PRESS RELEASE: New Scottish Chamber Orchestra project for adults taking place at WHALE Arts as part of three year Wester Hailes residency

24 July 2018

WHALE Arts and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra are delighted to share a new integration project, Music and Visuals, for adults living in Wester Hailes. The project will use music workshop practices as tools to create a space where participants can create their own audio or visual materials that articulate their own experiences in the locality.

The project will begin 6 August with two full days of workshops and continue with two hour sessions for the following five weeks at the WHALE Arts. Workshops will be led by Emma Smith and supported by composer Suzanne Parry, and materials created during the project will feature in an audio visual installation at WHALE Arts later in the year.

This project is part of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s three year Wester Hailes Community Residency programme, running from October 2017 to summer 2020. Local children, young people and adults join SCO musicians to create, perform, record and enjoy music at creative music workshops and performances in Wester Hailes and Edinburgh city centre.

Kirsteen Davidson Kelly, SCO Connect Director, says:
“After an amazing year of creative activity with children and young people in Wester Hailes, we are excited to meet and work with adults from the community. The workshops will be led by Emma Smith, an innovative musician who works with Musicians Without Borders and is part of the SCO team visiting Wester Hailes Education Centre, and Suzanne Parry, a composer who recently worked with us on a project for the Borders Heritage Festival in the Scottish Borders, in which local children explored the local environment. Emma and Suzanne will work with participants to design, create and curate their own work, and to make the Music and Visuals project their own.”

Meghan Bidwell, Arts Engagement Manager (Adults), WHALE Arts says:
“Following the success of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s Family Days at WHALE Arts, we are pleased to partner with SCO for a new project offering co-created opportunities for adults living in Wester Hailes. The culmination of the Music and Visuals project will be an installation buy ativan with paypal which will demonstrate the quality and strength of community art.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

About WHALE Arts

Since being set up by local people in 1992 WHALE Arts has firmly established itself as the cultural anchor organisation for Wester Hailes. As a community-led arts charity and social enterprise, WHALE Arts’ mission is to be the creative heart of a vibrant, thriving community.

WHALE acts as a conduit between our community and creative opportunities through the direct delivery of projects, programmes and events and by connecting our community with city and national cultural partners. We are based in the purpose built WHALE Arts Centre – ‘The WHALE’ – a unique community asset that provides a range of high quality creative spaces including an Arts Workshop, Performance Space, Darkroom and Digital Media facilities for our community.

For full details on the WHALE Arts programme, see the website at www.whalearts.co.uk

 

About the Scottish Chamber Orchestra

The world-renowned Scottish Chamber Orchestra is made up of a unique collection of talented musicians who inspire and connect with people of all ages. The SCO aims to provide as many opportunities as possible for people to hear their music by touring the length and breadth of Scotland and around the world as proud ambassadors for Scottish cultural excellence.

The SCO makes a significant contribution to Scottish life both on the concert platform and beyond, working in schools, universities, hospitals, care homes, places of work and community centres through the SCO Connect creative learning programme. The orchestra receives funding from the Scottish Government as one of Scotland’s five National Performing Arts Companies and is based in Edinburgh.

The SCO Connect project was launched at WHALE Arts on 21 October 2017, bringing whale-themed musical fun. The programme has included workshops in nurseries, primary schools and at Wester Hailes Education Centre as well as family events such as a WHALE Family Day and Big Ears, Little Ears. A short film about the project can be viewed here.

 

Media information

• To learn more about SCO projects and performances in Wester Hailes, please contact Joanna Burns on 0131 478 8342 or joanna.burns@sco.org.uk. 

To learn more about the Music and Visuals project at WHALE Arts, please contact 0131 458 3267 or info@whalearts.co.uk.

A big welcome to the Broomhouse Centre, our new tenants and neighbours in the WHALE Centre.

The Broomhouse Centre office will be based at WHALE while work is completed on a new Community Hub in Broomhouse- an essential and integral community resource, set to open in Summer 2019.

With projects and services for all the community, including Youth Befriending, Young Carers, Vintage Vibes and the Beacon Club among others, the Broomhouse Centre delivers activities for all ages and makes an excellent addition to the varied and vibrant community activity running at WHALE on a daily basis.

Bridie Ashrowan, Chief Executive of the Broomhouse Centre says:

‘Thank you from the community and ourselves, to all of our funders who have got alongside this us to createa new hub at its heart for the future. The hub can cope with more than twice the existing footfall and thecommunity will have a facility that is fit for purpose with a wide range of activities. The organisation has always punched above its weight, with innovative services and enterprises, some of which are city wide, but this gives us the boost we need to really make a difference as a community-owned and managed asset.

We will continue with all our existing services beside the site at St David’s Church for one year until the new hub opens, the café, the catering social enterprise and all our services for young and old.

We have an on-going fundraising target of £500,000! This is to be able to complete the building: the garden, suitable for all, the very young and old, including people with dementia, and the furnishings, such as kit for a cinema night. If members of the community want to donate, our ‘Buy a brick’ for £10 campaign, will help us reach our target (**). We want it to be a truly vibrant centre.”

At WHALE, we are delighted to be able to support the Broomhouse Centre, promote their fantastic activity and find opportunities to work together over the coming year.

If you would like more information about the project, a press release can be downloaded via the Broomhouse Centre website.

If you need to get in touch with the Broomhouse Centre, they can be contacted by:

Telephone: 0131 455 7731
Email: admin@broomhousecentre.org.uk