of the two artworks Kate Wimpress Director of North Edinburgh Arts said: “It is a privilege to host Hans and Lindsay and the artists and designers that have worked alongside them.
“The North Edinburgh community has been energised by the projects they have delivered and their thorough inclusive approach recognises the importance of art and culture in local placemaking. This project helps put Muirhouse on the map as a centre of creative talent of all abilities.”
David White, Strategic Lead for Primary Care for Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership said: “Public buildings should not be fortresses for professionals and our new Pennywell All Care Centre is no exception.
“Providing health and social care services in an environment that the local community has been involved in creating will produce a space that they will enjoy using and feel comfortable using. We are delighted to home these community pieces of art in a prominent place in the Muirhouse community.”
Anne Petrie, Visual Arts Officer at Creative Scotland said: “It is extremely exciting to see these community-led artworks unveiled to the public. As artists in residence, Hans and Lindsay have worked closely with North Edinburgh Arts and people of all ages in Muirhouse to enrich the final artworks with their memories and knowledge of the local area.
“The Art of Living project is an incredibly important example of a collaborative approach to community engagement with creativity and the arts, that will enrich lives and widen access to cultural activity.”
For more information about the Pennywell All Care Centre please visit www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
A team of twenty Scottish-based trainees have been selected for an intensive skills development training programme on season four of the award-winning TV production, Outlander, 15 of whom will be taking their first step into the film and TV industry. Continue reading Outlander develops next generation of skilled Scottish screen talent
Eight top Scottish acts – Be Charlotte, Emme Woods, Saint PHNX, Shogun, Spinning Coin, TeenCanteen, The LaFontaines and The Van T’s – will perform at two Showcasing Scotland concerts supported by Creative Scotland at The Great Escape 2017. Continue reading Showcasing Scotland at The Great Escape 2017
Borders-based author Claire McFall has been named the winner of the very first Scottish Teenage Book Prize. Claire’s third novel, Black Cairn Point, garnered votes from young people (aged 12 – 16) across the country to beat off stiff competition from Keith Gray’s The Last Soldier and Joan Lennon’s Silver Skin. Continue reading Inaugural Scottish teenage book prize winner revealed
A trio of Edinburgh writers and an Edinburgh Publishing company have won prestigious awards as part of the 2016 Saltire Literary Awards, announced last night at Central Hall in Tollcross.
Beating off strong competition from publications ranging from a true life thriller set in a remote crofting community to an evocative historical account of the Sutherland Clearances, Edinburgh raised Edinburgh University alumnus Kathleen Jamie’s latest poetry collection, The Bonniest Companie was named 2016 Saltire Society Book of the Year after winning the Saltire Scottish Poetry Book of the Year Award at this year’s awards ceremony.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh born John Kay, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and fellow of St. John’s College, Oxford, won the Saltire Scottish Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award for his most recent work, Other People’s Money: Masters of the Universe or Servants of the People?, a critical and revelatory tour of the financial world as it has emerged from the wreckage of the 2008 global financial crisis.
Edinburgh based freelance journalist Chitra Ramaswamy was named joint winner of this year’s Saltire Scottish First Book of the Year Award for her first novel Expecting, a beautiful, terrifying, and emotional reflection on her own pregnancy. University of Glasgow graduate Isabel Buchanan was a joint recipient of the First Book Award for her inaugural novel Trials, an examination of justice and injustice from the perspective of inmates on Pakistan’s death row.
Edinburgh publishing company Floris Books won the Publisher of the year award and, as part of the Saltire Society’s 80th anniversary celebrations, a fully funded placement on the renowned Yale Publishing Course, a week-long intensive classroom-based course hosted on the beautiful and historic Yale University Campus in New Haven, Connecticut in the USA. Floris Books Design and Production Manager Leah McDowell also emerged as the inaugural winner of the Emerging Publisher of the year award, a new addition to the 2016 awards roster in celebration of the Saltire Society’s 80th year.
Meanwhile, University of Edinburgh student Daniel Shand won the Saltire Society International Travel Bursary, supported by the British Council Scotland, which will allow him to travel to Berlin to research European history for his next novel through visits to the Museum of European Cultures, as well as the Stasi Museum, Jewish Museum, and the Topography of Terror.
Now firmly established as Scotland’s most prestigious annual book awards, the Saltire Society Literary Awards are supported by Creative Scotland and celebrate and support literary and academic excellence across six distinct categories. The winner of each individual book award wins a £2,000 cash prize and goes forward to be considered for the Saltire Book of the Year award and an accompanying cash prize of £6,000.
Other award winners this year included His Bloody Project, Graeme MacraeBurnet’s engrossing novel about the true 19th Century case of a multiple murder in a remote crofting community and winner of the Saltire Scottish Fiction Book of the Year award. Set Adrift Upon the World, an evocative account of the Sutherland clearances by James Hunter, was named winner of the History Book of the Year award while Sebastiaan Verweij’s indepth examination of Scottish literary history The Literary Culture of Early Modern Scotland, took the Research Book of the Year award.
Scottish Poetry Book of the Year award winner Kathleen Jamie (above) said: “I’m delighted that The Bonniest Companie has been named ‘Scottish Poetry Book of the Year’, but also a bit embarrassed. It was a terrifically strong shortlist, any of us could have won. Scotland makes very good poets – a fact that’s still not acknowledged as it ought to be. I’m grateful to the judges. It couldn’t have been an easy decision.”
Saltire Scottish Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award winner John Kay said: “I am honoured to receive this award. I have tried to write clearly and comprehensibly about money and finance. I am delighted at this recognition of that effort and hope it will encourage others in the same endeavour.”
Commenting on winning the Saltire Scottish First Book of the Year Award, Chitra Ramaswamy said: “I’m so delighted to have won First Book of the Year for Expecting. It means so much to have my first book recognised by such a prestigious award and to join such an impressive roll call of previous winners. Thank you!”
Katy Lockwood-Holmes, Publisher & Chief Executive at Floris Books, winner of the Saltire Publisher of the Year award said: “Floris has had a sparkling year, but the honour of being named Scottish Publisher of the Year is undoubtedly the crowning achievement. We’re so proud that children’s books, in particular, are being recognised at the highest level. This award is dedicated to the people who have built Floris over four decades: our brilliant authors and illustrators, our creative and tireless team, and the wonderful Scottish literary community who has supported us throughout.”
Leah McDowell, Design & Production Manager at Floris Books, winner of the inaugural Saltire Emerging Publisher of the Year Award added: “I’m truly delighted to have won this inaugural award which celebrates all the amazing, emerging talent that makes the Scottish publishing industry so rich and lively. Publishing is a team effort so big thanks to Floris Books, which has supported me from the beginning, and of course to the immensely talented illustrators I have the privilege to work with every day.”
Executive Director of the Saltire Society Jim Tough said: “This has been another terrific year for the Saltire Literary Awards and an extra special one as we celebrate our 80th anniversary. Every one of the individual book awards were hotly contested, making the judges’ decision a particularly challenging one. The same was also true of this year’s Publisher of the Year Award and new for this year, the Emerging Publisher of the Year Award.
“My congratulations to all of the winners and my heartfelt thanks to the judging panel and to all of our partners and supporters who helped to make the 2016 Saltire Literary Awards such a resounding success. We are proud to have seen these awards grow to embrace every aspect of literary Scotland; the emerging and the established, the academic and the poetic, fiction, non- fiction and publishing. Excellence is the common thread, built on the integrity and freely given commitment of our expert panels.”
Jenny Niven, Head of Literature, Languages and Publishing at Creative Scotland, said: “Huge congratulations to all of the shortlisted authors, category winners and to Kathleen Jamie on winning the 2016 Saltire Book of the Year. A visionary and moving response to a year charged with energy, passion and politics. It was a great pleasure to be part of the judging panel for the 2016 Saltire Society Literary Awards and to read through this impressively diverse list of books. Awards such as this are important as they offer an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the outstanding quality and range of literature in Scotland and raise the national and international profile of talented authors.”
The BFI Film Academy and Screen Education Edinburgh are offering an intensive course in filmmaking for 16-19 year olds who live in the South East of Scotland. Continue reading Screen Education Edinburgh seeks talented youngsters for BFI Film Academy
The Travelling Gallery will unveil a new exhibition in Edinburgh this week in partnership with New Media Scotland for the Festival of Architecture and Edinburgh Art Festival. The capital mini-tour gets underway on Friday. Continue reading Travelling Gallery’s on the road again
Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs, has announced the companies and artists selected for the 8th year of Made in Scotland – a curated showcase of music, theatre and dance performed during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world’s biggest arts festival. Continue reading Made in Scotland arts showcase unveiled
