The Stove's Open House

From The Stove Network

Very exciting news from Stove central as we can announce that The Stove will be opening next month, with a series of events called Open House.

Open House is a series of very different events that will show the versatility of The Stove as a physical space and the ambition of the project for the town centre.

We kick off with the third annual Dumfries Music Conference on 24th and 25th April. As in previous years, DMC2015 will feature workshops, talks, film, live music, expert opinion and creative collaboration. Through a collection of brilliant partners and guests, we hope to educate, inspire and entertain. DMC2015 will mark the official opening of The Stove Building at 100 High Street. In celebration of this we are going to fill the entire building with colour, music and people. Full details will be made available here as they are announced!

On 28th April The Stove hosts Open Mouth – a day of spoken word, performance and cooking. Full details available here  Open Mouth is specially created and delivered for The Stove Network by Sarah Indigo, Eryl Shields and Open Jar Collective Produced in collaboration with Wigtown Festival Company

29th April sees House Warming – an open invite to come and see The Stove building, have a chat and make a T-shirt. From 6pm there will be a Stove Members Gathering, which will include a public bonfire, and Bannock making in the town square with Open Jar. More details available here.

At 6pm on Saturday 2nd May come to The Stove for the public launch of HAME, this is a specially commissioned film installation by artists Emma Dove and Mark Lyken. Lyken and Dove have been artists-in-residence with The Stove Network for 6 months, and during this time they have been researching the way people move away from D+G and return. Come along on 2nd May for the world premiere of the work, which will be partly broadcast outside on the High Street and partly inside The Stove. Full details will be announced shortly and be available here 

Every Tuesday starting 12th May you are invited to Drop-In @ The Stove – pop in for a brew and a blether about The Stove and the town…. what would you like to see The Stove doing? What are your ideas for the town centre? What would you like to do at The Stove? We’ll be open and we’d love to hear your ideas! Drop In will run from 12 noon till 6pm every Tuesday, so just drop in on your way past! More details available here 

Keep up with the latest updates on Open House on our website, and via our social media on Facebook and Twitter, using #OpenHouse

Big Country to Support Status Quo at Palmerston Park

From Sid Ambrose

As the build-up to their first concert project grows momentum, Queen of the South are pleased to announce another top band will perform at their home ground later this year, with Big Country booked to support headline act Status Quo.

Having previously played in Dumfries at the Big Burns Supper in 2014, Big Country, one of Scotland’s well known bands, make a welcome return to the town to play Palmerston Park on the 5 th of June.

The band now fronted by vocalist Simon Hough first hit the music scene over 30 years ago, and became globally known following the release of classic singles “Fields of Fire”, “Chance” and signature song “In A Big Country”, which all went onto become massive worldwide hits, selling over 2 million copies and driving their album “The Crossing” to three prestigious Grammy nominations in the United States of America.

The bands appearance at Palmerston will be sandwiched between gigs in Sale and the Let’s Rock Bristol Festival. Commercial manager, Victoria Thomson commented “We were all really excited when we made the announcement that Status Quo would headline the first ever concert to be held at Palmerston. Now that we’re in a position to start announcing the support acts, the excitement continues to grow”.

“For us to secure Status Quo and now one of Scotland’s top bands, Big Country, it’s just simply unbelievable. It is great for the regions music fans as well as our loyal football supporters. It really is a fantastic time to be involved with a club that are going places.”

Following the Club’s announcement, that Status Quo would top the bill in June, tickets for the concert have been selling well and can be purchased via Queen of the South Football Club’s official website here.

Further support acts will be announced in due course.

Theatre Royal final Funding Push

From the Theatre Royal

When the curtain falls on opening night, there will be a collective sigh of relief at the newly-refurbished Theatre Royal in Dumfries. Not least because now, 10 months before the building reopens following its renovation, there is no curtain.

But that is a minor hurdle for the volunteers who have already raised the £1.9m needed to fund the comprehensive facelift. In their final push to finish the theatre, The Guild of Players, the volunteers who own the building, are breaking with the fundraising norm.

They hope to raise about £20,000 in cash donations but they have also appealed for donations of the physical items they need to create a working theatre. In addition to a good quality stage curtain, the guild has drawn up a wish list of items including computers for a media suite, a washing machine for cleaning costumes and a industrial freezer for storing interval ice cream.

Group member Kristen Layne said: "In terms of props and theatre-type things, we have a tonne of that which will be going back in. We are certainly not starting from scratch. "What we need is things like tables and chairs in the bar. We have always just had folding tables because we had multi-use rooms. "And we'll have a much bigger lobby - we never had room before for chairs and counters."

The guild hope they can persuade businesses to donate large items and that individual supporters will make cash donations. They are also looking to make money from selling props, costumes and other theatre paraphernalia which has accumulated in the building.

In their first jumble sale they raised £800. Amongst the items on sale were ties in "50 shades of grey" and about 60 waistcoats. Ms Layne said: "Things like that get accumulated but it wasn't until we got it all accumulated at our new base at the Crichton that we realised we had so many duplicates." Built in 1792, the Theatre Royal is acknowledged as the oldest working theatre in Scotland but it has been closed for the last year.

The group received a series of grants and donations, including an award of £322,300 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, to finance building work which will see the theatre expand into two neighbouring houses. They hope to open the theatre for the 2015 pantomime season, before an official opening in early 2016.

To make a donation head to the Theatre's fundly page here

Star gazing at Dumfries Museum

From Dumfries Museum

Stargazing Live 2015 - Solar Eclipse Special

A joint event with Dumfries Astronomy Society to celebrate the BBC’s Stargazing LIVE project and live television programmes - a nationwide campaign to get people exploring and learning about the sky above them.

Thursday 19 March 6.30-8.30pm

Join members of the Dumfries Astronomy Society and museum volunteers to learn more about solar eclipses and how to view them safely. Hands on activities for children and stargazing with the astronomers. Light refreshments will be available.

Friday 20 March 8.30 – 10.30am

As the moon and sun along and the world grows unusually dark come along to Dumfries Museum for a community eclipse viewing. Weather permitting the Camera Obscura can be used to see a projected view of the eclipse. Other safe methods of viewing the eclipse will also be available (you can use your solar observer made on Thursday evening).

If you plan to bring a group or school party to this event please call the museum in advance so that we can arrange best use of the Camera Obscura (Tel 01387 253374).

Young Spring Fling - Poster competitions and Exhibition Openings

From Spring Fling

Schools competition winners on show with work by emerging talents and Dumfries and Galloway’s Archie Sutter Watt. Their work is now on display at Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries alongside a selection of pieces by emerging professional artists and an exhibition of oils by Archie Sutter Watt – one of Dumfries and Galloway’s best-loved painters.

The overall schools competition winner was Kirsty Dougan, from the P7 class at Springholm Primary. Her design features birds, deer and a fish all busy painting a picture, has been turned into the official Spring Fling 2015 poster and is being seen all over the country. Runners up Leah McWhir-Smith, Kirkcudbright Primary, P1 and Rachel Barr, Hardgate Primary, P7, also had their work turned into posters for them to keep. The exhibition also features entries by 20 schools winners. Leah Black, Spring Fling Director, said: “It’s a real joy working with these aspiring young artists and their work is lovely. It’s also very important to nurture this young talent. It’s wonderful that both these exhibitions will be on at the same time as Gracefield has the Archie Sutter Watt exhibition as he was so dedicated to educating young people about art.”

The schools competition is run in conjunction with Dumfries and Galloway’s Education Services department. The competition, and the bursary scheme, are funded by the Archie Sutter Watt Trust which was established to advance his commitment to arts and education. The top prize was £100 for the winner and £200 for their school, with £50 for each runner up and £100 for their schools.

Alan Watt, who is one of the trustees, said: “Archie taught in schools around D&G and also from own studio. “His two great passions were art and passing on skills to others. This is something he would have loved. And we like to promote art as a subject and an achievement in schools.”

This year is the centenary of Archie Sutter Watt’s birth and marks the 10th anniversary of his death. The Archie Sutter Watt exhibition offers a different perspective on his career. Celebrated for his watercolours, it is a chance to explore a lesser known aspect of his work and is called Archie in Oils.

The two Spring Fling exhibitions opened on Saturday following a special preview attended by the public, the schoolchildren and a selection of winners of the bursary scheme. They are free to visit and will run until 4 April.

The Spring Fling Young Artists Bursary scheme has now been running for four years and aims to help recent graduates with a link to the region make the transition into a professional career. Each winner receives £1,000 to create a body of work for the Spring Fling Open studios weekend and benefits from 15 days of mentoring by an established artist who has previously exhibited in the event. Leah said: “Making the shift from student to professional artist can be very tricky, and it’s a point where a lot of creative talent is lost because promising young people are forced off in different directions just in order to make a living.
“These awards and the mentorship by people who have built successful careers can be tremendously important. All our winners from the past have remained in the arts and have gone on to other projects, which is tremendous. “This is a superb opportunity to see how some of them are blossoming.” The Young Artist Bursary scheme exhibition features work by Katie Anderson, Terri Campbell, Holly Clothier, Fraser Irvine, Rory Laycock and Emma Kerr.

Terri, who graduated from Edinburgh College of Art last year and set up her own jewellery business in D&G, is one of the 2015 winners and has been mentored by Lisa Rothwell-Young, a jeweller and partner in the Cut the Mustard Gallery at Langholm.
Terri said: “Setting up my own business has been challenging but I’m really enjoying it. Having a mentor has been great because Lisa completely understands what I’m talking about.
“She has given me really valuable pointers on all sorts of things like how to approach galleries to talk about stocking your work and the dos and don’ts of setting up an exhibition.”
Her work is very wearable, with ranges that include everything from intricate silverwork to sheep horn found on the farm where she lives with her family.

See more of Terri's work online on her website here, or follow her facebook page here

Yarn Bombers take on DG Council

From BBC News

Colourful knitting left on a cycle path was "littering" and it will be removed, according to Dumfries and Galloway Council.

Dumfries was "yarn-bombed" on Tuesday night by a group known as the "Bollard and Chicane Protection Authority. They left knitted and crocheted items on bollards and railings.

In a blog post, the group said: "This is a town with some nice cycle paths but far too many invisible bollards (and chicanes)." They said they were designed to be seen in all light conditions. A reflective thread ensured they were visible at night.

But the local authority has condemned the move. A spokesman said: "If the positioning of bollards and other street furniture is an issue for people, they should raise the matter with the council directly. However colourful the yarn may be, it is littering and will be removed as part of ongoing maintenance."

However, a later statement seemed to soften that stance. "We appreciate arts and crafts in the region and this is certainly a very colourful way to draw attention to an issue," it said. "If the group contact the council we would be happy to listen to their thoughts."

A hunt for the history of 100 High Street

From The Stove Network

Following on from our call out last month for a documentary filmmaker, John Wallace has been commissioned to make a short film documenting The Stove and 100 High Street, as we continue to gather pace towards the grand opening this year.

John’s proposal to explore the relationship of the building to the town as it is transformed into an arts space for Dumfries has led him in search of old images of what has previously been 92 – 102 High Street, Dumfries and needs your help!

The property at 96-102 High Street has been home to a game dealer, a fireman, several milliners, David Coltart drapers, Reid’s Shoes, millworkers and an umbrella maker. More recently it housed First and Seconds Ladieswear before becoming Happit.

But hours of trawling old photo collections and online research have revealed only a few scant glimpses, the best in a 1956 film of Guid Nychburris day.

“The front of the building kinks away from the rest of the High Street by about 15 degrees,” explains filmmaker John Wallace. “So, in all your classic postcard views of the Midsteeple from the English Street end it can’t be seen at all, while in views from the Midsteeple it’s hidden by Burtons or the coffee house that was there before”.

Can you help? If you have any photos of the High Street which feature The Stove building, please do get in touch with John (details below.)

John is also keen to speak to people who have had a past connection to the building, were you a taxi driver when there was a rank outside the Stove? Have you worked or do you know anyone who worked in Reids, Coltarts, Happit or the First and Seconds? Did you live upstairs? If you have any stories or connections, please get in touch with John, either by phone 07720 710 934 or by email at info@pile-on.com

Have your say on DMC 2015

From The Stove Network

Hector Bizerk playing live at the Stove during DMC2013

It’s back! Dumfries Music Conference is making it’s grand return this April, heralding the opening of 100 High Street. For those of you who have not attended DMC event’s in the past, we’ve included record fairs, live music, song writing workshops and seminars with music industry professionals.

This will be the third year the Stove has hosted the Music Conference and the DMC team would love to hear from you what you would like to see and be part of at this years event. Have you got a great idea or suggestion?

Please take a moment out to fill in our quick survey available online here and help shape DMC 2015!

Surprise guest for Lee’s Burns Supper

From Kerry Willacy

Barman Lee McQueen was amazed when a special guest accepted his invitation to appear at a Burns-themed fundraiser. The Globe worker, a popular accordionist, planned a modest evening to raise funds for the SNP locally. He was amazed when former First Minister Alex Salmond accepted his invitation to speak at the event on 26th February. As a result, the fundraiser has “grown arms and legs” with an array of local talent supporting the event which will be held in the Cairndale Hotel.

Robyn Stapleton, a BBC Radio Young Traditional Musician of the Year, will sing and Ian McIntyre, past president of the Burns Howff club, will act as Master of Ceremonies. There will also be an auction featuring memorabilia signed by Mr Salmond, a unique designer hat by Milliner Tracey Little and a handmade Burns quilt by Ann Hill.

Joan McAlpine MSP, who helping to organise the evening, said: “This is a great coup for Lee who has worked incredibly hard to make the evening a success. Lee helped to organise the entertainment when Alex Salmond visited Dumfries just before the referendum. Mr Salmond was completely overwhelmed by the scenes of welcome at the Devorgilla Bridge and promised to return to the town to thank all the activists.”

Ms McAlpine added: “Tickets are selling fast and we are confident of raising a substantial amount to support the campaigns of our SNP candidates Richard Arkless in Dumfries & Galloway and Emma Harper in Dumfriesshire, Clydessdale and Tweeddale.”

Tickets can be obtained from Lee by texting 07835 405471 or by emailing dumfriesburnssupper@gmail.com

Kirkmahoe Open Mic with Alan McClure

From David Clark and Kirkmahoe Concerts

Proposed Bruce visitor centre for empty Poundstretcher store

From Morag Muego

After many years, the shops above the site of Greyfriars altar are empty and have become available. The Bruce Trust are launching a campaign to acquire the ex Poundstretcher shop on Castle Street and create an interactive visitor centre around Robert the Bruce. Archeological digs carried out in 1901 and 1961, beneath these shops, found the site of the high altar and also human remains. These are held in Dumfries Museum.
The campaign goes by the name of Bruce in Dumfries and you can follow it online here

We know this would be a huge benefit to the town in terms of visitors, but primarily we would be investing in our own culture and history. Along with Burns and Barrie, Bruce completes the three Bs in Dumfries. All the associated sites are within walking distance of each other and easily accessible.

We need as many folk as possible to lend their support to this campaign - please visit the facebook page and share it. The more interest there is, the better the chance is of making it happen.

The Robert the Bruce Commemoration Trust, formed in 2000, have worked ceaselessly to raise awareness of Bruce and the events surrounding him all across Dumfries and Galloway. They have an excellent informative website and Facebook page. They staged a live re-enactment on the street with actors in costume on the 700th anniversary in 2006. They also created the Bruce Trail, with information boards in multiple sites in our region.

SCOTLAND'S BEST KEPT SECRET
Where is old Greyfriars where Bruce slew Comyn in 1306? The man on the right of the picture is standing beside the plaque marking the spot.

More recently, a film of the Murder in Greyfriars was made with Scene1Take1, using local actor Robert Meiklem as Bruce. Currently, a new film is near completion, following Bruce along the trail and showcasing the landscape and history of Dumfries and Galloway. They also run regular debates and lectures, attracting eminent authors and historians.

Our town witnessed the birth of Scotland as a nation - we should do all we can to tell the world that this is where it happened.

Winners Announced in BBS Best Show

From Big Burns Supper

With final attendance figures now in Big Burns Supper organisers have revealed a string of successes for last week’s festival.

They have also announced the winners in the annual contest for the best show and performer of the event.

One top of that, the festival and Barnardo’s Scotland have said a huge “thank you” to all those who made donations to Big Burns Supper’s first ever partner charity – raising over £1,500 for its work with children.

Graham Main, Big Burns Supper Artistic Director, said: “We’d really like to thank all the community groups, performers, schools, volunteers, audience members and others who came together to make this such a huge event. As a proud Doonhamer I love to see our town and region shine. Our final figures are just brilliant – for example we served 5,000 Burns Suppers, had the largest Burns Night carnival in the world and entertained 30,000 people – well up on our original estimate of 26,000. Overall our audiences have just about doubled, which is phenomenal.

Jordyn Armstrong, Fundraising Events Co-ordinator for Barnardo’s Scotland, added:“We are so proud to have been chosen by Big Burns Supper as the first charity partner, and overwhelmed by the generosity of the general public who donated over £1,500, all of which will go towards helping children and young people in the local area.”

BBS 2015 featured around 140 events and shows, in a series of venues, during a nine-day festival of contemporary and traditional culture and a huge public celebration of the birthday of Scotland’s national Bard, Robert Burns, in his beloved town of Dumfries.

Each year judges attend all of the shows to decide on a series of awards. For 2015 the nominations and results were:

Best Show

Nominees:

·         Craig Hill

·         Janis Joplin - Full Tilt

·         Hamish the Haggis

·         New York Brass Band

Winner – the New Orleans jazz inspired New York Brass Band

Spirit of the Festival

This award highlights the artist or show which best embodies the spirit of the festival.

Nominees:

·         Dumfries Community Choir

·         Eden Festival -  opening show

·         Dilton Colthart - Burst
·         Holly Little - Caelaig

Winner - Holly Little of contemporary and traditional Scottish music trio Caelaig

Best Performance

Nominees:
·         Grant Dinwoodie - Le Haggis
·         Justine Squire - Le Haggis
·         Angela Darcy - Janis Joplin - full tilt
·         Sir Leopold Aleksander - Le Haggis

Winner - Justine Squire – aerial performer in Le Haggis 

Graham said: “The awards recognise the sheer excellence of the performers and the shows they put on here. They pitch international and national acts against ones which are home-grown in D&G and what’s been brilliant this year is just how impressed our judges were with Le Haggis, our very own cabaret show which seems to be going from strength to strength.”

Status Quo to play Palmerston Park

From Sid Ambrose

Several weeks ago l was invited in my capacity as Wigtownshire Arts Convenor to join a working group who were looking at staging a major rock gig in Palmerston Park. Now even the most geographically challenged amongst you will realise that the hallowed turf of Queen of the South is not in Wigtownshire, however as the roles of the four area Arts Convenors have evolved we have realised the need to work across the region bringing our individual  experience and expertise to specific projects.

Fast forward to the beginning of February and l am delighted to announce that Status Quo and special guests will be performing outdoors at Palmerston on the 5^th June. The response through social networks has been overwhelmingly positive with almost one hundred Face Book shares within my own networks in the space of a few hours. 

Some music trendies may have scoffed but it got me thinking, why would Status Quo work in Dumfries and Galloway? There are several reasons why these purveyors of old style rock and blues will appeal to a Galloway audience. Firstly it suits our slightly older age demographic, secondly we have been softened up by a constant stream of classic hits from West Sound Radio, which incidentally has a higher listenership locally than Radio One, and who can argue with a track record of 64 British chart hits and 22 top tens. 

I am not sure if the double denim clad “Quo Army” still exists and have memories of them invading Wembley and other mega stadiums back in the 80,s and early nineties. However l am sure that a fair few from around the UK will be joining our local rockers and quo aficionados on the 5^th June. 

For those wishing to attend the gig it will kick off at 5pm and the £45 ticket price will include performances by as yet to be confirmed special guests. The concert is being organised by Queen of the South in association with Dumfries and Galloway council and Worldwide Events. I hope this is the first of many successful events for Queen of the South and perhaps they might carve out a musical niche promoting big name classic rock and pop acts.

Tickets will go on sale via the Queen of the South website here on Monday 9th February at 10am.

Big Burns Supper goes out with a Bang

From Big Burns Supper

Big Burns Supper has already doubled its ticket sales over last year as it prepares for a spectacular final day.

The nine-day festival in Dumfries will be welcoming a series of major acts on Saturday including Hue and Cry, The Vaselines and hit US comedy act Red Bastard. This will be in the mix alongside a series of other performances featuring traditional Scottish music, jazz, theatre, children’s shows and much more.

The expansion from a three-day event last year has proved successful with ticket sales having doubled to more than 10,000. Overall around 26,000 people have taken part in the festival this week.

Graham Main, Big Burns Supper Artistic Director said: “The town has been really buzzing for the whole week and we are really looking forward to our grand finale – it’ll be one of the best days of entertainment we have ever laid on.

“Le Haggis – our locally created cabaret show has been an amazing success, with one sell out night after another. The Can Can girls, strongman and male belly dancer plus all the other acts involved went down an absolute storm.

“It was a big decision to expand from three days to nine but it’s succeeded beyond our expectations. The doubling of ticket sales has really confirmed our position as one of Scotland’s major winter events.

“We’d like to thank the 10,000 who were part of the carnival, the 10,000 who went to ticketed events and the 6,000 more who enjoyed the dozens of free shows and events which we staged at venues all round Dumfries.”

Hector Bizerk play HMP Dumfries

From Big Burns Supper

Hip hop group Hector Bizerk today gave at a free gig for prisoners in HMP Dumfries as part of the nine-day Big Burns Supper festival.

The gig was part of the festival’s outreach work in north-west Dumfries which is getting new groups of people involved with arts, culture and entertainment.

The Glasgow group waived their usual fee and were supported by volunteers from the town’s Electric Theatre Workshop (ETW) which produced the event on behalf of Big Burns Supper (BBS).

Performers Audrey Tait and Louie, and the rest of the group, played from their new Skin and Bone EP as part of a 45-minute show to a group of more than 60 prisoners at the jail.

Singer Louie said: “It’s been an amazing experience to share our music with this guys, they were a brilliant audience.

“And we love coming to Dumfries, every time we come here the place is great for us.

“As soon as we heard about this idea we wanted to do it, the guys here can really relate to a lot of the themes of our music.”

The group also showed their new film The Bird That Didn’t Fly for the prisoners – only the first time it has ever been shown after its premier in Glasgow. The film features music by the group and poetry performed by Liz Lochhead, Scots machar.

Justin Hyslop, ETW associate director, said: “We mentioned to the group that we were doing some work with the prison service and they immediately wanted to get involved. The gig has been a huge success – they just went down brilliantly with the audience.

“A lot of the men in here are looking at pretty bleak futures after they get out – there aren’t many jobs around. We wanted to tell them about all of our work to give people the chance to get involved with the arts and entertainment worlds, and this was a great way to do that and to inspire them.”

The festival also ran a lantern-making class at the prison. This allowed dads to spend time with their children making lanterns which the youngsters then carried in the huge Burns Night street carnival.

Justin said: “It’s difficult to maintain strong family relationships in prison and this was a superb way for fathers to be doing something really positive with their children that they would all be proud of.”

After the prison gig Hector Bizerk went on to perform at the Spiegeltent – the main BBS venue.

Communities Conference - “Understanding and Influencing Your Parliamen

From Scottish Parliament

Saturday 21st February 2015 (registration from 9.00 a.m.)
Easterbrook Hall, Crichton Campus, Dumfries DG1 4TA

The Conference is completely free of charge to attend, and is open to anyone interested in learning how to engage effectively with MSPs and the Parliament. Lunch and refreshments are provided free of charge and we are even able to reimburse travel costs for attendees.

The day will consist of seven different workshops, each an hour in duration, and each being run four times during the course of the day. The workshops are:

‘Help Me to Help You’: an MSPs View
This workshop will provide an insight into what MSPs can (and can’t) do in order to help their constituents.  Elaine Murray MSP* and Alex Fergusson MSP* will describe the wide range of issues MSPs typically deal with and the sort of outcomes you can reasonably expect.

Engaging Through Committees
Can engaging with committees really make a difference? How can local communities influence the work of Scottish Parliament committees? What sort of issues are suitable to bring to a committee?

Holding an Event or Exhibition at Holyrood
This workshop, chaired by Lindsey Davey, Events Manager at Holyrood, will look at a range of ways in which community groups, voluntary organisations, local campaign groups, social enterprises etc. can bring their issue to the attention of MSPs.

Cross Party Groups
Cross-Party Groups (CPGs) provide an opportunity for MSPs of all parties, outside organisations and members of the public to meet and discuss a shared interest in a particular cause or subject. This workshop will be chaired by Graeme Pearson MSP.

Social Media
Examining the various ways in which social / online media such as web-sites, blogs, FaceBook, Twitter etc – can be used to support a campaign issue.

Working with Local Media
This workshop will offer practical advice on how to use local media to make a difference in your campaign or issue. What are newspapers and radio stations looking for in a news story? How do local journalists decide what makes a ‘good’ story?

How to Submit a Public Petition
What makes a ’successful’ petition? Public petitions are one of the most high-profiles ways in which to engage directly with the Parliament. Chaired by John Wilson MSP from the Public Petitions Committee (PPC), this workshop will look at the role of the PPC – the only committee whose business is driven by the public. 

I should stress that the conference is not a party political event at all. The workshops are entirely practical in focus, aimed at ‘skilling up’ local communities in how to engage with their MSPs and their Parliament. Also, the workshops will be chaired by MSPs from all the main parties represented at Holyrood.

We are very keen to widen uptake to include organisations and individuals from the arts and culture sector, as we feel we need to do more to represent this sector in the Parliament’s business and decisions. We are very excited about coming to Dumfries and are keen to have representatives from across the SW region attend what promises to be a useful, lively and enjoyable event.

All workshops will run four times through the day:

10.00-11.00

11.15-12.15

Lunch

13.15-14.15

14.30-15.30

Most workshops will be chaired by an MSP, and most will be assisted by co-panellists, including Parliament staff and, where appropriate, external ‘experts’ who have experience of the engagement route under discussion.

The purpose of the workshop sessions is to allow attendees to focus in more detail on specific practical aspects of engagement and participation. The workshop sessions are an opportunity to hear from people who have had direct experience of these means of engagement and who are able to advise on how best to use these to raise your issue and get it onto the parliamentary radar.

If you would like to attend the Communities Conference, please email Alice Noble at the Scottish Parliament on alice.noble@scottish.parliament.uk with details of the workshops you would like to attend.

You can attend four of seven workshops across the day.

Please note, workshop places are allocated on a ‘first come’ basis. We cannot hold places for workshops, as demand is sure to be very high. Therefore we require named individuals in order to book a place.

Registration is from 9.00a.m with formal start at 9.45a.m. The event will end at 3.30 p.m.