Songbird workshops start!
Thanks to funding from The Edward Marshall Trust my community research project The Thrive Archive have just started a series of musical workshops in fishing village of Newhaven here in Edinburgh. We welcomed a lovely intergenerational group of budding songwriters with several newcomers and ages ranged from 11 to over 70. We managed to write a verse and a chorus in our first session thanks to Jed Milroy’s expert leadership, starting by ...
Creel o’ Stories and Gala days
The Newhaven fishwives were famous for their cry and this summer I’ll be bartering like a fishwife – how much do you think a song and a story is worth? Following a sunny gala day at the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther in May I will be touring with my Creel o’ stories to the Museum of Edinburgh’s gorgeous courtyard on Tuesday’s and Thursdays throughout the Festival Fringe. My songs all have a fishy flavour and celebrate ...
Life’s a pitch!
A couple of weeks ago my project bid was selected as one of the final 6 in a very competitive field. I was given a half hour slot to present our bid to three of the Trust's board that came to visit The Thrive Archive project. The Thrive Archive works with diverse communities to help them tell their story in innovative ways. The story goes that there was once a willow tree in Fishermen’s park. It supplied the raw materials for creels, ...
The Thrive Archive project – empowering community
I dreamed up The Thrive Archive project 18 months ago following an amazing 2 weeks of collaborative arts training with XO Sco. After a year of fantastic opportunities including a residency at St Margaret's House with Edinburgh Palette The Thrive Archive is literally doing what it says on the tin! The Thrive Archive was set up to empower diverse communities to use their local creatives to produce innovative arts events and on our recent project ...
From the horse’s mouth and other stories…
A Kelpie is a mythical water spirit that changes form to lure you to your death. It often appears as a large black horse or a handsome stranger but if you can manage to bridle a Kelpie you gain its power! In the past few months I have spent many a pleasant hour on Falkirk’s Forth and Clyde Canal under the watchful eye of their mythical beasts. Radio 4’s Ramblings came along on one of our Walking With Words events and despite the rain we ...
Transform and Tweet
My Reader in Residency with Falkirk Libraries has started and our theme for the year is Transformation. The joy of the Scottish Book Trust’s residency scheme is having a whole year to plan projects to tempt readers into Falkirk Libraries and create some memorable events outside too. I am working closely with the library staff to uncover the rich heritage of the area with the ever resourceful and happening Falkirk Community Trust. Maps, ...
Gretna 100 – Seven of the 7th
A busy time this week installing the community exhibition at Out of The Blue Drill Hall. I am really proud of the creative writing that the 7 member strong research group have produced. I gave a series of workshops on telling stories simply and looking at exhibition design to illustrate core themes. The volunteer research team then rose to the challenge and have produced a moving exhibition. The Gretna 100 project opens at The Drill Hall on ...
Women in Peace and War
A new exhibition opened at the Frauen Museum in Bonn in April and I was delighted to have this art work accepted. The laser etched panels show images of women munition workers in Falkirk during the First World War with the lines of Lee's poem Every Bullet has a Billet below each photograph. The thin beech panels are laced together with corset laces. Women could not wear any metal in case of explosion so their constricting 'stays' had to go... ...
Luck or Fate?
At the start of 2015 I was asked to work on the Gretna 100 project with Citizen Curator and Out Of The Blue to curate and design an exhibition about the the 1/7th Royal Scots who were stationed at The Drill Hall in Dalmeny Street before marching of to advanced training in Falkirk. I will be working with their research group whose work to date has inspired a new play that will take place on the anniversary of the Gretna Rail Disaster in May. ...
Everything begins and ends with a story…
Some great comments in our Away Being visitor's book this week. After our musical launch on Sunday when the EYG Big Band played to 150 guests and a dog the pop-up exhibition continues in Gallery 1 at St Margaret's House until Saturday 10-4pm. More images of the launch of our Enterprise Music Scotland commission by Big Band Dad and photographer Mark Archibald http://bit.ly/1rXLE4k.
