Samizdat summer 08

Welcome to the summer edition of Samizdat, the Out of the Blue (OOTB) newsletter

CITY CULTURE BOSS BACKS NEW STUDIOS PLAN

City culture boss Lynne Halfpenny is backing Edinburgh’s developing artists and getting behind a fundraising appeal for the third phase of the million poud Out of the Blue Drill Hall refurbishment. The City of Edinburgh Council Head of Culture and Sport penned a ringing endorsement of Out of the Blue’s appeal. She writes, “Out of the Blue delivers a successful blend of flexible, creative and strategic multi-disciplinary arts projects, ensuring that the organisation is at the forefront of making the arts accessible and relevant across the city of Edinburgh.” 

Phase Three will create an additional 3,000 sq feet of studio space on a new mezzanine level overlooking the main exhibition space, a sculpture garden and a further workshop space. It will mark the culmination of an ambitious six year project to transform a dilapidated, old army building into a buzzing cultural hub. The new studios will be a vital resource for Edinburgh’s cultural community, which is battling a dearth of affordable creative production space. The OOTB Drill Hall is currently home to over 80 artists and a year round programme of diverse cultural events. Now OOTB chief Rob Hoon is urging everyone to support the scheme. “Out of the Blue’s mission to establish the drill hall as a vibrant and essential arts centre and cultural resource for the people of Leith, Edinburgh and beyond is reaching a crescendo,” he adds. “It is vital for the long term sustainability of OOTB that people get behind the project now.”

OOTB aims to begin work on the £750,000 project next year. The Big Lottery has already pledged its support to the tune of some £80,000. The Scottish Arts Council, Lloyds TSB Foundation and the Scottish Government are among funders showing enthusiasm for the exciting scheme. However, private charitable donations are a key component of the overall funding package. Please help safeguard the future of Edinburgh’s grassroots arts scene by Clicking-A-Brick at www.outoftheblue.org.uk If you can’t afford to make this tax efficient donation, please write a letter outlining why you support the refurbishment to Out of the Blue, Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 36 Dalmeny Street, Edinburgh EH6 8RG.

OOTB DRIVES CITYWIDE ARTS TIE-UP

OOTB is spearheading plans for a partnership with four other Edinburgh arts organisations that would create a citywide powerhouse for community arts and pave the way for a new international arts festival next year. Five Arts Partners would team OOTB with Arts South Edinburgh, Craigmillar Community Arts, Wester Hailes Arts for Leisure and Education and North Edinburgh Arts to pool resources and roll out a packed calendar of high quality arts projects to some of the capital’s most deprived areas. “With the cultural sector in a state of flux, the sustainability of organisations that are a resource for the working class neighbourhoods of Edinburgh has never been more important. By working together, we are pooling our expertise and resources and partnering up with acclaimed artists to build creative opportunities far greater than we could achieve independently,” explains OOTB Coordinator Rob Hoon. All five are currently plotting a year long programme of art workshops climaxing in a major festival featuring international artists in 2009. Dubbed EHdge, the project would effectively pilot a longer-term collaboration. The Scottish Arts Council is currently mulling a funding application for the scheme and a decision is expected by June 30th.

SEED CAPITAL?

City of Edinburgh Council this quarter rubberstamped a £120,000 revamp of Dalmeny Street Park after more than 500 people flocked to a community festival organised by OOTB spin-off Friends of Dalmeny Street Park (FDSP). Visitors to Parklife’s third annual gala weekend on May 31st and June 1st at the park – a centrepiece of this year’s Leith Festival – gave an overwhelmingly positive response when canvassed about the proposed improvements. “It was like old times at Dalmeny Park with large numbers of the community having their memories rekindled of how it used to be. The FDSP vision is now becoming clearer after the success of the festival. The potential to grow the FDSP Festival is huge and could easily become a vital annual community gathering looked forward to by many,” confirms Pilmeny Youth Centre Manager and FDSP committee member Bryan Maughan. Now city planners are sitting up and taking notice of plans to overhaul the ageing sports and play facilities. In the wake of the successful gala weekend, a June 20th council meeting gave the greenlight to a £50,000 upgrade to sports facilities in the park. That’s on top of £70,000 already earmarked for a new children’s play area. Last year, the Parklife project won £30,000 worth of council improvements to the park. 

The event featured gardening, a basketball tournament, five-a-side football competition, poets’ corner, live music, sculpture and a dog show in a bid to raise the profile of the project which aims to regenerate this previously neglected public greenspace. Membership of FDSP rocketed to over 100 after the festival. FDSP Treasurer Lise Bratton comments, “Having done the last two annual events, I’m blown away by the increased numbers participating and developing new initiatives.” And in news that underscores the project’s dynamism, FDSP scooped an £1,000 O2 It’s Your Community award to create a nursery garden.

STREETLIFE SPELLS FUN FOR LOCAL YOUTH

An OOTB project to engage with young people has inspired a string of new initiatives after being acclaimed as a model for community involvement by local government. Youngsters worked with artists to produce a full colour magazine called Streetlife which was distributed throughout Leith following a launch in March, as part of the Parklife project. Editorial reflected participants’ views on the future development of Dalmeny Street Park. Now OOTB is to put together a professional team to turn their ideas for a shelter in the park into reality. City of Edinburgh Council youth workers and Port of Leith Housing Association have followed suit with the Leith Open Space project which consulted with the youngsters to develop a range of leisure activities.

ARTS CAFÉ CREATES JOBS

Now in its second year, The Drill Hall Arts Café is a firm favourite among artists and wider community alike after winning rave reviews in the press and creating jobs for local youngsters. The List magazine and The Herald newspaper both gave the café’s wholesome menu and creative atmosphere the nod.  The magazine’s Edinburgh & Glasgow Eating and Drinking Guide for 2008 reports that the café is “a flexible eating and drinking space surrounded by art where the community atmosphere is underscored by approachable staff, a hand-written specials board and comfort food with home-spun charm.” The café also provides young people from the most disadvantaged areas of Leith with six month work placements funded by social inclusion advocates Capital City Partnership (CCP), Port of Leith Housing Association and the Scottish Government. Alongside learning valuable skills in the hospitality industry, the trainees build the confidence to enter the job market or further education. Training even includes monthly cookery lessons from top chef Jonathan Newton. “Before I started working here I was like ‘I’m never going to be good at anything’ but now I’ve worked here I’ve had a really good confidence boost and it’s helped me so much and I can do things I never thought I would do,” says pioneer trainee Lucy Robertson.  

EYE WANT YOU

OOTB is now seeking participants from the local community for a new project designed to encourage people to interact with art in the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS). Parallel Lives 2 aims to investigate key works in the gallery’s collection as a catalyst for social change. Participating groups will then communicate their ideas through their own artwork exhibited at a NGS venue, the NGS website and at locations within their own communities in 2009. OOTB is developing the project alongside CCP, NGS and the City of Edinburgh Council Local Neighbourhood Planning Partnerships. National Galleries Outreach Manager Robin Baillie explains, “This exciting project will hopefully produce a whole new way of looking at art and also offers new ways of addressing local issues that are imaginative and creative.” Following an introductory workshop on June 18th at The OOTB Drill Hall, further workshops are scheduled throughout July.If you are interested in taking part, please email Rob Hoon on rob@outoftheblue.org.uk

PICTURE THIS

The OOTB Drill Hall has carved out a reputation as one of Edinburgh’s hottest exhibition and performance spaces with a rolling programme of exciting cultural events. A string of high profile bookings over the last few years have put the Leith venue firmly on the nation’s artistic map. From big budget musicals in the Edinburgh International Festival and UNESCO-sponsored photographic exhibitions through record launches for up-and-coming rock’n’rollers and regular degree shows by local collegesto an ever changing array of grassroots projects, The OOTB Drill Hall and rehearsal studio are now favourite resources for high rolling promoters and aspiring artists alike. For bookings, please email Nicole Lambeng at nicole@outoftheblue.org.uk

In the last few weeks alone, the building has hosted OOTB’s quarterly Arts Market, the premiere of Ankur Productions’ community drama Thinktank and the Yard In Space exhibition of paintings and sculpture by Arran Ross, all as part of this year’s Leith Festival. As Samizdat went to press, Stevenson College degree show Exposed 08, which showcases the work of students from the college’s award-winning Photography and Digital Design Departments, had returned for the second year until June 26th. And from June 28th, local charities Upward Mobility and Link Living will hang work created by their clients including animation, photography, painting and drawing. That’s up until July 3rd.

OOTB SETS OUT FESTIVAL STALL

Following last year’s award-winning show Siren, The Out of the Blue Drill Hall is again the venue for hotly tipped physical theatre this Fringe. Herald Angel award-winning choreographer Darren Johnston’s Ousia opens on August 4th with four shows daily until the 25th. The site-specific show is set inside a purpose-built peep show in an abandoned theatre peopled by ghosts and is performed by Elena Gibson with an original score by Max De Wardener and animation and video design by Flat-e. Tickets are £4.50 for previews and then £6.50 from the Fringe box office at 180 High Street, by ‘phone on 0131 226 0000 or online at www.edfringe.com

SUPPER CLUB SELL OUT

Acoustic Cafe makes a triumphant return to The OOTB Drill Hall in early-September after selling out the two previous events. The Police Box and OOTB’s quarterly live music and multi-arts hoedown will have a desert saloon theme and is provisionally entitled The Tumbleweed Sessions. Among the acts slated to appear is Benbecula Records recording star Wounded Knee. April’s event was widely agreed to be the best yet with a full house enjoying performances from musicians, poets, sculptors, dancers, artists, film-makers and all round bootshakers including a classic set from post rockers Lipsync for a Lullaby.

BREAD AND JAM

Saturday lunchtime live music and food sessions continue to promote a continental lifestyle at The Drill Hall Arts Café. Hip Kipper’s Bruncheon featuring The Sound of Muesli is on the second Saturday of every month and features acoustic sounds from local musicians, mellow breakfast beats from DJ Mungbean and tasty food. Recent musical and culinary themes have included Balkan and New Orleans Jazz complete with gumbo and, of course, Satchmo. The next one is set for July 12th. For more info contact the Café on (0131) 555 7100.

ACT YOUR AGE

Try your hand at everything from acting and aerial acrobatics through capoeria and yoga to life drawing and belly dancing at The OOTB Drill Hall. This quarter’s programme is curtailed due to the Festival but highlights still include opportunities to get involved in all aspects of theatre-making and art workshops for children. Community drama company Ankur is gearing up for a new production with regular workshops beginning in September. If you are interested in acting, directing, writing or backstage work, please contact Joanna on (0141) 248 8889 or email gavincrichton@hotmail.co.uk  And Children’s art workshops continue to cater for busy parents and creative kids after school on Fridays and Saturday mornings and afternoons. There’s even a week long summer school in July. Forthcoming classes feature making Keith Haring-style murals and theatrical posters inspired by Toulouse-Lautrec. For more info check www.juliedawson.me.uk or contact Julie Dawson direct on 07951 137 218 or jbdawson@tesco.net. That’s all for now: keep your eye on www.outoftheblue.org.uk for the latest news.