Orkney Arts Forum
Minutes of meeting held in the St. Magnus Centre on
Thursday, 17th April 2008 at 3.45pm
Present:
Alistair Peebles
Gary Amos
Neil Firth
Clare Gee
Glenys Hughes
Gaynor Jones
Marita Lück
Tanya McGill
Catherine Parkinson
Matilda Tumim
Anna Whelan
1. Stromness Townscape Heritage Initiative
It was hoped that Miriam Frier would be able to attend the meeting to talk about the Stromness
Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) but she was not available. Miriam has confirmed that she can
attend the next meeting instead.
Matilda was concerned about the lack of opportunity for parents and residents in Stromness to input
into the development of the new primary school and it was agreed to discuss this under item 9.
2. Apologies:
Caroline Docherty
Chris Giles
Robert Livingston
Chessa Llewellyn-White
Alistair welcomed a new member of the Arts Forum, Tanya McGill, Cultural Co-ordinator Manager at
Orkney Islands Council.
3. Minutes of the last meeting
Agreed as a true record.
It appears that several members of the Forum did not receive papers for the meeting. Action: CG to
check mailing list and update.
4. Matters arising from the minutes
Winterings project – Gaynor explained that whilst VAO had been very happy with the project and
were happy to manage the budget, it ended up being quite onerous and took up more staff time than
anticipated, particularly in relation to making claims and record keeping.
Glenys confirmed that the Forum will not publish the “Winterings” score and the composer will receive
any rights payments. The piece will not be performed at this year’s festival but it is hoped to perform
it again in the future.
Actions from previous minutes – Clare confirmed that she has sent a letter to Iain Crozier of NHS
Orkney inviting them to join the Forum. Adverts have been placed in the local press again inviting
new artform representatives to express interest in joining the Forum where there are vacancies, and
Clare had invited Miriam Frier to attend this meeting (see item 1).
5. Cultural Co-ordinator Programme
Tanya explained the background to the Cultural Co-ordinator programme, which is now in its second
phase, with herself and Celia MacInnes (Cultural Co-ordinator) coming into their posts in January
2008. Their appointments are to facilitate arts and heritage activity and create links between artists,
arts and heritage organisations into Orkney schools.
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Tanya’s background is in arts management in Northern Ireland, most recently working for the Lottery
funded NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts). She has also worked
within festival management and at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Tanya described several current projects being managed or supported by the team, including the
Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital artist residency, a schools crafts residency funded by Scottish
Arts Council, the development of a Youth Music Forum and the management of the schools
instrumental courses. A number of projects are also in developments, such as a travelling gallery
and a storytelling project.
6. Arts Development Plan monitoring
Clare tabled a copy of the arts development action plan, which includes a ‘traffic light’ system for
monitoring delivery of the priorities. It was agreed that this format should be used for regular
monitoring, and that the action plan will be formally monitored twice a year, at the March and
September meetings. Action: members to provide CG with updates in February and August
and CG to update the action plan to bring to March and September meetings.
Several of the priorities were discussed including public art in relation to planning and development of
new buildings.
7. Elected member representation update
Anna updated the Forum and explained that the Orkney Community Planning Partnership Steering
Group has requested that the Partnership Liaison Group pursue the potential to have elected
members on community planning groups. As part of that process Clare has confirmed that the Arts
Forum would like elected member representation and expressions of interest will be sought from
elected members for the various forums that have invited representation.
8. Artform feedback and updates
Marita fed back to the Forum on a major event held by the European Fairytale Association in
Germany. She attended as a lecturer and performer and was hugely impressed by the way the
whole city was involved, through a variety of performances, art works and school children’s activities.
The event included discussion of the positive role storytelling has within healing. There is a potential
for members of the association to visit Orkney in 2009/10 with links via the Scottish Storytelling
Centre and it would be good if the Forum and Orkney as a whole could support that visit.
Matilda let the Forum know that the second HI~Arts visual arts gathering will be taking place in
Inverness in mid-May.
The launch of the poetry anthology which has been created as a celebration of the George Mackay
Brown Writing Fellowship went extremely well at the Pier Arts Centre on St Magnus Day – 16th April.
9. Any other Business
Stromness Library – Gary reported that OIC’s Education, Recreation and Cultural Services
Committee has approved a report to build a new library as part of the new Pier Head Regeneration.
He will be attending the first meeting of the project group on 18th April and there are plans to include
a writers’ centre as part of the library’s facilities.
Tanya responded to Matilda’s concerns about the lack of opportunity for parents and residents in
Stromness to input into the development of the new primary school with suggested contacts and
strategies for engagement.
10. Date and time of next meeting
3.45pm – 5.15pm on Thursday 11th September 2008, at the St Magnus Centre
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