Glasgow print studio trip
On the 10th and the 17th of March, Forth Valley young people attended a full day screen printing workshop at Glasgow Print Studio. Ros, who was the artist leading the workshops, taught the young people about the screen printing process.
Ros had prepared exposed screens with various text, submitted by the young people, focusing on Trans Joy and Trans Rights. The young people created hand crafted stencils out of news print to creative colourful and creative designs, focusing on the theme of Trans Joy/Rights, and other elements of the LGBTQIA+ community and representations of themselves.
The young people learned the process of mixing colours and working as a team to print their designs using screens. The group were really experimental with their use of colour- using paint brushes and pouring techniques to create flag designs, as well as abstract and gradient backgrounds. One of the young people fed back "I loved printing my art. I loved whenever people made that shocked sound every time people lift up the screen".
The final design were incredible- with visual representations of our young people, their passion for the LGBTQIA+ community, their rights and their creative abilities. When asked why is it important to raise awareness to LGBTQIA+ rights, it was fed back "so people don't forget how much we still need to fight for our rights".
The final works will be converted to digital posters as part of LGBT Youth Scotland's Trans Rights campaign, and a selection of original works will be on show for Lavender Lives Part 2's exhibition as part of Forth Valley Pride.
The Lavender Lives Part 2 project has been a project in collaboration with LGBT Youth Scotland, providing Forth Valley young people with opportunities to take part in various creative learning workshops. This has had a really positive impact and one of the young people who has attended multiple events fed back "I love trying new things all different creative projects- I wouldn't be able to access these activities otherwise like due to the cost".
Find out more here- https://www.creativestirling.org/lavender-lives
Appropriate Appropriation Workshop
At the beginning of the month, on the 3rd of February, we held our “Appropriate Appropriation” workshop, funded by The Stirling & Forth Valley Art Society.
Creative Stirling welcomed families and young people from Stirlingshire to attend. Two sessions were delivered, firstly with children aged between 5 and 11, and the second for young people aged 12+. Participants were provided with refreshments, including various fruit from Ginger roots, biscuits, hot chocolate and juice.
As a group, we discussed the various artists and their creative methods and techniques that led to their recognition for distinctive artistic styles. We delved into various art movements associated with these artists, using these to actively inspire and influence the young people’s creative works. We discussed Appropriation as an art style, discerning the line between inspiration and respectful learning from other artists, steering clear of theft or plagiarism.
The success of the workshop exceeded expectations, with both age groups producing impressive artworks. The younger children expressed fascination with colours and objects, particularly drawn to modernist movements, abstract expressionism, and pop art. They thoroughly enjoyed the tactile experience of the session, exploring diverse methods of mark-making and even getting hands on with their creative expression.
The longer teen session with larger canvases catered to portfolio building and included a visit to one of our resident artists Daniel Martin, who has his studio within our venue. His studio visit provided insight into the contemporary art industry, and learnings on his pathway into becoming a full-time artist who sells internationally. The session was incredibly helpful to the young people interested in pursuing a career in the creative industries. It also emphasised that art can be used for personal expression and relaxation, and still resonated with those not considering art as a career.
Overall, the intention of building confidence, social skills, safety, expression, and decompression was achieved. The workshop provided a nurturing environment for learning new skills, techniques, art movements, and artists, fostering collaboration and exploration in an open and inclusive space.
This is one of many workshop we have delivered that has been supported by The Arts Society. They continue to fund projects that allow families from our EDI priority groups to be creative, learn, have fun, and meet new people. We are so grateful to them for all of their support!
You can support us too by donating to us. Donations allow us to continue supporting our community through the arts!- http://tinyurl.com/donateCStir
The very random oddcast
My experience doing the CAMM course
When I first started the course, I wasn’t really know what it was about, but I was excited to learn about radio and content creation. I actually ended up learning a lot more than I expected.
The first few sessions we learned about radio and how it works, along with how to link different songs together; researching if the band/singers have collaborated or done something that relates to the next song coming up. We also learned about six degrees of Kevin Bacon which was really fun. He really is in a lot of things isn’t he?!
Then we started talking about what we wanted to create. Me and Carrie-Ann decided to do a podcast together, deciding to ours based on Reddit stories (specifically on r/amItheasshole). We thought that it wouldn’t take that long to record but we ended up going off on different rambles and at the end we were talking about serial killers.
Editing it was quite fun as we learnt how to make the audio louder or quieter depending on the section, along with cutting things out of the track. This ended up taking a while, but we got it done in the same time!
Although I chose to create a podcast, I am still interested in learning with Ryan about radio. I am going to be finding out more about Stirling Community Radio with him during my work experience.
You can listen to my podcast here.
Art Opportunities exhibition
Our latest exhibition, Art Opportunities by Scottish Autism launched this month and showcases a range of incredible work, from animation, to painting, glass, illustration, sculpture, multimedia, and textiles.
Launching on the 6th of November, their public opening event welcomed the artists, their families, Scottish Autism staff and community members to view and celebrate the work on show.
Art Opportunities is a vocational day service which offers a specially designed creative environment for individuals with autism to develop natural art and design skills. Here, adults can express themselves through a variety of art mediums including glass, textile paint and craft work. James Bilsbrough, one of the artists from Art Opportunities, said “it gives me the opportunity to progress as much as I like. I am delighted with the work I produce”. Individual's who access the service host exhibitions and sell hand crafted products to the public.
Two artists featuring work in the show are Christopher Marley and Laura Simpson. Chris said “creating art makes me feel good. I like to create art to make other people feel happy”. Similarly, creating art has also made a huge impact on Laura’s life, stating “art makes me feel great. I love to keep busy”.
The exhibition also includes it’s own pop-up shop, perfect for your festive shopping. All works on show are available to purchase from Made in Stirling store. Derek Caldwell, a stained glass artist selling work in the exhibition answered when asked how art makes him feel “feelings aren’t necessarily important, I tend to go more on what I think. Having said that, its quite liberating to be able to create something worthwhile”.
Come along and see the incredible work featured in the Art Opportunities exhibition, open daily 10am-5pm at Creative Stirling venue until December 3rd.
Lavender Lives part II
Creative Stirling have been working in close partnership with LGBT Youth Scotland to develop opportunities for LGBTQIA+ young people in our community. Our first project, Lavender Lives, allowed young people from LGBTYS’ Stirling “Triangle” and Falkirk “FK1nclude” groups to create work from an LGBT History Month exhibition: focusing on their experiences growing up as an LGBTQIA+ young person living in Forth Valley (FV).
This project was a catalyst in getting the community engaged in conversations surrounding Forth Valley Pride. This was something the young people felt passionate about: more visibility, celebrations, opportunities, and safety for LGBTQIA+ people in their area. Collaboratively, LGBT Youth Scotland, Creative Stirling and University of Stirling released a consultation for FV residents, with 92% voting in favour of FV Pride. Following this consultation, we will support the set-up of a committee who will organise FV Pride plans forward. You can see all results and get involved with FV Pride plans here- www.creativestirling.org/fv-pride.
Recently, Creative Stirling secured funding from Youthlink Arts Fund for Lavender Lives Part II. This will allow us to continue growing our partnership and provide further creative learning, employability, and confidence building opportunities for young people, with hopes for this to link in with Forth Valley Pride 2024 developments. The project has been developed from ideas, passions and interests that were highlighted by young people in our first Lavender Lives project. This opportunity will allow young people to vocalise their experiences and create work based around the theme of EDI, hate-crime, and other personal experiences.
As requested by the young people, some of the activities that we will run include comic book design, animation, ceramics, printmaking, board game design, employability skills, Queer-mapping, and podcasting. We are commissioning local creatives to work with the YP to provide them with new skills and networks to create works that empower them. It is our hope that the some of the work created can be showcased in an exhibition as part of Forth Valley Pride, with Creative Stirling hoping to host FV Pride’s youth space.
Our partnership working has helped us to develop and achieve our organisation EDI goals and priorities. We have thoroughly enjoyed working with LGBT Youth Scotland’s staff and young people and are so excited to see what our partnership work can help develop for our community in future. It is our hope to soon gain our LGBT Charter to help us continue advocating and promoting equality throughout our organisation.
If you are between the ages of 13 and 25, identify as LGBTQIA+, living in Forth Valley, and would like to be involved in Lavender Lives, please find out more information here: www.creativestirling.org/lavender-lives
CAMM roadshow: careers fair edition
This morning, Ryan and I were delighted to attend St Modans HS career fair to spread the word about our Community and Media Matters course.
Kitted out with new merchandise (including our shiny, new standing banner), sticker giveaways and sweets (which we were tricked into bringing by our work experience), we were ready to meet the S4-S6 pupils!
It was great to speak to many young people about what we do, and we currently have on offer for YP in Forth Valley. Our CAMM course, which we are currently running/offering to run directly with schools and community groups, provides young people with an introduction into the world of media and content creation. The 16 hour course, delivered in Stirling Community Media’s professional radio studios, also offers a range of employability skills. If you are interested in taking part in the course, or running this at your school/community group, you can find out more here.
Our CYA (Creative Youth Assembly) group, which newly launched last month, got off to a flying start too. CYA is a group we are running twice a month for young people we work with, age 13-25. We are finding out from our young people what careers they are interested in/want to find out more about, and we will bring in industry experts to give a taster session, talk about their journey and career pathway options.
By introducing YP to professionals in fascinating fields, that are typically perceived as challenging to access, we intend to support them to reach their dreams and show their that their goals are achievable. Find out more about CYA here.
Lastly, Creative Stirling received funding from Youthlink Scotland this year to deliver "“Lavender Lives, Part 2”.
Following on from our first project, Lavender Lives Part 2 will to continue working with LGBTQIA+ young people in Forth Valley, in partnership with LGBT Youth Scotland. The project will provide a range of fun and creative learning activities and experiences, with opportunities to be involved with the development of a potential Forth Valley Pride 2024. Find out more information here.
Big shout out to our work experience, Dream, who helped us out at the career fair today. Dream has been doing their work experience with us twice a week since August. If this is something you would be interested in, contact samg@creativestirling.org
Work Experience: Creative Stirling
Why I chose to do my work experience here
When I was looking for places to do work experience, I was prioritising creative outlets to further my skills for school and personal life. At first I wasn’t sure about what Creative Stirling was about but after researching more about it I knew I had to ask about their work experience opportunities.
I was over the moon when they said I could do my work experience for the 3 months, which worked out perfectly for me. One of the first things I did when coming here was helping Sam come up with ideas for a community website: coming up with mockups, logos, etc. It really helped my design skills as I had to learn what makes a good website, like: what should be the colour palette for the website, what should be included and the best layout. It did take me a while to get things going but now things are progressing at a good rate!
The website that I've been making will be a project that will be youth led, by youths for youths (Creative Youth Assembly.) The first session is going to be about film and media which I'm looking forward to. I will be making more things for the website to give it its own style/individuality. Hopefully if this project goes well I wish to incorporate community works into the website as well to show what CYA is doing.
I have also been doing other things while here as well, helping out with installing two exhibitions: “The World Made Me Dotty” exhibition, where I helped make the giant beach balls for it, and the “The Stirling Pioneers: Filmmakers Who Changed the World” exhibition where I helped to do the lettering on the wall for it, along with cleaning!
One of the other things that I have done is learnt how to screenprint with Sam to test the quality of the materials which turned out amazingly! I’ve also been researching different social media so they can choose the right one for them, and helping them learn about discord.
- Dream Hutchison
Forth Valley Pride
Pride has been such an important part of LGBTQIA+ culture and history, since the first pride marches took place in London, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago in the 70’s. Since then, Pride has grown, and parades and marches are now held worldwide. In Scotland, the most known parades are held in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Pride is such an incredible opportunity for people to come together and celebrate diversity, and it should continue to grow and expand.
Would Forth Valley Pride be something that could be successful? Accessing Glasgow and Edinburgh can still be difficult to get to from the Forth Valley area. There are financial and physical barriers for a lot of people that stops them being able to access these cities in a safe and reliable way.
Creative Stirling, in collaboration with The University of Stirling and LGBT Youth Scotland, have created a consultation to find out what the community think. Do residents of Forth Valley want their own Pride event to happen? Where should this be held, and what type of events/activities should take place?
The consultation was created to establish if there was initially an interest in holding Pride within the area, and if so, what would the community like to see from this. Questions were asked like ‘which month would work best?’ – ‘what elements would make a great pride…’ and included options like live entertainment, family activities, quiet spaces etc. Other questions focused on accessibility, and what the community thinks would make the event more accessible and inclusive (such as BLS interpreters, wheelchair accessibility, mental health first aiders, etc).
The form is only 10 questions long, making it super quick and easy to fill in. The purpose of the consultation is to gain a collection of opinions and preferences from the people of Forth Valley, so that it is tailored to the people’s wants, needs, input and aspirations of the community.
We have had an incredible response so far. The consultation was due to close on the 10th of October, however we have extended this until the 26th of October, to allow us more time to promote throughout Clacks & Falkirk. So there is still time to share your thoughts! You can either access this via the link below or come into Made in Stirling where you can fill in a paper form.
On the 28th of September, I took a trip to Falkirk and went around some High Street businesses to see if they would be interested in displaying a poster for their customers to fill in and to further promote the consultation throughout the whole of Forth Valley. The poster features QR code, so that viewers can scan it with their phone, and will be directed straight to the online form.
I went to local cafes (such as Pots, 4 Coo Wynd and Aroma), bookstores (such as Waterstones and The Seagulls Trust), businesses (such as the Lonely Broomstick and Midtown Tattoo Parlour) and others. The trip was very successful, and it was amazing to see the enthusiasm and support that the businesses gave.
Creative Stirling were awarded funding from Youthlink Scotland to deliver creative sessions for LGBT Youth Scotland’s Triangle and FK1 group. If you are aged 13-25, living in Falkirk, Clacks or Stirling, and are interested in joining their group, please get in touch with Barry at barry.jordan@lgbtyouth.org.uk.
Link to the consultation can be found here.
Written by Creative Stirling Community Assistant Jade Brawley
WORK EXPERIENCE AT CREATIVE STIRLING
In my school they do a work experience week for people in S4. The idea is for us to try and find a job and work there for a week to get an understanding of what it's like to work when we are adults. For my work experience I chose to work at creative stirling which I discovered through the WorkIt website. The experience was absolutely amazing and I loved every day that I came into work. The team were some of the nicest people I have ever met and made me feel super welcome from my first day coming in.
While working at Creative Stirling I helped with developing stuff for upcoming projects and designing things like flyers and instagram posts. I have been supporting the development of their “Creative Youth Assembly”, which is a monthly group that allows young people to gain new creative opportunities, learn new skills and meet experts from various industries. This really helped me because I am running as a candidate to become an MSYP for Stirling and it taught me loads of useful skills for my campaign. You can find out more about my campaign on socials @lieke_for_msyp
I loved so many things about Creative Stirling and they had a super interesting film exhibition that I was able to have a look at. It tells the story of two filmmakers from Stirling and it is something I would really recommend to take a look at.
Soon you will be able to see some of my work at www.creativestirling.org/cya (launching soon).
Overall my time at creative stirling was brilliant and I would recommend it to anyone looking to do work experience and I would definitely come here again to work.
- Lieke
The Stirling Pioneers Exhibition
Our latest exhibition The Stirling Pioneers: Filmmakers Who Changed the World is now open until October 30th.
The interactive exhibition features two icons of global film culture: the inventor of documentary John Grierson and a groundbreaking innovator in the arts of animation Norman McLaren. It portrays the personal stories of the two Stirling men and the relationship between them, including artwork by street artist and illustrator Brian McFeely aka Elph.
Films about Grierson and McLaren’s life and work are included in the exhibition alongside family photographs, images of Stirling, documents and artwork collections - many of which belong to the University of Stirling’s Archives and Special Collections.
The University’s Archivist Karl Magee says “The archives we hold at the University of Stirling tell many stories and we are excited to see how the team at Creative Stirling tell the tale of Grierson and McLaren. Every interaction with an archive brings new elements to light. One of Grierson's key contributions to the development of cinema was to nurture and develop a team of talented young filmmakers, including McLaren. Working with Joe and the team at Creative Stirling allowed me to see the archive in new ways, following the paper trail through the collection to present the interlinked story of patron and protégé”.
The exhibition is free to attend and runs from September 16th until October 30th in our exhibition space upstairs from Made in Stirling (12-4pm, 7 days a week).
Community & Media Matters
This summer, our Community and Media Matters Coordinator ‘Ryan RocKs’ delivered our project, covering different aspects of media creation including planning, production, and promotion.
The project is aimed at young people who have an interest in all forms of media and content creation. Candidates planned, designed, and created their own podcasts which they received after completion of the course.
Check out a short video below from Neela talking about her time on the course:
A Visit to SHMU
On 24th June, our Youth Development Officer Sam Green and newly appointed Community and Media Matters Co-ordinator Ryan RocKs went to Aberdeen to visit the Station House Media Unit (SHMU).
In the most simplistic terms, SHMU provide employability, meta skills, youth development, and training opportunities to the community using the vehicle of media. This was an exciting opportunity to connect with an organisation who are very established with 20 years of experience delivering community projects.
On location in Aberdeen, they have a bespoke building built onto the original station house which acts as the perfect metaphor for the growth of the organisation and visual representation of how far they have come. Since we are looking to stimulate community growth and employability opportunities via our Community and Media Matters course, as well as other community led projects, it seemed a perfect opportunity to see first-hand the services and opportunities being offered at SHMU.
Employability Manager Michelle Trail gave us a full tour of the facility showing the workspaces, offices, radio and film studios, as well as communal areas for working and relaxing. Michelle was super generous with her time, sharing her expertise, describing the road to accreditation and how we may follow suit to also offer accredited courses here at Creative Stirling.
Adele Keith (Radio Development Worker) gave insight on their radio training programme and was very gracious with knowledge sharing and offering advice on media training as well as pointers on connecting to young people via her youth development experience.
There was so much to see and learn. We are very lucky to have had the chance to connect with the team and in the spirit of collaboration, SHMU offered to assist us with any insights and relevant training materials. They also offered advice with future funding applications as well as further community development projects and media provisions.
Thanks to everyone involved in making this visit possible.