Nithraid - All Hands on Deck!

Last year we were blown away by the response to Nithraid, and this year we have grabbed the opportunity to expand and grow the event for a second year, taking place on Saturday the 13th September. The Nithraid team has once again grown, to include musicians, rollerskaters, performers, and stall holders. There has been lots of work going on behind the scenes, but now that we come into the final stretch - the last four weeks before Nithraid - we would like to ask those interested in volunteering for the event to get in touch.

We plan to run in a similar manner to the Guid Nychburris event earlier in the summer, setting up a temporary 'workshop' in the week running up to Nithraid where there will be hands-on opportunities, preparing flags and pennants, dressing the ceremonial salty cow, and much else besides! 

On the day itself things we need help with are: joining the procession through the town, erecting marquees, general stewarding, helping around the marketplace on the Whitesands there are all sorts of things we would love a little extra help with. There will be a celebratory party held on the Saturday evening to which all volunteers, race go-ers, and crews will be invited. 

One wee special job we need a couple of cyclists for...this year we will be tracking the progress of the race for people waiting on the Whitesands. We need a couple of cyclists to be following progress a long the river and phoning in updates to the team on the Sands.

If you would like to help out please get in touch, we'd love to hear from you! Just send a quick email with your availability, even for an afternoon, before the 3rd of September to katie@thestove.org. 

Nithraid 2014 - Get Your Applications in Now!

The Nithraid is a dangerous dinghy race, challenging up to fifty boats to sail from Carsethorn up the river Nith to the caul at the Whitesands in the centre of Dumfries. Competitors are required to navigate the sands, tides and three bridges - all without motors. 

Competitors from last years Nithraid mustered in Carsethorn before making the trip up river into the heart of Dumfries

The inaugral Nithraid took place last year with thirteen boats made the trip up the Caul - with first place being awarded to Piella, skippered by Adam Booth with a time of 2 hours and 6 minutes. 

This year's Nithraid is just five weeks away, taking place on Saturday 13th of September. If you are interested in taking part in this year's race please get you applications in now!

Full details on how to apply are available via the new Nithraid website here 

The Nithraid Street Market

Street market opportunity 

For this year's  Nithraid on Saturday 13th September, The Stove Network are organising a street market on the banks of the Nith at Whitesands. We are looking for interesting and creative stallholders to fill the market and attract the crowds, as well as performances and events.

Covered stalls will be provided

• for anyone offering a display/demonstration/interactive event, they will be be no charge.  
• For those primarily selling goods, there will be a charge of £30 for the stall.  
• For those selling food separate concessions are to be negotiated.

Nithraid 2013

More than 2500 people attended the Nithraid event last year - there is quite a long time for the crowds to wait for the boats....a great opportunity for people to browse in a market. And a chance for Dumfries to re-establish its riverside as a place for people rather than parked cars!

All proposals to be made by Friday 22nd August to info@thestove.org

Join The Stove Sewing Bee..

Can you sew? Volunteer stitchers are wanted to sew up some flags for Nithraid.

If you have a sewing machine and are willing to help, we have an awful lot of flags and pennants to make, to decorate the boats and the river banks for Nithraid on Saturday 13^th September.  Very easy stuff – sewing a hem and ties into lightweight ripstop nylon.  We will provide the material, pattern and instructions, you just provide the skill (and thread) to put them together.

Interested? Get in touch....  info@thestove.org 

Flags from a previous Stove project - Creetown Ferrythorn....designed by the wonderful Lisa Gallacher

Calling all Musicians!

Nithraid returns for 2014 - bigger and better than ever!

For those of you who made it down to the Whitesands last September, you may remember our fabulous scratch Samba band which paraded it's way around the town and down the river to welcome the boats.

This year, we welcome Ruth Morris and Gavin Marwick, who will be writing new music especially for Nithraid!

Would you like to be involved? We are looking for young people (16-25 ish) who would like to be part of a Balkan style street carnival band that will form the core of a procession group leading the town down to welcome the boats on the Whitesands.

We would particularly like some brass, woodwind, accordion and percussion players, but all instruments are welcome. Intermediate level and above, capable of learning a short piece of music, by ear or from music, and playing whilst walking.

Nithraid this year takes place on the 13th of September. There will be several rehearsal dates in the run up to Nithraid taking place in Dumfries at a venue to be confirmed.

Interested?? Send us a quick email to info@thestove.org with your contact details and we'll be in touch!

Opportunity: A Temporary Installation in a River

A temporary public art commission forming a central feature for Nithraid 2014, a temporary public participation event developed by The Stove Network as part of TheStove@TheStove public art programme.

Nithraid

Nithraid is a challenging sailing race from Carsethorn on the estuary, up the River Nith to the very heart of Dumfries – a distance of about 10 miles.

The Nithraid, and all its constituent parts are about re-connecting people with the River and the spaces around it. Whilst waiting for the sailors to arrive at the finishing line, the audience lining the banks of the river (2,000 last year, hoping for over 5,000 this year) will be engaged in activities created by artists as part of the overall event which are likely to include:

* A marching band in procession

* A street market along the river

* Skateboarders and rollerbladers performing

The temporary river installation commission

We want to mark the race finishing point in the river with a dramatic feature, in place just for the day of the event, Saturday 13 September.

We have few preconceptions regarding the final form of the installation, so are hoping to be surprised and inspired! The installation could definitely (but by no means exclusively) use water as its main material.

Key Dates

* Submission date for spplications 4 July 2014

* Nithraid Event date 13 September 2014

£3,000, including fees, all materials and costs, VAT.

Application procedure

A detailed brief is available from info@thestove.org

Digital applications only, to be received by 4 July 2014

for images from the inaugural Nithraid staged by The Stove - see here

The Regeneration of Dock Park

The Stove set up temporary residence one afternoon last week in the newly regenerated and renovated Dock Park as part of the ongoing festivities celebrating the park's clean face. In anticipation of this year's Nithraid, we took to the river - send massed flotillas of paper boats downstream and out to the Solway. 

Photographs: Galina Walls - more available here 

The boats were christened after famous links to the Park's history including: 
The Great Pedalo (Kirpatrick MacMillan - inventor of the bicycle and honoured by the footbridge) 
The Dragon Slayer (.. St Michael's Bridge at the top of the park)
The Tweed Rose (Rosefield Tweed Mills on the opposite bank) 

The Rosefield Mills featured as part of one of Lisa Gallaher's pieces made for TDRM: Dumfries during InBetween Dumfries. Working with local artist Evelyn Gray, Lisa produced a tweed coat incorporating Evelyn's sketches of the mills... more of that and other Inbetween projects here 

 The two week long youth festival coinciding with the school holidays was envisioned to shape how the park as a public space could be used by the good folk of Dumfries, and the re-instate the park within the psyche or awareness of the town, as opposed to a periphery space. 

With the park's Victorian history, could a new fashion for a contemporary promenading culture be re-invented? 

promenade (ˌprɒməˈnɑːd) 
 — n 1. chiefly ( Brit ) a public walk, esp at a seaside resort 
2. a leisurely walk, esp one in a public place for pleasure or display 
3. ( US ), ( Canadian ) a ball or formal dance at a high school or college 
4. a marchlike step in dancing 
5. a marching sequence in a square or country dance 

 [C16: from French, from promener to lead out for a walk, from Late Latin prōmināre to drive (cattle) along, from pro- 1 + mināre to drive, probably from minārī to threaten] 

On walking around the park, The Drying Ground particularly caught my interest - as Glasgow City Council looks to controversially impose new rules on the use of their public parks, with Drying Grounds clearly outlawed: 

" 11.1 No one shall in any park, except with the prior written consent of the Director: 

 (f) hang linen or other material, beat, shake, sweep, brush or cleanse any carpet, rug, mat or other article. "

The trampolines are due to make a comeback as part of the regeneration works 

The full list of proposed banned activities includes organised sports, gatherings of more than 18 people, walking more than 4 dogs and outdoor education - a full and interesting article on the A Thousand Flowers blog or to read the rules for yourself head here

The importance on non-commercial public spaces, and their benefit to town and city life not just in terms of regenerating the surrounding areas but also in creating spaces (and therefore towns) where people want to be is discussed by Animal Behaviourist turned City Planner for NYC, Amanda Burden in her recent TED talk (available here) 

The bandstand has also had something of a facelift.. a new alternative music venue for Dumfries?

As groups like the Incredible Edible's continue to promote and grow a greener vision for the town, how can the parks play an active role in this? How do these public spaces become once again instilled as part of the townscapes' sense of self? As 100 High Street remains closed for the time being, do keep an eye out for the Stove in exile throughout the town over the next few months, and if this great weather continues, we can maybe reconvene our meetings in the park.. 

Stove Members Gathering 29th October 2013

Brilliant to see about 40 intrepid Stove folk braving the dark winter evening to come to the Stove Members Gathering/Catch up/Planning  Thing Meeting last Tuesday night.
Old friends and new friends came and it was particularly good to see people who had helped with Back2Back and taken part in the Nithraid. The Stove is all about reaching out and working beyond the arts….in fact there was chat about whether what we are doing is really ‘art’ anyway- and does that matter.
One of the ideas that seemed to catch peoples interest and agreement was that the Stove should be about inspiring people to take charge of their own immediate environment. Too often people think that they are ‘not allowed’ to do things – we hope that our events have an ethos of ‘just do it’ about them and that others will be inspired to follow suit. We believe that people working form the grassroots with independent and locally relevant initiatives is the way that Dumfries with prosper in the future. (Sermon over!)

The evening kicked off with a Welcome led by Will – who invited Katie to talk about Back2Back – The Stove’s project for Guid Nychburris in June. Katie showed John Wallace’s lovely wee film of the event – which you can view here

Back2Back - 15th June 2013

Linda followed on with a slide show of images for the Nithraid and it was great that other people brought their own pictures to share too – even if the one of Will and Matt hugging in pink T Shirts might not see the light of day again anytime soon! More pictures from Nithraid - here

Nithraid 22nd September 3013

Nithraid really seems to have caught people’s imagination  - there was a really strong contingent of folk who had taken part and in the race and a collective determination to do it again next year. Mark Zygadlo is leading on this for The Stove and currently working very hard to raise the necessary money for next years event.

The Awesome Nithraid Scratch Band

Lots of people ask ‘how do I get involved with The Stove?’ – the Nithraid is a great example: The Curatorial Team raised some money to do a Stove project as part of the Environmental Art Festival…..we had a first think about what might be possible and relevant to both our larger programme and that of the Festival. We then put out an invite to Stove Members which said ‘Stove is going to do something for EAFS – it will be connected to the River Nith in some way….if you are interested to be part of this then come along on this day and we’ll all brainstorm ideas together’ . About 10 people came to that original meeting…the idea of Nithraid was born and Mark Zygadlo and Stan Bonnar became part of the project team that made the Nithraid happen. 

The Nithraid was a proper challenge!

Along the way other folk were pulled in by word-of-mouth and adverts etc eg Roy Kerr from Nith Navigation and all the folk who took part in the race. Then closer to the date we put out another call for people to be part of the crew for the day and we were thrilled that about 12 people came and were part of making the whole thing happen on the day (from being part of the scratch band, to catering, to stewarding, to releasing the banners into the water, to helping get the boats out of the water).

The Archivist (by Stove Members: Jo Hodges, Robbie Coleman and Dave Giblin) at Environmental Art Festival Scotland

Matt then showed some slides from the Environmental Art Festival Scotland – The Stove was part of the team (with Spring Fling and Wide-Open) that thought up and produced the festival. One of the great things about EAFS was the way it provided opportunities for so  many people in D+G to take part and the way different people worked together – just about everyone in the room had been part of EAFS in some way – great feeling!!
Photo from EAFS

Colin talked introduced Dumfries Music Conference with a video from last years event and a run down of this years programme that was starting the day after this Gathering.

Hector Bizerk onstage at DMC at The Stove 1st Nov 3013

Matt then rounded off the presentations with a quick run through of The Stoves 3 year programming plan.  In synopsis this breaks down into:
2014 – intensive focus on Dumfries with TheStove@TheStove (including residency opportunities for Stove members)
2015 – First part of year finishing TheStove@TheStove before focussing on the second Environmental Art Festival Scotland for September/October that year
2016 – Year of Architecture in Scotland….The Stove hopes to be a main partner in the festival in SouthWest Scotland and pick up themes form work in Dumfries and across the region through EAFS……imagining a sustainable future for D+G.

Another big push for The Stove recently has been in the way we are using different media in our work. Katie Anderson is now building on the great foundation made by Mike Nicholson on Social Media for The Stove. Our Facebook page has never been busier and Katie has become surgically attached to her IPad it seems.

Check out The Stove on Facebook
And on Twitter.

And if you're not yet a member and fancy being part of The Stove mission to change the world then send an email to info@thestove.org and Sheila will send you a membership form. Membership is free and gives you no obligations whatsoever....you'll just get emails and updates from The Stove and the offer of being involved in projects, commission opportunities and members rates on room hires etc.

Nithraid - The Results are In!

The Whitesands came alive this weekend - as the Nithraid did indeed come up with the tide. From the starting point at Carsethorn, thirteen boats made the trip up the Caul - with first place being awarded to Piella, skippered by Adam Booth with a time of 2 hours and 6 minutes. But a challenging race it proved, as sand banks, strong currents and low winds proved the course to be a tricky one. 

Photo credits: Colin Tennant - see more here

The Salt Cow being lowered into the Nith by the winning team Photo credits: Oriel Marshal - see more here

Photo credits: Brian Kerr - see more here

The Salt Cow was paraded through the streets of Dumfries with all ceremonial care which gathered numbers as it passed the Midsteeple, rounded the Burns statue (twice), down the Vennels and across the Devorgilla bridge to continue a loop around the river bridges to the beating of drums (and diggeri-moos). 

Photo credits: Rosi - see more here

Banners were released over the old bridge as the boats arrived, proclaiming the words of Dumfries including

Seize the potential.

On the brink.

Decent.

Cut rates.

Photo credits: Katie - see more here

Photo credits: Martin Johnston of DGWGO see more here

Despite the slightly dreich conditions - spectators arrived and lined both sides of the river to behold the unusual sight. Many thanks go out to everyone who was involved and to all who turned out on Saturday.

I know to wait till the tide is high...

It's almost here! The final preparations are underway this week as The Stove prepares for the inaugral Nithraid. The highest tide of the year is this Saturday, and with it will arrive the intrepid sailors from Carsethorn. A spectacle is promised so be sure to keep an eye on the Nith between 12.30 and 3.30... 

The #Nithraid sets sail on Social Media

We've been busy gathering words for The Nithraid this week. When the boats arrive in the town on Saturday 21 September, they will be greeted by The Stove’s huge fabric banners floating downstream from the Old Bridge, welcoming them to Dumfries with messages from the townspeople.

The #Nithraid discussions on Twitter and Facebook have arrived at 'Three words for Dumfries' - as broad and as limited as it sounds. We've had some really interesting contributions.

Here's a summary of The #Nithraid tweets and posts:

We'll continue the discussion on Facebook and Twitter this week. Come along and join in!