HELP SHAPE STIRLING’S covid memorial project

12 Oct

Local organisations and artists across the Stirling area are being given the opportunity to help shape the brief for Stirling’s Remembering Together Covid memorial project, with the support of lead artist Saffy Setohy.

The project will form part of a series of collective acts of reflection, remembrance, hope and healing across Scotland in response to the pandemic.

TAKE PART

Stirling based artists are invited to attend an autumn gathering, with paid places, on Wednesday 19 October to share their experiences and ideas.

There will be an Open Day for local groups and organisations on Thursday 20 October.

Scene Stirling Manager Kevin Harrison said: “This will be followed by a series of five events in the coming months to ensure a wide range of communities, experiences and perspectives are included in developing the brief.”

ARTIST EVENT DETAILS 19th October

Local organisation OPen Sessions 20th October (ONline and In Person)

Remembering Together is a national programme of remembrance managed by greenspace scotland, bringing together communities and artists/creative practitioners in collective acts of reflection, remembrance, hope and healing.

Supported by a £4.1 million grant from the Scottish Government, memorial projects will be co-created in every local authority area of Scotland.

Communities will work with artists and creative practitioners to honour those that have lost their lives to Covid-19 and reflect on their own experiences.

LIVED EXPERIENCE

Saffy will focus on ensuring that the lived experience of those most affected is central to the development of Stirling’s brief. She said:

“Covid has amplified existing inequalities in Scotland. There is a strong correlation between people disproportionately affected by the pandemic, and those who are regularly marginalised. I am interested in people whose voices are often less heard.”

LEAD ARTIST BACKGROUND

Saffy is a socially engaged dance artist with 15 years of experience working in different contexts across choreography, interdisciplinary performance, participatory practices, movement direction, facilitation, community and network building, activism, research, mentoring, and amplification of other creative voices.

She believes deeply in the ability of art to invite personal and social transformation.

At the heart of Saffy’s work is an ethos of listening, collaboration and experimentation.

Her practice is tactile, place-responsive, and draws together influences from sensory and somatic (mind-body connection) work, improvisation, walking, writing, visual media, sound art and recently, gardening.

Her artistic interests circle around exploring ecological practices, our connection to our environment and each other, and increasingly notions of regeneration and care.

Remembering Together will be managed in two phases.

PHASE 1

A five-month period of co-creation in each local authority area between communities and the artists/creative practitioners selected following responses to an advertised brief.

PHASE 2

For up to nine months, the co-created ideas in each area will be realised in whatever way communities feel is the most appropriate for them.

A National Advisory Group has been established to work with greenspace scotland in the delivery of Remembering Together which includes LGBT Health and Wellbeing, Cruse Bereavement Care Scotland, NHS Charities Together, Age Scotland, Diversity Scotland and others.

More information about greenspace scotland can be found at www.greenspacescotland.org.uk

Kevin Harrison

Kevin Harrison is the Director of Artlink Central, a charity and social enterprise designing creative experiences in conjunction with artists, public bodies and led by disadvantaged or marginalised people particularly in health, social care or criminal justice contexts. . Kevin joined the organisation five years ago and was previously Arts and Wellbeing Manager with Sense Scotland since 2006, supporting a Scotland-wide participation in the arts for disabled people with communication needs. Kevin managed the development of a range of arts projects including Threads and Found in Translation, projects exploring cultural diversity and disability, and Leaving New Craigs, a life history project in Inverness for people leaving the last long stay hospital in Scotland. He managed a national arts and wellbeing team and supported the establishment of a strong creative programme in the TouchBase, a new inclusive base for people and communities supported by Sense Scotland in the south side of Glasgow. Kevin who has a degree in theatre and film from Roehampton University and who undertook postgraduate studies in Arts Management and Policy at Birkbeck University of London is also a trustee for Scottish Prison Arts Network, chair of Dementia Friendly Forth Valley as part of a Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC) programme. Previous posts include freelance editor and administration roles with key national disability arts organisation, Shape Arts and public sector roles in Arts Development and as Business Manager, Creative Academy, Slough Borough Council, supporting a multi-million pound EQUAL creative industries inclusion programme . He also has experience of managing Music 4 Slough, a Youth Music Action Zone.