New Team Gets to Work on Developing Arts across Dumfries and Galloway

From organising major music festivals to bringing movie makers to the region – area convenors have huge experience in the arts

Four Area Arts Convenors have begun work in Dumfries and Galloway as part of a major drive to develop the region’s creative sector.

The arts make a growing contribution to the life and economy of D&G and the convenors will have an important role in providing the professional support to help them thrive.

They form an essential part of the region’s new arts structure, unique in Scotland, which gives artists and arts organisations greater control of their own affairs.

Kathleen O’Neill, D&G’s Regional Arts Convenor, said: “We are really fortunate to have been able to put together a tremendous team of convenors who will be able to support creative people, events and organizations in every part of the region.

“Each of them has a long track record of involvement in the arts and together they have a truly formidable range of experience and knowledge which covers everything from film and performance to founding major festivals like Wickerman.”

The convenors are commissioned on a freelance part-time basis and will work with artists and arts organisations to push ahead with a series of projects until September 2015. Each will cover one of the four former districts of D&G:

· Alan Thomson for Annandale and Eskdale

· Belle Doyle for Nithsdale

· Cate Ross in the Stewartry

· Sid Ambrose in Wigtownshire

Cathy Agnew, on behalf of the D &G Chamber of Arts which is now leading the strategic development of the sector across the region, said: “We are taking a new and innovative approach to developing and promoting the arts in Dumfries and Galloway. We hope to create a model that strengthens our creative industries and helps contribute to the economic development of the region.

“The Area Convenors will have a vital role in encouraging artists and arts organisations to develop and co-ordinate their activities and bring exciting new opportunities to the region. We want to see as many people as possible have the chance to experience and enjoy the arts.”

Councillor Ronnie Nicholson, Leader of Dumfries and Galloway Council, said, “I am pleased to see the completion of this latest step in sustaining a vibrant arts sector in Dumfries and Galloway. The last two years have been a transition phase as we work on the Creative Future project in collaboration with the arts sector, through the Chamber of Arts, and with Creative Scotland.

“Arts and crafts play an important role in the economy of Dumfries and Galloway and enrich the lives of people who live in and visit our region. I wish the Regional and Area Arts Convenors every success in their roles and look forward to some exciting developments for the sector.”

The region’s new arts structure resulted from the Fresh Start project which took place in 2013 and from a series of successful pilot projects designed to find a new way forward for the sector.

Introducing the Area Arts Convenors

● Cate Ross – trapeze artist and arts organiser

Cate is independent artist and freelance community arts development worker. She moved to the Stewartry in 2008. Cate provides locally based circus arts training, specialising in dance trapeze through her organisation ‘aethAERIALarts’.

Cate holds a Master of Fine Art Degree in Printmaking, a BA Honours Degree in Applied Art (Illustration) as well as a professional certificate in Stage Dance, all of which coalesce into multi-disciplinary artworks that are enjoyed internationally; she has exhibited extensively in the USA, Scotland and Japan. With a Post Graduate Certificate in Community Education under her belt Cate has also been applying arts practices and education to community arts development projects since 2001.

Cate has volunteered for the Stewartry Arts Hub and original Chamber of Arts since 2011. Last year she won commissions to be the Cultural Research Support Worker for the Stewartry and an Arts Mentor to two young Stewartry artists as part of the DGAP Youth Arts Learning Journey project.

Cate said: “I am very impressed with the way that so many members of the D&G community have come together to create this exciting new opportunity to support the arts, culture and heritage within our communities. I have worked across the region, nationally and internationally as an arts and community development practitioner and my heart is now set on raising the profile of the wonderful creativity and life affirming treasures that the area has to offer.”

● Sid Ambrose – founder of Wickerman

Sid is a native Gallovidian with a real passion for the people, places and produce from the region. His career path has been varied and colorful including a stint as a tattooist and working as a tunnel builder.

For the last 15 years he has been fully immersed in either producing promoting or filming arts and music events.He is best known for coming up with the concept for the Wickerman festival and was artistic director for over a decade.

Currently involved in a number of projects through his company SidPR.com,he feels that Dumfries and Galloway is a uniquely creative place which takes its inspiration from both the landscape and resilient population.

He said: “Over the last decade I have been extremely fortunate to have been involved in a number of high profile projects from Wickerman to Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival.I am very much looking forward to bringing the skills I have acquired back to Wigtownshire and assisting local artists to meet their full potential.”

● Belle Doyle – who helped win TV’s Two Thousand Acres of Sky for D&G

Remember Two Thousand Acres of Sky or the Peter Mullan movie The Magdalene Sisters? Belle Doyle had a key role in bringing both these to Dumfries and Galloway. Last year she was also the Fresh Start Youth Learning Journeys Co-ordinator.

As the council’s film officer Belle played a pivotal role in attracting Mullan’s production team to the region and ensured that all ran smoothly for the TV folk who made the successful BBC drama at Port Logan.

This was the time of Foot and Mouth, when the D&G economy was under severe pressure, not least because of a severe downturn in tourism. The £1m that the movie and TV shows brought to D&G was one of the few welcome bright spots – benefiting all kinds of businesses, including hotels and restaurants.

For the past seven years Belle has been away in Glasgow continuing her career in film and TV but returned to Dumfries in February. Since then she has been getting active in the local arts scene and is now on the board of The Stove.

She said: “It’s an exciting time to be involved in the arts in Scotland, and, more specifically, to be involved in a new artists’ led movement that has real momentum and ambition.

“At the moment, Dumfries & Galloway is being seen as the site of a revolution in arts practice that brings in real social change, economic regeneration, and public engagement with the arts, and as far as I am concerned, Nithsdale is at the heart of this revolution.”

● Alan Thomson – arts development specialist

Alan Thomson is well known across the region following his 10 years’ experience with Dumfries and Galloway Arts Association, latterly dgArts, where began as Area Development Co-ordinator before progressing to become Business Manager and Depute Director. Since then he has been developing arts projects and managing events on a freelance basis.

Alan is delighted to be taking on the challenge of the Annandale and Eskdale Arts Hub Convenor role so that he can support the artists and organisations of his home district to achieve their aspirations. He said: “This is a time of change for our creative sector, when innovative partnerships and collaborations are at the heart of contemporary arts practice; I look forward to working with ambitious practitioners on a wide range of projects.

“Annandale and Eskdale’s superb transport links mean that rather we can make the most of our proximity to the central belt and our links with Borders and Cumbria.”