Network News |
Open Fields: The Future of Trads
Monday 6th May, 10am-5pm
Teviot Row House Dining Room, £12 (£8)
TradFest strikes during its pilot year to engage with the community in a conference which explores the role of traditional arts in our contemporary world.
In the changing Scotland of today, we must ask, ‘what now, what next’ for the traditional arts? Where are we, and where should we be?
This is a rare chance to join with artists, academics, practitioners and politicians in collective debate and discussion along four main themes: Cultural Ecology
Empowering Voices,
Connecting Communities
Envisioning Scotland
Also featuring a performance and conversation with participants involved in the EYG Archive Project (more information).
It promises to be a very stimulating and thought-provoking day!
Invited speakers include:
Gary West, Musician, Broadcaster and Lecturer in Scottish Ethnology
Steve Byrne, Singer, Ethnologist, Arts worker and Advocate for Traditional Arts
Joanne Orr, CEO Museums Galleries Scotland
Paddy Bort, At the Helm of Edinburgh Folk Club
Mae Shaw, Lecturer in Education, Community and Society
Philomena de Lima, Director of the Centre for Rural and Remote studies
John Powles, Political Song Consultant
Dave Francis, Executive Officer, Traditional Music Forum
Claire Hewitt, Storyteller and Celtic Harpist
Arthur Cormack, Chief Executive, Fèisean nan Gàidheal
Karine Polwart, Singer/Songwriter
Jean Urquart, MSP Highlands and Islands (Independent)
Donald Smith, Director, Scottish Storytelling Centre
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Traditions of Dance Forum - Open meeting on 20th April
Everyone with an interest in traditional dance will be delighted to know that the Traditions of Dance Forum Start Up Group has decided to call for a meeting of all interested parties on Saturday 20th April at 10.30am at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1SR.
The purpose of the meeting is to formally establish a Traditions of Dance Forum, as recommended by the Start Up Group, and to elect a committee for the Forum. TODF will represent and further the interests of traditional dance practitioners in Scotland and will sit alongside The Storytelling Forum and the Traditional Music Forum to form TRACS, the umbrella organisation that promotes the traditional arts in Scotland.
It would be great if you could put the date in your diary and drop an email to (davide@scottishstorytellingcentre.com) to let us know if you are planning on attending (or if you can’t attend but would be interested in being kept informed). |
Scottish Storytelling Centre/TRACS website
The Scottish Storytelling Centre is looking to re-do its website, increasing the scope to include TRACS (Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland), an umbrella organisation formed by the Scottish Storytelling Forum, the Traditional Music Forum and Traditions of Dance Scotland.
We are therefore inviting quotes from interested parties for the creation of a new website. Please email davide@scottishstorytellingcentre.com if you would like us to send you the full brief. |
Marketing and Communications Officer
This is an exciting opportunity to work in the Scottish Storytelling Centre. Your role will be to support the Marketing Manager across all areas of the Centre’s marketing activity and its associated networks and festivals. This will include the development of marketing materials, writing and uploading content to the Centre’s website, preparation of media releases and a wide range of general marketing administration.
Creative with a knowledge of Scotland’s traditional arts scene, you will be an excellent communicator with sound copywriting, editing and proofreading skills. A team player who can also work independently when required, you will also have proven organisational and time management skills, as well as the ability to work under pressure to tight deadlines. Website management experience is essential.
To obtain an application pack and further information, please call 0131 240 2249 (24 hour answering service) or email recruitment quoting reference number 10/13
- Closing date: Thursday 14 March 2013 (CLOSED)
- Salary: £18,300 - £19,830
- Location: Edinburgh
- Contract: Fixed term until 31 December 2013
You can dowload a pdf with the list of main duties here. |
Scottish Storytelling Forum AGM - Advance Notice
To all members of the Scottish Storytelling Network.
This is an advance notice that the AGM of the Scottish Storytelling Forum will be held on Friday 22nd February at 5.45pm at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1SR.
Full details will be circulated in early February. |
Season's Greetings
The Scottish Storytelling Centre would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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Visitor Service Assistant - Scottish Storytelling Centre
Closing date: Thursday 20 December 2012 (CLOSED)
Salary: £15,811 - £17,182
Location: Edinburgh
Contract: One year fixed term
You will play a pivotal role within the Scottish Storytelling Centre team through the provision of outstanding customer service for visitors to the Centre.
In addition to your excellent communication and interpersonal skills, you will be highly organised and, as a strong team-player who will be able to demonstrate a flexible and adaptable approach to your work in order to meet the daily demands presented. Numeracy and the ability to pay close attention to detail are essential as you will be required to record sales and operate the box office and booking system. A basic level of IT skills will be required.
This is a fixed-term post until 31 December 2013, and you’ll work 35 hours per week on a flexible rota which will include evenings and weekends.
SSC is a partnership between The Church of Scotland and the Scottish Storytelling Forum, funded by the Creative Scotland and City of Edinburgh Council.
To obtain an application pack and further information, please call 0131 240 2249 (24 hour answering service) or email recruitment@cofscotland.org.uk quoting the reference 38/12.
Download the job description. |
Call for participation
If you wish to register an event as part of Tradfest, please download and fill in the registration form and return by 15th January 2013
If you have any general enquiries please contact donald@scottishstorytellingcentre.com
Posted 20.11.12 |
TRADFEST
Edinburgh · Dùn Èideann
Celebrating Arts of Tradition
A new Festival inspired by the traditional arts of Scotland will take place in Edinburgh from 24th April to 6th May 2013. TRADFEST Edinburgh · Dùn Èideann will celebrate arts of tradition in their local, national and international contexts. It will include song, story, arts and crafts, music and dance, along with their interconnections. It will embrace Scots and Gaelic, and the arts of Scotland’s diverse communities.
The key aim of TRADFEST is to combine authentic cultural sources with contemporary edge and flair. TRADFEST replaces the Ceilidh Culture programme previously organised by the City of Edinburgh Council. The venues lined up so far for 2013 include Queen’s Hall, Usher Hall, Dance Base, the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Teviot Row House, Calton Hill and Arthur’s Seat, along with a host of community venues.
TRADFEST Edinburgh · Dùn Èideann is organised by TRACS (Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland) from its base at the Scottish Storytelling Centre. TRACS brings together the Scottish Storytelling Forum, the Traditional Music Forum and the Traditions of Dance Forum to underpin collaboration and shared development for the future between the trad arts, in the context of new social settings and technologies.
By encompassing Beltane/Mayday, with their seasonal rituals, TRADFEST will be a curtain raiser for the unrivalled wave of Fèisean and Festivals that breaks over Scotland from that weekend through the summer months.
To register an interest in participation in the 2013 event please contact donald@scottishstorytellingcentre.com, indicating at this stage your event title and proposed venue.
Posted 17.10.12 |
Threading the Garland
Storytelling’s Crowning Art
Donald Smith, Director of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival hails some important milestones in the global renaissance.
The Shanameh The Persian Book of Kings, retold by Elizabaeth Laird and Illustrated by Shirin Adl (Frances Lincoln, 2012) ISBN 978-1-84780-253-8
Kailila and Dimna - Fables of Friendship and Betrayal/Fables of Conflict and Intrigue Told by Ramsay Wood (Saqi and Medina Publishing, 2011) ISBN 978-0-86356-661-5/ 978-0-9567081-0-6
The Fifth Branch of The Mabinogion - Mark Williams:Amaethon Uab Don/Amaethon Son of Don (Horizon Review, www.saltpublishing.com)
The Brothers Grimm/Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2012
What is a story? According to classical definition stories should have a beginning, a middle and an end; they should have a coherent structure or plot; and they should have characters who speak and act consistently throughout. Clearly, Aristotle, or whoever first framed these criteria, did not consult any oral storytellers. Read More...
Posted 20.06.2012 |
CEILIDH CULTURE - A Folk Festival for Edinburgh?
Open Meeting at The Scottish Storytelling Centre
Wednesday 27th June 6.00pm-8.00pm
Thanks to all those who participated in the tenth anniversary ceilidh Culture Festival in March. At the open meeting on the Trad Arts in December in Edinburgh there was a strong feeling that the time had come to review Ceilidh Culture and look to the future. Edinburgh City Council have agreed to that request.
So WHAT? WHERE? WHEN? for CEILIDH CULTURE
The shared Trad Networks based at the Storytelling Centre -music, storytelling and dance- have agreed to host this discussion. The meeting will hear the results from the 2012 Festival and consider these, among other questions:
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Is Ceilidh Culture Edinburgh’s principal Folk festival? Should it be?
- Is Ceilidh Culture at the best time of year? What other times might be considered?
- Should Ceilidh Culture be open to all comers, curated, or a mixture of the two?
- Is the name right? (on its own or in combination with other titles/phrases)
- Should there be a Steering group to help develop the Festival?
Please confirm your attendance, and any other topics for discussion to donald@scottishstorytellingcentre.com.
Posted 04.06.2012 |
Scriptaid - Help is at Hand!
You probably know about the Scottish Storytelling Centre’s workshops and courses. But do know about the stories, sketches and drama scripts produced by the Centre for congregational use in worship, without copyright charges? The average cost of an item is £5 including a 50p/£1 postage charge.
Click here to download a catalogue of over 100 items. These include stories for use in education and worship as well as sketches and dramas. Also available is the Art of the Parish learning resource to support worship leaders which can be used by individuals or groups, and Storysource, which are explicitly designed to help churches access and interpret story. You can order and pay for items by phoning reception on 0131 556 9579. If the phone is busy e-mail your enquiry to reception@scottishstorytellingcentre.com . You can also inspect items at the Centre.
If you need advice on a script or story, want to develop something or have a script to contribute to Scriptaid- contact donald@scottishstorytellingcentre.com.
‘we are one of the many churches without a minister at present. I am sure more churches could share and benefit from your scripts.’ Lorna
Posted 30.05.2012 |
Traditions of Dance Forum Open Meeting
Saturday 28th April 2.30pm
The Scottish Storytelling Centre, High Street, Edinburgh
An Open Meeting to discuss formation of a Traditions of Dance Forum for Scotland.
The Forum would take forward some of the original objectives of the Scottish Traditions of Dance Trust, along with other objectives to be decided in a collaborative and inclusive way. This invitation follows the public meeting in December of last year which suggested the need for such a Forum to sit alongside the Traditional Music Forum and the Scottish Storytelling Forum, both of which are supporting this initiative, which also has the active encouragement of the Traditional Arts Advisory Group, Voluntary Arts Scotland, and Dance On.
If you plan to attend or are unable to attend but would like to be included as an individual or organisation please contact Davide Panzeri (davide@scottishstorytellingcentre.com).
Posted 06.03.2012 |
A new celebration of oral culture on Jura
Jura is showing what a can be done now with our great oral traditions of story, poetry and song. This is a vital part of what makes every place in Scotland creative. Donald Smith, Director SSC
Jura's first festival of oral culture will be held over Easter weekend, the 8 and 9 April
2012.
Jura's annual September jamboree of Scottish Traditional music has been a must go,
must see, must hear event for over a decade and a half. Now, that team is bringing their
enthusiasm to mounting an Easter holiday event.
Bàrr mo Theanga or Tip of the Tongue is a celebration of oral culture in many forms
storytelling, poetry, song and reading out loud, in English and Gaelic. With place at its
heart, the new event will explore Jura, Scotland and her islands and that common
ground that is human experience.
Artists and features confirmed for Bàrr mo Theanga include:
Anne Michaels, Orange Prize for Fiction winning Canadian author of 'The Winter
Vault', set partly on the island.
Ian Stephen, Lewisman, storyteller, poet and man of the sea.
Alasdair Roberts, renowned musician and folklorist.
Jura's ceilidh and oral tradition will be at the fore with workshops, ceildihs, song
cycles, oral histories, a wonderful children's programme and a new song cycle based on the works of the Islay Bards.
All this at what those in the know say is the best time of year to see an island that
boasts one the UK's last wildernesses, with a community that won't stop making you part
of it while you're there, and of course, there's always the chance of a dram or two.
The event has been made possible by a Quality Production award from Creative Scotland
and support from Jura Development Trust's Argyll and the Islands Leader and HIE funded
GatE Local Development Officer.
You can find more information at www.tipofthetonguefestival.com
posted 13.02.2012 |
 Authors Live: Celebrate Burns with Scotland's Makar Liz Lochhead, National Poet of Scotland
Register to come along to the event or to stream it live as it happens!
Join the Scottish Makar, Liz Lochhead, National Poet of Scotland for a very special celebration of Robert Burns for Authors Live. Liz will be discussing why Burns means so much to her, as well as treating us to some readings of her own poems featured in her collections Liz Lochhead: Selected Works, Colour of Black and White and Dreaming Frankenstein. The event is suitable for P6-S4 (age 9-16) pupils and fans of Robert Burns, Liz Lochhead or just poetry in general!
Click here for further information about this free event or to watch this extraordinary event in your home, classroom, library or wherever you have a good internet connection.
Authors Live is a series of world-class author events broadcast over the internet organised by Scottish Book Trust in partnership with BBC Scotland Learning.
posted 16.01.2012
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Swallows & Amazons Story Competition
Read Ciaran’s Story: A Golden Adventure on Hind Hill
Read Jonathan’s Story: Getting lost with Luke
We’re very excited about the Scottish premiere of the smash-hit stage adaptation of Swallows & Amazons – the classic tale of mysterious islands, dastardly pirates and young adventurers.
Help us celebrate by telling us about the biggest adventure you’ve ever had. Have you been camping in the wilds, sailed on the sea or slept under the stars? The most action-packed and exciting story wins a Family Ticket (2 adults and 2 children) to the Scottish Premiere at Festival Theatre Edinburgh on 31st January at 7pm.
The winning writer will also get the chance to tell their story live at the Scottish Storytelling Centre’s Telling Tales event on the 28th April. You will be treated to some coaching and tips on how to present your story to an audience with the help of event organiser and storyteller extraordinaire Tim Porteus.
Age Category?
There will be two lots of winners from two age groups:
Aged 6-10 and aged 11-15
Word Count?
400 words maximum
Who decides?
A team of judges from the Scottish Book Trust, the Scottish Storytelling Centre and the Festival Theatre
Where to submit?
Email: lindsay@scottishstorytellingcentre.com with “Swallows and Amazons Story Competition” as the subject matter
Post: Lindsay Corr, Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street, EH1 1SR
Please clearly state your age on entries and provide contact details.
The competition is open from Friday 9th December until Friday 13th January. The winner will be announced on Friday 20th January, in plenty of time for the performance!
Swallows & Amazons is a thrilling musical adventure guaranteed to charm the whole family. The story of an idyllic era, of endless summer evenings and the beauty of youthful imagination, this delightful production is directed by Tom Morris (War Horse) and features new songs by Neil Hannon from The Divine Comedy.
Only Scottish dates: Tue 31st January – Sat 4th February, Festival Theatre Edinburgh, 7pm (Wed & Sat matinees at 2pm).
£17 - £24. All children’s tickets half price!
0131 529 6000 www.festivaltheatre.org.uk (booking fees apply)
Terms and Conditions
To enter, you must be:
- (a) A UK resident; and (b) between the ages of 6 and 15 years old at the time of entry. Please clearly state your age on entries.
- The competition is not open to employees (or members of their immediate families) of Festival Theatre, Scottish Storytelling Centre or Scottish Book Trust.
- No responsibility can be accepted for entries that are lost or delayed, or which are not received for any reason.
- No entries will be accepted after 5pm on the published closing date.
- If you win, we will notify you by email/post and tickets will be issued on arrival at the Festival Theatre.
- The judges combined decision will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
- The prize is not exchangeable for cash or any other prize.
- If, for any reason, an advertised prize is not available, we reserve the right to offer an alternative prize of equal or greater value.
- Travel costs to and from theatre cannot be covered.
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