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World
Community Arts Day 17/02/09
GULLIVER
including The Jack Kane Centre/Wauchope House and the Ice House
New photos of Gulliver being built from Ken Wolverton
See Gulliver from Google Earth
Flickr set of Gulliver photos Flickr gulliver photo
In recent months we have been working to raise awareness of the importance The Gulliver Sculpture and the wish to see it restored to its full glory and part of a Public Art Trail. Sadly now it is looking very neglected. The area where Gulliver is infact near where the Wauchope family lived and the historic Niddrie House was. The Ice House is still there, and listed, but is under threat too.
Online
Archive gets over 60,000 views
We believe there is great interest in Craigmillar, Gulliver being an important
element.
We know this because of the success of Arts The Catalyst Exhibition (6000+
visitors) and Award winning film (International Edinburgh Festival 2005),
our 6 publications (Let The People Sing has sold 2000
copies worldwide), our two International conferences.
Our contribution to the World community Arts Day 17/02/07 was to launch our
Cultural, Arts and Heritage Trail website. It has had over 25,000 views so
far, by far the most popular pictures being Gulliver Sculpture at its peak.
Of course The Gentle Giant who symbolizes the community’s long journey
from "hard man" to "Gentle Giant", which of course the
current regeneration is all about. In fact Gulliver as a world image that
many from many cultures understands works very well. The image of a Giant
caring and sharing is a vision many would share worldwide of how a society
should be.
New links
Google earth/Gulliver du Jimmy Boyle
Measuring social media slide set
20th Century Society
State in a letter to The Planning Department at City of Edinburgh Council: " This striking structure is unique in its design and historic context: It is highly important for the social and cultural history of Scotland and should therefore be protected. We consider this piece of public art of great importance in terms of its architectural and socio-historic merit"
Historic Scotland
"the piece is of cultural and social value as a piece of art which contributed to community regeneration"
The Glasgow Herald article
Helen Crummy,
MBE, became a key figure in the community when she helped set
up the Craigmillar Festival Society, which provided a social and cultural
focus for the area until it folded in 2003. The 86-year-old said: "Gulliver
refers back to a significant period of Craigmillar social and cultural
history, when its people won international
acclaim for pioneering the use of arts as the catalyst for social action,
social caring and social change. It is a one-off and is the longest concrete
sculpture in Europe. It was constructed in the late 70s by a team of local
adults and young people under
a Craigmillar Festival Job Creation Scheme after being designed by Jimmy
Boyle.
Children were consulted and alterations made at their request. Not only did
it take them off the streets, it provided scope for imaginative play."
Mr Boyle, 61, who continues to work as an author and artist, said: "I
can tell you that the sculpture is a symbol of that particular period when
disadvantaged communities were for the first time demanding to be heard.
That collective voice was and remains powerful."
Beth Shadur, USA
A mural artist from Chicago, was involved in Gulliver's inception. She said: "The Gulliver sculpture has been referred to many times in presentations as a successful example of how the arts can change lives. This work needs to be valued and even restored, and could become a centre of any redevelopment as an actual asset to the community."
Jon Pounds, Chicago Public Art Group.
A recognized expert in Public Art and Community Art states:
"The Gentle Giant is a cultural legacy and should be incorporated into new planning as a historic marker and as a unique place that will continue to delight and inform young minds."
David Harding (ex head of Environmental Art and Sculpture at Glasgow School of Art)
A recognized expert in Public Art and Community Art states:
“ In 1978 the Festival Society produced a major report with 400 recommendations
on how to improve life on the estate. The title of the report, The Gentle
Giant, was named after a 100 foot long land sculpture of Gulliver conceived
and designed by Jimmy Boyle while still a prisoner in the Special Unit
in Barlinnie Prison in Glasgow. It was formally dedicated and unveiled by Billy
Connolly in 1976.”
Neil Cameron, The Centre for Creative and Cultural Development, Tasmania.
A well known Theatre and Festival director, who was Artistic Director of CFS when Gulliver was constructed.
"One cannot help but get the feeling that if this cultural structure was made by people from more privileged backgrounds and had emerged from the ‘arts community’ there would be an uproar even by the suggestion that a cultural Scottish icon be destroyed."
Ken Wolverton, USA
"I was the lead artist who worked with the Craigmillar festival to initiate the Gulliver sculpture (see http://kewolve.com/Communityarts.htm). I worked directly with the local team of cement finishers for the first week in getting them started in creating the ground sculpture. My role was purely to inspire their confidence in being able to do such a monumental piece. They succeeded beyond my expectations and created not only the sculpture but community pride in knowing local people could empower their own lives. Therefore to destroy the sculpture is also the destruction of a moment in history of the community of Craigmillar. All shall be diminished."
Community Arts.net/API news USA
This important website for information and expert knowledge from the USA, featured the plight of Gulliver.
Community Arts feature on Jimmy Boyle and Gulliver
The Guardian, UK
"Few of the tens of thousands of culture lovers flocking to Edinburgh this month will stray on to the council estates where many of the city's poorer residents live. But in Craigmillar, just two miles from the festival's city-centre hub, a debate is raging about plans that threaten the symbol of a groundbreaking grassroots culture and regeneration initiative that flowered on the estate during the 1970s."
Here is the links to articles:
Glasgow
Herald
The
Guardian
Edinburgh
Evening News
API
News
Sunday
Express
Newstart
Magazine
And others not on internet anymore
BBC
Radio Scotland Culture Show
Craigmillar Chronicle
Jack Kane Centre
The Jack Kane Centre, still a centre of the community, houses a mural created in the late seventies by a series of local artists. Jack Kane was Craigmillar's councillor for 38 years and Edinburgh's first Labour Lord Provost.
Click to find out about Jack Kane
Other links
THE VISION OF GULLIVER:
The Comprehensive Plan For Action
(digital copies are for sale)
" Copies of the plan (CPA) have been dirtributed to China, the USA, Russia, Israel, Canada and India and throughout Europe - the imagination, vivacity and local creativity that has blossomed from a community arts festival in 1962 is seen as an example with worldwide signifinance."
George McRobie (Small Is Possible, London: Jonathan Cape, 1981 — this
is part of the E. F. Schumacher Small Is Beautiful trilogy)
INTRODUCTION
'This Plan is basically a working document, a
kind of green paper, which requires shared government, partnership between
the
people
of
Craigmillar
and the local and wider authorities and agencies. It contains a vision
of Life in the years ahead. The vision is the achievement of a viable
community with alt the
necessary ingredients of amenities, facilities and services. But the
action plan includes a very large plus. It is the taking of responsibility
by
the people of the area themselves in a joint fulfilment of the vision
with the outside authorities and wider community. In such a sharing
of developing and governing there is revealed a new way which has great
relevance
for all other similar areas as well as those from which many of the
people of the housing estates come, the inner urban areas.
Its basic importance lies in the fact that it advocates and signifies
a change in politics and economics to yield a more fulfilling society.
It is highly relevant. It proposes, by engaging and activating local
people, such as the planning and carrying out in partnership with outside
agent's
projects which improve
the quality of Life to do more with the limited public funds and other
resources'.
THE CPA made over 400 recommendations on how to improve Craigmillar.
GULLIVER REPRESENTS A COMMUNITY THAT CARES AND SHARES
This is how The CFS cared for the community in 1976.
Every person in Craigmillar was by right a member of CFS.
All projects were linked through CFS.
Annual Festival
Street Carnivals
The Fayre
Community Musical
Late Night Reveue
Castle Theatre
Old Time Music Hall
Variety Show
Pop Concert
Childrens Threate
Sports Tournament
Disco Dance
Barn Dance
Costume Banquet and Ball
Childrens Show
Films
Funfair
Art Exhibition and Competitions
Planning Exhibition
Castle Floodlighting
Other Arts Events
Edinburgh Fringe Theatre
Edinburgh Festival Parade
Parades and visits outside to othe communities
Annual Pantomine
School Library Show
Dentist Puppet Theatre
Winter Festival Event
Grand Carol Concert
Playschemes
8 Summer Playschemes
2 Easter Playschemes
1 Christmas Playschemes
Outings and Trips Camping
Residential Holidays
Caravan Holidays
Children All Year Round
Saturday Clubs
After School Clubs
Evening Clubs
Handicapped Clubs
Classes and Workshops – Music, Drama, Art, etc.
Sports (indoor and outdoor)
Playbus
2 Preschool Playgroups (Niddrie and Craigmillar)
Youth
3 Youth Clubs
Unemployed Clubs
Residential Holidays
Sports (indoor & outdoor)
Fishing Clubs
Football Clubs
Community Services
Special Education Unit
Other Adults
Old Time Dancing
Drama Clubs
Arts and Crafts Clubs
Costume Drama Wardrobe
Neighbourhood Training
Art Centre Workshops – for all ages
Music – instrumenta
Writing and singing
Drama and Dancing
Photography
Writing
Arts and Crafts
Puppets
Film and Video
Silk screen Printing
Print shop
Sports (indoor and outdoor)Eldery and Hanicapped
Register covering area
Street Volunteer Network
Buzzer Alarm Systems
House Calls
Housebound Day Clubs
Lunch and Social Clubs
Handicapped Club
Annual Holiday Groups
Outing and Trips
Domino Club
Warmth Centre
Day Club Lounge
Concerts and Dances
Bowling Club
Special Projects
Community Lawyer
Swimming Pool
Special Education Unit
Prefessional Seconment
Student Placements
Audio Library
Community Seminars
Brass Band
Tapestry
Open Community Meetings
Annual Genral Meeting
Annual Craigmillar Convention
Bi-monthly General Meetings
Monthly Executive Meetings
Monthly Working Parties on:
Planning, Transport, Housing, Environment, Amenities, Childcare, Youth, Elderly,
Social Welfare, Education, Employment, Arts, Communications.
Special Day Conferences:
Employment
Housing
Children and Youth Education Debates
Community Lunch
Held 1st Wednesday of each month
Community Transport
ART THE CATALYST EXHIBITION FINAL REPORT/VISION SEEKS FOR THE CPA TO BE
UPDATED.