Interns Wanted

From the Wigtown Book Festival

Wigtown Festival Company has launched three new internships with some of the flagship festivals in the region.

Available to people aged 15-25 in Dumfries & Galloway, Spring Fling, Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival and Wigtown Festival Company are all offering opportunities to gain a variety of skills and experience. 

Spring Fling is looking for a social media coordinator to work before and during Spring Fling weekend. This will include blogging about activities including poetry collected by the Writer in Residence on her visits to various artists and The Stove's food and drink project where a chef will cook seasonal, local produce in artists' studios. 

Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival offers the opportunity for the intern to learn about PR and Marketing and work in the office before the festival and to write reviews of shows aimed at young people during the Festival. 

Wigtown Festival Company will run its annual Writers' Gathering and is looking for an intern to support the event, taking responsibility for key tasks, including meeting and greeting authors and marketing the event beforehand. 

Full details can be found on the Wigtown Book Festival website here

Job Opportunity with the Wigtown Book Festival

From Wigtown Book Festival

Wigtown Festival Company Ltd
Portfolio Manager (Young People)

Region: Dumfries & Galloway
Location: Wigtown
Contract Type: Part-time
Hours per week: 26
Salary: £13,500 (£20,769 pro rata)
Closing Date: Friday 13 March 2015

Wigtown Festival Company is seeking an inspirational individual to help develop its year-round programme of activities for children and young people throughout Dumfries & Galloway and to create opportunities for 0- to 25-year-olds to participate in literature and associated art forms as creators, organisers and audience members.

The successful candidate will take a leading role in managing WFC's children's, education and young people's programmes, and will be expected to work closely with the Literature Development Portfolio Manager, Artistic Director and our team of young people's Project Officers, young people aged 14-25.

The candidates are expected to show an understanding of the aims of Scotland's national youth arts strategy, Time to Shine.

The post holder should be able to demonstrate:

· A passion for and knowledge of literature, especially writing for young people
· Experience of working with children and young people
· Organisational and planning skills
· Excellent verbal and written communication and listening skills
· The ability to build good relationships and earn trust and respect
· The ability to relate to people from all backgrounds
· Ability as a self-starter with the capacity to work alone or as part of a team
· A commitment to equal opportunities and diversity

This post is subject to a Disclosure Scotland check and a driving license is required.

The deadline for applications is Friday 13 March 2015. Applications in writing only, complete with CV and 2 references. These should be addressed for the attention of Anne Barclay, Operational Director, Wigtown Festival Company, County Buildings, Wigtown, DG8 9JH or emailed to anne@wigtownbookfestival.com.

Full job description available on the book festival website here

Ryan Youth Theatre And Dumfries Junior Guild In Double Performance

From Sid Ambrose, DG Unlimited Wigtownshire Area Arts Convenor

My head was very warm recently, which was no doubt due to the fact that l was in Stranraer's Ryan Theatre whilst wearing two hats. Hat number one represented my role as Wigtownshire Arts Hub Convenor, while hat number two signified the work l do for the Kirkcudbright based South West Scotland Sectarian project. In my case this explains the line from the old song “Where did you get that hat”.

Anyway moving on, The Ryan Youth Theatre delivered a powerful performance, on their home turf to a packed audience. Their production called Freedom Square was inspired by the turbulent events which took place in George Square, Glasgow on the eve of the Scottish referendum. Sectarianism, bigotry, love and nationalism were the key themes in the script which was written by celebrated playwright Des Dillon.

the cast from Ryan Youth Theatre rehearsing for Freedom Square

The play was commissioned by Wigtown Festival Company which received a grant from the Voluntary Action Fund small grants to sectarianism programme. Joining them in a double bill were young people from Dumfries junior guild under the tutelage of James Napper who delivered a performance titled “Unite Don't Fight” which was based around sectarianism and gang culture. The two shows were followed by a lively audience discussion on sectarianism and tolerance which was chaired by literature development officer Carolyn Yates.

James Napper who worked and starred with the Junior Guild

My twin hatted role involved linking the Ryan Youth Theatre up with the Stranraer based African Drummers, for both groups this created a new working environment and the sum of the parts i.e. youth theatre and percussion based performers was very definitely greater than the whole. I also suggested the double billing show which saw young people from Dumfries travelling across to Stranraer to perform in tandem with their counterparts. Similarly all three groups worked together to perform in New Galloway the following evening.

Carolyn Yates felt that the performances had been a credit to all of the young people involved and she was keen to thank all of those who had worked hard to bring the script to life, the Ryan Centre staff were singled out for special praise for their input on technical production, catering and general support.

The Ryan Youth Theatre performances in Stranraer saw young people working alongside a professional director in the form of Chris Taylor, the script was devised by Garlieston based playwright Des Dillon who is most famous for his comedy show called “Singing I’m no a billy he's a tim”. In addition they received direction from a specialist in stage movement and Blocking and they were able to choreograph the scenes to a live music accompaniment. All in all these skills and new working relationships incrementally strengthen the arts sector in Wigtownshire, and l am happy to play my part in supporting this even if it does require the odd change of hat.

Freedom Square and Unite Don’t Fight to Tour Dumfries and Galloway

From Carolyn Yates and Sid Ambrose

Two hard hitting new plays based on Sectarianism, will premier across Dumfries and Galloway over the month of February. Freedom Square and Unite Don’t Fight will be performed by young people from the Ryan Youth Theatre and Dumfries Junior Guild. The free shows will embark on a pan Galloway tour with performances scheduled to take place from Stranraer to Dumfries.

Freedom Square has been described in promotional material as “The spark of first love across Scotland’s New Divide in the incendiary week of the referendum. She’s a Yes, he’s a no, their parents are bigots, and the Orange Lodge are gearing up to attack the square – what can possibly go wrong”?

Dumfries Young Guild of Players

Whilst Unite Don’t Fight, portrays a gritty and extreme example of Sectarianism. It tells the story of how four siblings have their family and home destroyed as victims of a religious hatred attack.  What starts as banter results in an arson attack and the death of their parents.  Hear them tell their side of the story as their nightmare is relived over and over again in the mind of the killer.

Both plays are supported by grants from the Voluntary Action Fund, Scottish Government’s Tackling Sectarianism Small Grant Programme and have been assisted by the Kirkcudbright based South West Scotland Sectarian Project.

Chris Taylor ( Freedom Square Director)

Freedom Square has been commissioned by Wigtown Festival Company, It was written and devised by award winning playwright Des Dillon in conjunction with the Ryan Youth Theatre, and is directed by Chris Taylor. Unite Don’t Fight has been written and directed by Dumfries based James Napper who has had a long association with local youth theatre groups.

The intention of the performances is to raise awareness of sectarianism which blights many communities across Scotland. Stevie Carr from the South West Scotland Sectarian Project Commented “Sectarianism can take many forms, from so called banter to prejudice and violence, l believe the plays are a great way to communicate with young people and make them better informed about sectarianism which at the end of the day is just another form of bullying.”

The inaugural performance of both plays will take place in a double bill at the Ryan Centre Theatre Stranraer between 6 and 8 pm on the 16^th February. The free performances will be followed by a meet and greet session with the cast and crew, for those interested in finding out more about the plays and the issues raised.

Other double bill performances will take place on the 17^th February from 7 to 9pm in New Galloway Town Hall and on the 27^th February at the Brigend Theatre Dumfries. A further solo showing of Unite Don’t Fight is scheduled for the Old Well Theatre Moffat on February the 20^th starting at 7pm.

For further information on the performances please contact Carolyn Yates, Literature Development

carolyn@literaturedevelopment.org  Phone: 01988 402036, Mobile: 07717179653

Please note although these are free events you may need to register your interest first to guarantee entry.       

Gallovidian Encyclopedia....in shops now

from Wigtown Festival Company

McMillan’s Gallovidian Encyclopaedia published after local author gathers stories from Dumfries & Galloway.

Wigtown Festival Company commissioned Penpont-based author, Hugh McMillan, to write about the people and places of the region after travelling the length and breadth of D&G gathering stories. It was inspired by the cult classic Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopaedia by John Mactaggart, published in the 19^th century. The 1824 version proved to be so controversial it was withdrawn the following year.

The 2014 version should be less contentious and offers a witty and irreverent look at contemporary Dumfries & Galloway, a highly individual snapshot of this unique place which operated for so long as an entity completely separate from its neighbours Scotland and England, a land that was shrouded in myth and populated by warriors, emigrants, fairies and liars. Some say it still is….

Festival Director, Adrian Turpin, said of the new book, “We’re delighted with the final book written by Hugh and illustrated by Hugh Bryden from Dumfries. It brings together many of the stories, tall tales and anecdotes from this remarkable area. We’re lucky to be surrounded by so many authors and artists and it’s wonderful to have two of them collaborating on this commission for us.”

'Penpont's Pepys' Hugh McMillan

To buy the book online (£15 +P&P), click here: http://www.wigtownbookfestival.com/product/mcmillans-gallovidian-encyclopaedia/

You can read Hugh McMillan’s blog here: http://greatgallowaytalehunt.blogspot.co.uk/

Spring Fling x Wigtown Book Festival Writer-in-Residence 2015

From Wigtown Book Festival

SUMMARY

Wigtown Book Festival and visual art and craft event Spring Fling are seeking to appoint a writer-in-residence at Spring Fling (May 2015). The writer appointed will also be expected to take part in Wigtown Book Festival 2015. 

This will be the first year that Wigtown Book Festival has worked with Spring Fling to offer an opportunity for a writer-in-residence at the May open-studios events. This new initiative - supported by the Dumfries & Galloway Regional Commissioning Fund - follows a successful joint artist-in-residence scheme run by the two organisations since 2009. 

The new residency is intended to deepen the creative relationship between the two organisations and to appeal to audiences of both events.

THE RESIDENCY

We are seeking to appoint a writer-in-residence for Spring Fling 2015 (23 – 25 May). The resident will be expected to attend all three days of Spring Fling and also to visit the region for a minimum of three days for research purposes before the event (during the period February to April 2015). The successful candidate will also be required to attend the 2015 Wigtown Book Festival ( 25 September – 4 October) to talk about their residency and present the new work created. We strongly recommend that applicants familiarise themselves with both Spring Fling and Wigtown Book Festival through their websites before applying. 

Applications are invited from writers with a track record working in any medium, eg fiction, creative non-fiction, theatre, poetry. 

Dumfries & Galloway is a large rural region and Spring Fling takes place across the whole region. It is expected that the work created during the residency will be inspired by the event, its setting, participants and audience. Themes for this year's event include travel round the region and food and drink. 

The Poet is In at this years Book Festival. Wagtongues. Image: Colin Tennant

Public engagement - which includes engagement with the artists and makers taking part in Spring Fling - is strongly encouraged. Importantly, candidates are also urged to propose original ways to present their work to as wide an audience as possible. 

We welcome proposals from writers using social media and digital media as part of their work. The successful candidate will be expected to use social media to promote their residency, for example through blogging, twitter, Facebook.

The above guidelines are not intended to be proscriptive. Applicants will be granted substantial leeway to shape the residency and to interpret it imaginatively. Above all, we are looking for originality and a demonstration of creative excellence.

The resident writer will be supported by Spring Fling director (Leah Black) & Wigtown Book Festival manager (Anne Barclay). As Spring Fling staff will be dispersed across the region during the event weekend, the writer must be prepared to work independently. 

THE FEE

The successful applicant will receive a fee of £2,000, to include any travel costs both during Spring Fling 2015 and Wigtown Book Festival 2015. 

Accommodation will be provided free of charge during both Spring Fling and Wigtown Book Festival. This residency will involve travelling to various venues across the region where public transport links are not regular therefore we would expect the resident writer to have their own car.  Although we will try to provide transport for those who do not drive or do not have their own car, we cannot guarantee this. 

The writer will be given a free pass to Wigtown Book Festival events, according to availability and by prior arrangement with Wigtown Book Festival. 

Spring Fling and Wigtown Book Festival will promote this residency as a central part of their activities in 2015.

HOW TO APPLY

If you would like to apply for this residency, we would request the following:

· Three example of your work of not more than 500 words each.

· A statement about your work to date (not more than 400 words) plus a bibliography and, where relevant, web links to published work not included in the application.

· An up-to-date CV.

· Up to 500 words (maximum) about how you would approach your residency, what you would propose to produce by the end of the 12-day residency and details of any relevant experience you have in accomplishing this.

Applications must be received by 5pm on Monday 8^th December. They will be reviewed by a panel, including the Spring Fling director and the Wigtown Book Festival director, as well as external panellists.

Shortlisted candidates will be notified by Friday 12^th December and will be expected to attend a brief interview on Thursday 18^th December in Dumfries, for which expenses will be paid, providing these are reasonable and agreed in advance. In exceptional circumstances, interviews may be conducted by video-conferencing (eg Skype, Facebook). 

Full details available on the Book Festival website here

Book Week Scotland - Chris Agee at the Bakehouse

From the Bakehouse

To celebrate Book Week Scotland The Bakehouse is delighted to host the eminent poet, essayist and editor Chris Agee. I first heard Chris at the Wigtown Book Festival engaged in fascinating discourse with Ewan Morrison and  Stuart Kelly about ‘the death of the book’. I subsequently heard him read from his heart breaking collection Next To Nothing about the death of his young daughter Miriam. He’s a powerful poet, a formidable intellect and the founding editor of Irish Page -  the most important cultural journal in Ireland. Do hope you’ll join us on November 29^th. Hear Chris read and join the debate about the future of literary magazines.

Always lovely to see a full Bakehouse.

Love Chrys and The Bakehouse Team

To celebrate BOOK WEEK SCOTLAND
Chris Agee
Saturday November 29th @ 7.30
A FREE EVENT WITH FREE BOOKS ON OFFER.

Chris Agee is the author of three books of poems, most recently Next to Nothing (Salt, 2009), shortlisted for the 2010 Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry. He has also editedScar on the Stone: Contemporary Poetry from Bosnia (Bloodaxe, 1998, Poetry Society Recommendation), Unfinished Ireland: Essays on Hubert Butler (Irish Pages, 2003), The New North: Contemporary Poetry from Northern Ireland (Salt, 2011) and The Other Tongues: An Introduction to Writing in Irish, Scots Gaelic and Scots in Ulster and Scotland (Irish Pages, 2013). He is the Editor of Irish Pages: A Journal of Contemporary Writing, Ireland’s premier literary journal, and currently the Keith Wright Literary Fellow at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.

Chris will read both from his last collection as well as new Glasgow-based work, and discuss the future of the literary magazine.

"Next to Nothing is the most compelling book of poems I have read for years ...." – Bernard O’Donoghue, Wadham College, Oxford.

"2009 has given us some terrific poetry, but the book I will remember most from this year is ChrisAgee’s Next to Nothing.” William Crawley, BBC

“(Irish Pages is) the most important cultural journal in Ireland at the present moment” (Jonathan Allison).

To book ring 01557 814175 or email chrys@chryssalt.com

Run a bookshop in Scotland's National Book Town!

From the Wigtown Book Festival 

Image: Colin Tennant

The Open Book is a six-month project run by Wigtown Festival Company. The project will invite members of the public to apply to help run a bookshop in Scotland's National Book Town in Wigtown for a period of between 2 and 6 weeks and to blog about their experience. Training will be given in bookselling, and help will be provided by Wigtown's community of booksellers, who will also offer practical and moral support. 

"Old-fashioned" bookshops have never been more under threat yet they have also never been more valued by bibliophiles. How do traditional bookshops thrive and survive in a digital world? How does the fantasy of being a bookseller compare to the reality? The Open Book is a matchless experience, offering participants the opportunity to discover what it's like to run a bookshop in Scotland's National Book Town, and to contribute to a unique literary community by helping to sustain one of its bookstores. While in Wigtown, guest booksellers will be asked to blog about their experience and consider the role of the bookshop and the bookseller in the 21st century.

Interested in finding out more? 

Please contact theopenbook@wigtownbookfestival.com

More details here

CS Regular Funded Organisation Portfolio Announced

Good news on the D&G front this week as Creative Scotland announced their portfolio of Regularly Funded Organisations for 2015 to 2018, which includes two arts organisations in our region, Wigtown Book Festival, and The Stove Network. Congratulations to both for all the work put in by their teams, looks like there are exciting times ahead!

From the CS website:

"The portfolio of Regularly Funded Organisations consists of 119 organisations, with a combined three year budget of £100m. This is the largest portfolio of three-year funded organisations ever seen in Scotland.

The portfolio is rich in its creative excellence, potential and ambition, demonstrating significant reach across Scotland and across many areas of practice. It consists of some of Scotland's most important, innovative and exciting cultural and creative organisations, producing and presenting great work across craft, dance, film, literature, music, theatre and visual art.
Importantly, the work of organisations in the portfolio supports thousands of individuals working in the arts, screen and creative industries as well as other organisations across Scotland, the UK and internationally."

Trading Journeys at Wigtown Book Festival

from The Stove Network

For everyone who took part, visited or couldn't make it there is a pictorial journey through the memorable events of Trading Journeys from 23rd - 27th September - here.......including: Horse drawn journeys, bicycle powered foundry, sailing the old Creetown ferry route, jam and charcoal making, songwriting, another appearance by the Secret Ministry and of course casting the 45 Wigtown Spoons in aluminium in the town square.

Pedaling the foundry up to heat (photo:Colin Hattersley)

McMillan's Gallovidian Encyclopedia

From the DG Unlimited team

A wonderful journey through the heart and soul of D&G – Wigtown Book Festival has just launched McMillan's Gallovidian Encyclopaedia by poet and author Hugh McMillan.
The book is the first ever commissioned by the festival and was funded by Fresh Start for the Arts, a Dumfries and Galloway Chamber of the Arts (DGU) initiative dedicated to supporting the region’s creative sector. The idea was to produce a 21st century response to the Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopaedia which was first published by John Mactaggart, in 1824, but was temporarily withdrawn from publication the following year.

McMillan, like Mactaggart, introduces readers to unusual people and curious tales (tall, true and indeterminate). Though his book refers to history and tradition, it is predominantly one person's take on the landscape he's lived his life in and on the people with whom he's shared it. In fact, Commonty readers will doubtless know some of the people mentioned. A poet and retired history teacher from Penpont, Hugh has followed Mactaggart’s example in gathering tales, recording conversations, selecting and writing poetry and researching the cultural diversity of his native region.

The work is presented in an encyclopaedia format, makes reference to idioms of the day, and includes much poetry. It covers topics including:
• Anthony Hopkins Bench syndrome
• Anwoth – Village of the damned
• Bank Managers and the British Union of Fascists
• Love and death
• The Ludgin Hoose Cat

There are stories and anecdotes of all kinds; one concerns a local GP who claimed to be Dr Bodkin, former personal physician to Tsar Nicholas II which, if true, made him at least 123 years. Hugh said: “Like the original encyclopaedia, I hope this volume is unique, full of fun and good poetry. Mactaggart would still recognise some things about the region today, others would be utterly foreign to him: Mactaggart's Galloway is not my Galloway. We are both in perfect agreement, however, that it is a weird and magical place.”

The book delights in building a shooglie layer of tales on others from earlier times – capturing many aspect of the region’s history alongside the testimony of living people. Cathy Agnew, Chair of DG Unlimited, said: “Our whole aim is to promote the region’s arts, heritage and creative people. Hugh’s book embraces all three goals in a single, wonderfully entertaining piece of work which captures the lives, loves and landscapes of south west Scotland and its people – past and present.”
The book is published by Roncadora Press and costs £15.

ARTocracy @ Wigtown Book Festival

From Wide Open

Just a quick reminder that as part of this years Wigtown Book Festival programme, Claudia Zeiske will be in conversation with Wide Open's Jan Hogarth about her work and book ARTocracy (written with Nuno Sacramento).

Claudia Zeiske is the founding director of Deveron Arts, the organisation that has turned the small Aberdeenshire town of Huntly into a venue for award-winning public art. 

A little more info on ARTocracy can be found on the website here 

"ARTocracy, authored by Claudia Zeiske and Nuno Sacramento, provides insight into the organisation of collaborative projects through hands on practise and applied examples. It provides practical guidance - from the definition of each theme to the selection of artists, as well as key strategies for funding, marketing, education and artistic output - paying tribute to the precarious balance between artistic quality and social consequence."

Wednesday 1st October 1.30pm County Buildings, The Cinema / £4

Visual Arts at Wigtown Book Festival

From Wigtown Book Festival

Claudia Zeiske

ARTocracy

County Buildings, The Cinema

Wednesday 1st October 2014

13:30

£4.00

Claudia Zeiske is the founding director of Deveron Arts, the organisation that has turned the small Aberdeenshire town of Huntly into a venue for award-winning public art. She talks to Jan Hogarth of the arts production company Wide Open about her work and her book ARTocracy (written with Nuno Sacramento).

Natalie McIlroy

The Galloway Pippin Project

The Orchard Studio at 31 South Main Street

Wednesday 1st October 2014

10:00

The Zurich-based Scottish environmental artist Natalie McIlroy has created a homage to the Galloway Pippin, an ancient apple variety that originated in Wigtown in the late 1200s.  Throughout the festival, visitors will be able to visit the Pippin HQ, an installation that will also be the home to 31 maiden Galloway Pippin trees available for local gardens.  Natalie will be planting and documenting the trees in their new homes throughout the town.  Visit Natalie in her studio, open daily (times shown on the door). 

Anupa Gardner

Spring Fling Artist-in-Residence 2014/15

The Bowling Pavilion

Wednesday 1st October 2014

10:00

This is the sixth year that the festival has hosted an artist-inresidence in association with Scotland's largest arts and crafts open studios event, Spring Fling.  Originally from India, Anupa Gardner studies at Edinburgh College of Art and graduated with a Master of Arts in Visual Communication in 2008.  She has since been working in Edinburgh as an illustrator.  Anupa will be based at the Bowling Pavilion and will host a Meet the Artist event at 7pm on Saturday 27 September.  Studio open daily.  

The Stove

Trading Journeys '14

Wigtown Harbour

Saturday 27th September 2014

10:00

Dumfries-based artists' collective The Studio presents a new commission for the 2014 Wigtown Book Festival, supported by Homecoming 2014.  With its Harbour and location at the lowest fording point of the River Bladnoch, Wigtown was at one time part of a major network of land and sea routes, including a pilgrim way to Whithorn.  Inspired by this history, the event responds to these trading routes.