Doors Open Days is going digital this year! And This weekend, September 5th and 6th is Dumfries and Galloways turn to digitally open the dorrs to 75 amazing venues. Scotland’s biggest free festival of architecture will present its largest ever digital offering this September, as we celebrate Scotland’s buildings and stories online, through tours, lectures, DIY learning events and more.
A Spokes person for DOD 2020 told DGWGO “All across Scotland, we’re harnessing the good will and spirit of adventure of local organisations to create unique content that will inspire, educate and amuse anyone with an interest in buildings. Last year virtual visitors could scale the heights of Paisley Abbey and our Young Advisory Panel staged Instagram takeovers – what digital discoveries will you make this year? We’re asking venues and groups to produce a wide range of online offerings, such as Facebook and Instagram Live guided tours, recorded oral histories, webinars, 360-degree tours, virtual exhibitions, question and answer sessions and more.
If you’re interested in joining in, we have compiled some great resources and ideas for venues and organisations interested in taking part that will help you take the first steps.
We’ll be hosting everything through the Doors Open Days website , from where you’ll be
able to explore nooks and crannies in venues large and small across Scotland this
September. The Scottish Civic Trust will also be creating a weekly zine highlighting all of the
exciting digital events and tours on a region-by-region basis, which will be sent out through
Doors Open Days’ social media channels and e-bulletin.Ticket booking systems only for physical access to venues
We only encourage people to access buildings where the venue operators are confident it’s
safe to do so. The small number of events and buildings that will be open for physical visits
will use a ticketing system to monitor and ensure safe access according to the most current
social distancing guidelines. Numbers of visitors will be limited and monitored in line with
the latest government recommendations appropriate to the Phase of lockdown in Scotland
and the requirements of their and our insurers.Director of the Scottish Civic Trust, Dr Susan O’Connor, said:
We’re delighted to encourage our venues to become more digital this year through Doors
Open Days – it’s the best way to reach a broader range of people with Scotland’s unique
heritage, both at home and across the world. In particular, we’re looking forward to helping
our beautiful buildings and places become more accessible to those who wouldn’t normally
be able to take part in Doors Open Days for physical or cultural reasons. Making the built
environment easier for everyone to enjoy is a core part of what we do.Chair of Scottish Civic Trust, Colin McLean, said:
We at Scottish Civic Trust are excited to support the new direction for this year’s Doors Open Days as a digital festival. By taking the festival online we are not only keeping our venues and communities safe, but offering support to organisations across Scotland to develop their digital literacy. We hope that our support will give venues confidence to have a continued online presence, and that digital engagement will become a mainstay of heritage outreach in the years to come.Chief Executive of Historic Environment Scotland, Alex Paterson, said:
Providing a strong digital platform for this year’s Doors Open Day activities is a great way of ensuring people can enjoy different aspects of Scotland’s rich historic architectural heritage. Since the onset of Covid-19, we have all had to adapt to new ways of doing things, with technology playing a key role in helping achieve that, and again, here we see another great example of that in action with this year’s event.I would like to applaud the team at Doors Open Days on their creative thinking here and we at HES are proud to again be part of this fantastic annual celebration of our heritage.
Doors open days 2020 is a virtual festival, so online and will include lots of unique videos, webinars and Q&A’s etc. The website www.doorsopendays.org is live now, but the additional content/digital resources are scheduled to run from midnight prior to each area’s open weekend, so for Dumfries and Galloway from 12.00am Saturday September 5th.
Due to Covid-19 – Virtual Festival (Online only) – PARTICIPATING VENUES
1. ALLANTON WORLD PEACE SANCTUARY
2. ALL SAINTS CHALLOCH CHURCH NEWTON STEWART
3. ANDREW GOLDSWORTHY AND STRIDING ARCHES
4. ANNAN MUSEUM
5. ANWOTH OLD KIRK
6. BALMACLELLAN CHURCH
7. BARHOLM CASTLE/TOWER HOUSE
8. BRIGEND THEATRE & DUMFRIES MUSICAL THEATRE COMPANY
9. BUITTLE TOWER/CASTLE
10. BURNS HERMITAGE
11. CALLY GARDENS – GATEHOUSE OF FLEET
12. CAPENOCH HOUSE
13. CARSPHAIRN HERITAGE CENTRE
14. CASTLE OF ST JOHN
15. CAT STRAND THEATRE – ARTS AND VISITOR CENTRE
16. CLAN ARMSTRONG MUSEUM
17. CORSOCK CHURCH
18. CRAIGDARROCH HOUSE
19. CREETOWN HERITAGE MUSEUM
20. CREETOWN NOW AND THEN
21. CROSSMICHAEL AND PARTON CHURCHES
22. CROSSMICHAEL HERITAGE CENTRE
23. CRUCK COTTAGE
24. CRUGGLETON CHURCH
25. DALRY CHURCH
26. DEVIL’S PORRIDGE EXHIBITION
27. DRUMLANRIG CASTLE
28. DRYFESDALE LODGE VISITORS’ CENTRE
29. DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY AVIATION MUSEUM
30. DUMFRIES FAMILY HISTORY CENTRE
31. DUMFRIES HISTORIC BUILDINGS TRUST
32. DUMFRIES MUSEUM AND CAMERA OBSCURA
33. DUMFRIES ST MICHAEL’S AND SOUTH PARISH CHURCH
34. DUNSCORE HERITAGE CENTRE
35. GATEHOUSE FOLK THEN AND NOW
36. GEM ROCK MUSEUM – CREETOWN
37. GRACEFIELD ARTS CENTRE
38. HALLMUIR POW CHAPEL
39. JOHN PAUL JONES MUSEUM
40. KAGYU SAMYE LING TIBETAN MONASTERY
41. KELLS CHURCH
42. KIRKCUDBRIGHT GALLERIES
43. KIRKDALE WATER POWERED SAWMILL
44. KIRKMAIDEN OLD KIRK (KIRK CONVENANT)
45. KIRKPATRICK DURHAM CHURCH
46. LANGHOLM PARISH CHURCH
47. LOGAN BOTANIC GARDEN
48. MILL ON THE FLEET
49. MOAT BRAE, THE NATIONAL CENTRE FOR CHILDREN’S LITERATURE & STORYTELLING
50. MOFFAT CAN
51. MOFFAT MUSEUM
52. MOSSBURN COMMUNITY FARM
53. MULL OF GALLOWAY LIGHTHOUSE AND EXHIBITION
54. NEW GALLOWAY TOWN HALL
55. NTS THOMAS CARLYLE BIRTHPLACE MUSEUM
56. PORT WILLIAM INSHORE RESCUE
57. ROBERT BURNS CENTRE – DUMFRIES
58. ROBERT BURNS ELLISLAND MUSEUM AND FARM
59. ROBERT BURNS HOUSE – DUMFRIES
60. RUTHWELL PARISH CHURCH AND RUTHWELL CROSS
61. SACRED HEART CHURCH WIGTOWN
62. SANQUHAR TOLBOOTH MUSEUM
63. SHAMBELLIE HOUSE
64. SORBIE TOWER – OLD PLACE OF SORBIE
65. STEWARTRY MUSEUM KIRKCUDBRIGHT
66. STRANRAER MUSEUM
67. SUNDIAL COTTAGE – PENPONT HERITAGE CENTRE
68. THE OLD BRIDGE HOUSE MUSEUM DUMFRIES
69. THE CRICHTON DUMFRIES
70. THE CRICHTON MEMORIAL CHURCH AND GARDENS
71. THE MUSEUM NEWTON STEWART
72. TOLBOOTH ART CENTRE KIRKCUDBRIGHT
73. WHITHORN ROUNDHOUSE
74. WIGTOWN MUSEUM, MARTYRS TRAIL AND MARTYRS CELL
75. WWT CAERLAVEROCK WETLAND CENTRE
The Out & About section in Dumfries & Galloway is headlined by Gretna Green
A Place to Escape From it All – Scotland’s most romantic destination since 1754
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