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.