Cafe Cabaret at North Edinburgh Arts

May Day fundraiser for Theatre Project

North Edinburgh Theatre project presents:
Friday Night Café Cabaret: A Pop-Up Fundraising Event

Friday 1 May, 7.30pm
North Edinburgh Arts
Tickets: Minimum £2 donation

A series of short comedy scenes, juggling, readings of writing and poetry, human puppets, with dance and stage combat. There will be a raffle with exciting prizes.

Teas, coffees, wine and nibbles will be on sale on the evening too. All profits made on the night will go towards the North Edinburgh Theatre project.

Tickets: Call 0131 315 2151 or email admin@northedinburgharts.co.uk

North Edinburgh Arts, 15a Pennywell Court, EH4 4TZ

Celebrating choreography at Gallery of Modern Art

One-off dance performance at Modern One tomorrow

Edinburgh College’s contemporary artist in residence has unveiled a new exhibition about choreography at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art – and the college’s dance students are preparing a one-off performance tomorrow (Thursday 9 April) to complete the installation.

Julie Duffy, a former HND Contemporary Art Practice student at the college, is displaying ‘Rhythmic Structure’, the culmination of her residency and an exploration of dance choreography. The exhibition is at the Pig Rock Bothy in the grounds of the Modern One gallery until 12 April.

The final phase of the work involves BA (Hons) Dance students from the college’s Performing Arts Studio Scotland, who will choreograph and perform an original dance piece in the Bothy in response to Julie’s installation on Thursday 9 April at 2pm. All are welcome to attend the performance.

Julie is one of several former college students who have been invited back to the college as artists in residence. During her five-month residency, she undertook the Rhythmic Structure project and has also been working with students to help their development.

Rhythmic Structure explores the formal qualities of dance, focusing on the collaborative work of choreographer Merce Cunningham, composer John Cage, and painters Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, alongside Oskar Schlemmer’s ‘Das Triadische Ballett’. The work includes a screen-printed floor, hanging drapes and delicate structures made from felt, card and expanding foam!

The Artist in Residence (AIR) programme at the college gives practicing artists who are also former students the opportunity to come back to the college, providing them with a dedicated studio space as well as access to specialist resources and facilities. It aims to give them an opportunity to develop their practice and gain experience in learning and teaching in further education.

Julie (above) said: “Working with the lecturers and students on the Contemporary Art Practice HND has been really stimulating. The AIR residency at Edinburgh College has been a wonderful opportunity to develop a new body of work in a creative and supportive environment. Showing my new work in such an internationally significant institution wouldn’t have been possible without the AIR programme.”

Alan Holligan, lecturer in Contemporary Art Practice and AIR programme coordinator, said: “Julie’s show at in the bothy is a mark of the quality of the artists graduating from the HND Contemporary Art Practice course who then return as artist in residence. Julie’s contribution to the course has been excellent and her influence on students is clear. I’d like to thank the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art for their support.”

Julie-Ann Delaney, curator at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, added: “The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is delighted to be working with Julie Duffy on the presentation of her ambitious new installation within Pig Rock Bothy at Modern One. Julie’s work has transformed the interior of the bothy, and the culmination of the project – which will see a newly choreographed dance work made by Edinburgh College students – will further this by bringing the space to life in a manner unlike ever before.”

Julie, the college’s eighth artist in residence, graduated from her HND in 2008 and went on to gain a 1st class BA Hons Degree in Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD).

Since graduating from DJCAD in 2011, Julie has developed new work and has exhibited regularly throughout Edinburgh including solo exhibitions at Summerhall and group shows at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop. As well as developing her solo practice in sculpture, Julie has more recently been developing collaborative practices with former college artist in residence and DJCAD graduate Hayley Mathers.

Edinburgh College is currently recruiting for courses starting in August, with a range of art and design courses available, including the HND Contemporary Art Practice. For more information about courses and to learn how to apply, go to the college website edinburghcollege.ac.uk

Dance students Breaking Boundaries at Edinburgh College

Edinburgh College dance students will present their annual showcase performance, Breaking Boundaries, at the Performing Arts Studio Scotland (PASS) Theatre tomorrow.

The work on show has been created by talented final-year BA (Hons) Dance students, and the performance includes routines by students from each year of the three-year programme.

The dancers will mainly present original contemporary dance pieces on the theme of ‘new work for the 21^stcentury’. The students have conceived their own choreography with the help of dance lecturers and have been in rehearsals for Breaking Boundaries for eight weeks.

Dance lecturer Ethelinda Lashley said: “This is a great opportunity to see fantastic new work by the new and emerging talent from the dance courses at Edinburgh College.”

The performance will take place at PASS Theatre at the college’s Granton Campus on 1 April at 7pm. Tickets are £10 (concessions £8) and can be booked through Ethelinda Lashley at ethelinda.lashley@edinburghcollege.ac.uk.

PASS provides training for students who want to follow a career in the performing arts, with courses in dance offered alongside acting, technical theatre, theatre costume and make-up artistry.

The BA (Hons) Dance programme includes a two-year HND followed by a one-year course to bring students to BA honours level.

Applications are now open for these courses and more than 900 other courses across the curriculum offered by Edinburgh College and starting in August on its four campuses.

See www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk for more information on how to apply.

Funding for trainees in creative industries

£100,000 funding has been awarded through Creative Scotland to support ten full time, year-long traineeships across the arts, screen and creative industries, it was announced today.

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop in Hawthornvale will be one of the five capital-based organisations to offer traineeships.

The Traineeships Programme aims to support the employment prospects for people aged 20-30yrs interested in developing a career in arts and culture, by creating valuable work experience opportunities.

Traineeships will take place at Africa In Motion (AiM) Film Festival, Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, Media Education, Starcatchers and Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland (TRACS) in Edinburgh; GMAC Film and Barrowland Ballet in Glasgow; Ayr Gaiety Theatre in Ayrshire; The Pier Arts Centre in Orkney, and with Jewellery designer Eileen Gatt in the Highlands.

Leonie Bell, Director of Arts & Engagement, Creative Scotland said: “Creative Scotland is committed to supporting the creation of opportunities for young people to gain employment, work experience and vocational qualifications in the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland.

“These traineeships will offer young people the opportunity to develop the skills and professional experience needed to progress in their chosen profession by removing barriers to paid work experience.

“At the same time, organisations will benefit from fresh, innovative ideas and enthusiasm of the trainees.”

Traineeships will be offered across the following areas:

Visual Arts
Assistant Curator (Programme Team) – Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop
Gallery Programmes Trainee: Exhibitions, Learning & Digital (Curatorial and Education) – The Pier Arts Centre

Film
Shadow Curator – Africa In Motion (AiM) Film Festival
Online Film Content Developer – GMAC Film
Trainee Project Assistant / Member of Production Team – Media Education

Theatre and Dance
Starcatchers Trainee Associate Artist – Starcatchers Productions
Programme Officer (Programming Department) – Ayr Gaiety
Dance Participation Artist, Participation and Outreach Department – Barrowland Ballet

Craft
Eileen Gatt: Jewellery designer/maker

Literature
Digital and Language Resources Trainee – TRACS based at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.

All Traineeships will be advertised on Creative Scotland’s Opportunities site.

Welcoming the announcement Irene Kernan, Director at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, said: “The Creative Scotland Traineeship will support Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop’s aims of developing talent and supporting young artists in their careers. Being able to employ a trainee for a full year provides a valuable opportunity for us to bring new approaches and skills to the staff team and further develop our public programme to connect with local audiences.”

Burns ceilidh: celebrating community at Royston Wardieburn

That Man to Man, the world o’er,

Shall brothers (and sisters!) be for a’ that

A Burns Night is about many things. Good food, shared with friends, family or neighbours – and sometimes all three! Burns is about love, about comradeship and about community but if there’s just one word that captures the spirit of Scotland’s national Bard it’s ‘celebration’ – and all those elements were there in abundance at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre last night.

Yes, last night’s Community Celeidh celebrated the memory of Burns but it was more than that – it was a vibrant, living tribute to all the good things Burns work extolls: a warm, friendly gathering of friends and neighbours of all ages, interests and ethnicities joining together to have fun in each others’ company.

Organised by Royston Wardieburn Community Centre, Granton Community Gardeners and Pilton Community Health Project’s Living in Harmony group the evening built on last year’s event and proved to be a huge success.

Around 150 people – aged from three months up to … well, a good bit older! – enjoyed a traditional Burns Supper and were entertained by the excellent Homecoming String Band and a succession of local performers, all made poosible and supported by a team of enthusiastic volunteers who were always on hand to make sure the evening went smoothly.

Congratulations to the organisers, the band, the excellent team of volunteers and the local performers who entertained us so regally on the night: the poets, the musicians, the singers and the wee dancer – you were all brilliant!

And thanks, too, the the local community who came along to support the event and whose enthusiasm made the evening such a success.

Rabbie would be proud of you all – here’s to next year!

Visit our Facebook page for more ceilidh pictures

Burns Night Community Ceilidh: Get ready to rock at Royston Wardieburn!

We are delighted that the Burns night community ceilidh will happen again tomorrow (Saturday 24th January) from 5 – 9.30pm at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre.

The event is a celebration of diversity and talent in north Edinburgh. It is organised by a wide range of groups – including Pilton Community Health Project (PCHP), Granton Community Gardeners and Royston Wardieburn Community Centre – under the banner of Living in Harmony. Living in Harmony is about bringing local residents together to share their experiences and cultures and get to know each other better.

Pilton Community Health Project’s Rachel Farrier said ‘The joy of this event is what happens afterwards, once people have danced with each other, it’s difficult not to say hello on the street!’

This year’s ceilidh will include a traditional haggis supper served up by Granton Community Gardeners giving us all a chance to sample produce from the gardens. We’ll be reliving the highlights of last year with ‘turns’ from residents from around the world – including wee Sarah reading Burns poetry, some highland dancing from Dakota Hay and Nepalese dancing from Sushma and her friends. The homecoming string band will lead the dancing and we’ll all get the chance to strut our stuff.

Last year’s ceilidh was a massive success – over 200 people attended and over 40 volunteered to make it such a brilliant event. You can see photos from this event on PCHP’s facebook page [photos by Anneleen Lindsay].

Local people really enjoyed the event: ‘nice to see some community spirit’ one said. This year tickets are going fast and it looks to be a great event.

Tickets available NOW from Royston Wardieburn Community Centre and only cost £1.

Get yours before they are gone!

Students focus on stardust spectacular

Edinburgh College photographers throw spotlight on students’ winter showbiz special

A student photography exhibition celebrating Edinburgh College performing arts students’ winter showbiz spectacular is now on display at Leith’s Creative Exchange.

The exhibition showcases the college’s recent show We Are Made of Stardust, developed and performed by Edinburgh College students. Two HND Photography students – Tracey Largue and Sara Thomson – took the photos of the show that feature in the exhibition, showing off the vibrancy, energy and emotion of the performance.

We Are Made of Stardust, which featured HND Year 2 Acting and Performance students, was devised by lecturer Scott Johnston and formed using the cast’s own ideas and stories. The 30 young actors in training shared their personal tales of love, loss and life with the audience in performances at the college’s Perfoming Arts Studio Scotland (PASS).

Marjory Crooks, curriculum manager for broadcast media, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to see examples of the highly professional work produced by two of our photography students. The students on our various creative industries courses are encouraged to collaborate on projects to develop their practical skills and share their learning experiences.”

Scott Johnston said: “This was an incredibly successful show in terms of audience feedback which was universally extraordinarily positive. The cast all learned from each other by sharing ideas and experiences. This helped build the actors as a team, an essential part of working in any field but especially in theatre.”

The We Are Made of Stardust exhibition at Creative Exchange on Constitution Street runs until Friday 30 January, 9am – 5pm each day.

Edinburgh College is currently recruiting for a range of courses in the Creative Industries starting this month including evening classes in Digital Photography: Studio Image Manipulation and Photography: Introduction to Portraiture. For more details on these and other courses, visit www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk.

Edinburgh College stages epic event!

Every Person Counts: learning lessons on inclusion from Cambodia

A fully inclusive dance company from Cambodia featuring performers with various disabilities visited Edinburgh College last month to deliver a workshop and perform to the college’s dance students.

Epic Encounters is a group of talented dance and theatre performers from Cambodia, consisting of hearing-impaired, disabled and non-disabled performers. It is first and only fully inclusive dance company in South East Asia.

The company came to the college’s Performing Arts Studio Scotland(PASS) to perform examples of its work that it uses to raise awareness of issues in Cambodia such as road safety, sexual health and child protection to PASS students and staff.

The performers also led an inclusive movement workshop based on their performances and the company motto of Epic Arts – Every Person Counts.

They performed a thought-provoking piece called Come Back Brighter, about the effect of the Khmer Rouge Regime on the artists of Cambodia and the current explosion of creativity sweeping the country. The performance also included a mini sign language lesson and life story from one of the performers.

The Epic Encounters team tours nationally and internationally, creating and performing educational theatre and dance performances. It mixes traditional Khmer dance and contemporary physical theatre techniques to inspire, raise awareness and educate.

Epic Encounters is a social enterprise from Epic Arts Kampot. Epic Arts is an international NGO that works to raise the aspirations of disabled and non-disabled Cambodians through arts-based education, community and social businesses such as the dance company, which is a valuable source of sustainable income for the charity Epic Encounters visited the college as the final stop on a UK tour of performances, workshops and talks.Ethelinda Lashley, a dance lecturer at PASS, said: “This was a fantastic opportunity for our students to learn from dancers from a very different background and to understand and appreciate the importance of diversity and inclusivity in dance. Our students are encouraged to appreciate dance within a social and cultural context and explore this through their work.”

Susan Inglis, equalities, policy and research manager for the college, said: “The performance by Epic Arts from Cambodia was most impressive and inspirational.

“The dance team should be congratulated for bringing this highly skilled and energetic inclusive dance group to the college. They demonstrated vividly their commitment to a world where every person counts, and where people with disabilities are valued, accepted and respected.”

The Gang’s back at the King’s!

This year’s Gang Show is biggest ever

This year the annual Edinburgh Gang Show will be not only the biggest of its kind in the world but also the biggest production to be staged on the King’s Theatre. With over 330 young people from the Scouting and Girlguiding movements, it will be a busy and exciting show!

Running from 18 – 22 November at the King’s Theatre, the Edinburgh Gang Show includes slick song and dance numbers from Michael Jackson to Disney’s Frozen and many more, as well as topical comedy sketches.

Andy Johnston, the Edinburgh Gang Show Director said: “This is my 12^th year as Director and it features the largest cast ever assembled for an Edinburgh Gang Show. Over 330 young people will get to experience the amazing buzz that you only get when the houselights go down at the start of a Gang Show and that almighty roar resounds around the auditorium.

“It is a very, very special show, one which is forward looking, while at the same time keeping in line with the format that was created 82 years ago by Ralph Reader. The show is a reflection on what has happened throughout year and we strive to make sure there really is something for everyone.”

It will be a special occasion for the youngest female cast, the Brownies, as the section turned 100 years old in 2014! In celebration there will be a special Big Brownie Birthday number with 170 Brownies, in two casts, 70 more than usual! This party number includes songs from Sister Act and Hannah Montana.

This modern, fast paced and funny production is not a show about Scouting and Girlguiding it is a performance by those in Scouting and Girlguiding. It allows these young people the chance to develop their performance skills in a professional environment and continue to do something that they clearly enjoy and love.

Edinburgh Gang Show 2014

King’s Theatre, Edinburgh

Tue 18 to Sat 22 November

Evenings 7.00pm

Saturday matinee 2.15pm (Audio described & BSL interpreted)

0131 529 6000

0131 529 6005 (Group bookings)

www.edtheatres.com/gangshow

Tickets from £10.00