Tag: Art

  • Somewhere in the #GlasgowEffect stooshie, there’s a non-subjective question…

    If you’re involved in the arts in Scotland and you don’t live under a rock, you’ve probably heard of The Glasgow Effect by now. No, I don’t mean the phenomenon whereby people from Glasgow have an unusually short life expectancy, but the art project of the same name by Ellie Harrison. Over the past day and…

  • A theatremaker’s plea: do shut up

    I know better than to waste my time arguing with lazy clickbait articles. I do. It’s just… sometimes I can’t resist. The piece of lazy clickbait in question is this article in The Telegraph, courtesy of Douglas McPherson. He is a theatre critic. In the theatre he toils not, neither does he spin, as someone…

  • A response to Desire Lines from a grassroots theatremaker. Looooong.

    It’s taken me a while to gather my thoughts and decide how best to write about Desire Lines.   For those of you who, by dint of not being attentive Edinburgh arts folk, have not heard of Desire Lines, it is this: http://www.desirelines.scot. It’s a project started by a handful of people working in the…

  • A Short Post on Artistic Recycling

    I have always loved writing very short stories. I had been doing it for years before I found out that there was a name for the sort of thing I write (flash fiction, apparently). My flash pieces and ten minute plays are usually inspired by paintings, songs, eavesdropping or news articles. For a long time…

  • A belated write-up of Creative Scotland’s Open Session in Edinburgh

    It has been over a week since the Creative Scotland Open Session in Edinburgh. I’ve been meaning to write about it since then, but every time I start a draft I get exasperated and abandon it in favour of the work I actually get paid to do. The official write-up of the day is here,…

  • Writing for Profit and Pleasure

    Hello blog, I am sorry for ignoring you. I’ve been busy with a combination of Tightlaced stuff, end of winter craziness and freelancing. I’ve had an unusually long run of people paying me for writing, which is of course lovely and makes my bank account a happier place – but I’ve been noticing how it…

  • A plea to Creative Scotland and its board

    It’s been a while since I posted about the Creative Scotland stooshie. In December the board requested a bit of time to consider what to do next. I know it’s only the end of January (probably the beginning of February by the time I finish writing this), but considering how swiftly events moved towards the…

  • Fin Kennedy’s Quest to Educate Ed Vaizey

    I’m sure many of you have already seen this blog post by playwright Fin Kennedy. It’s the kind of post that makes me really happy to see another passionate, proactive theatremaker out there, but it’s also the kind of post that makes me want to break things when I see how little some politicians understand about…

  • A lengthy round-up of what people are saying about CSstooshie now

    Creative Scotland is the arts blogger’s gift that keeps on giving. How appropriate, as we head into the festive season. But there are gifts and gifts, and this one feels like one of those annoying noisy battery-devouring things where once you start playing, you somehow can’t stop. Perhaps that’s just me. I’m a bit tired…

  • Noting a Broken Pattern

    Today (or yesterday, I suppose) I had a really useful meeting with Sandy Thomson, Artistic Director of Bell Rock (formerly Poorboy), in her role as a Cultural Enterprise advisor. I had gone seeking advice regarding Tightlaced’s structure and legal status, as well as hoping to pick up some tips from an artist who successfully runs a…