Praise for Innovative Inverness Arts Project
The Provost of Inverness, Councillor Jimmy Gray, has praised the innovative arts project, Re-Imagining the Centre, which took place recently in the city centre. ‘Re-Imagining the Centre,’ involved 28 artists in 12 separate projects who used the city centre as an arena for a variety of performance, street art, dance, music and projections. Running alongside was a discussion forum entitled ‘The Clamjamfrey’ in which participants from many fields with an interest in the arts engaged in a debate about art in public spaces in the Town House and Inverness Cathedral.
Provost Gray described the event as one of the most innovative art events to be held in the city centre. He said: “The project has been good for Inverness in that it has attracted crowds to the centre, raised the profile of the city and had a resulting positive economic impact. The Highland Council has been happy to support this exciting project and to see people of all ages enjoying themselves in the streets and taking pride in the city.”
The project was designed to showcase and celebrate the regeneration of the old town. While the new spaces created by the Streetscape project were featured, many of the secret hidden places were also highlighted through the gold leaf ‘sunbeams’ created by artist Ginny Hutchinson that penetrated into the darkest corners of the city as part of the ‘Seven Sunsets’ project. Other unexpected locations were clothed in red yarn to celebrate special architectural features or highlight hidden places including Bow Court and the Old High Churchyard. This project was masterminded by two talented local artist/designers who call themselves Sundogs. Their joint creative energies were directed at showing their affection for the city through the gentle, and surprising, medium of knitting.
The £45,000 project was funded from Cities’ Growth Fund £23,000; Highland Legacy Fund £5,000 Scottish Arts Council £15,000; Newcastle University/Intersections £1,000 (ring-fenced for the Philosophy Debate); and the Scottish Arts Council Lottery £1,000 (ring-fenced for Clanjamfrey lecture by Neil Gabie, internationally-renowned artist).
Leisa Blackadder, of Rendezvous Café said: “It was wonderful to see Inverness abuzz with different arts projects and folk out on the streets chatting to the artists, getting involved and enjoying being in the city. Crowds of folk were attracted to Church Street on Saturday, and this was the best day of business we've ever had since we opened two years ago!”
Inverness Old Town Art, who managed the event, were delighted with the warm response generated by the project, from the generosity of their supporters who lent premises for free to the evident enjoyment of the participants and spectators alike. Project Manager Susan Christie said: “We were overwhelmed by the numbers of people who actively wanted to get involved from artists and traders to the pupils of Bishop Eden and Millburn Academy who threw themselves wholeheartedly into the Dance Troupe event with Amy Marletta which made everyone smile on Saturday afternoon….a big thank you to everyone who took part.”
It was agreed at the City Committee meeting that three committee members should join the management team running the Inverness Old Town Art project and that a report on the funding breakdown of all IOTA projects be brought back to the next City Committee.