Edinburgh’s Grassmarket will be transformed into a giant children’s play area on Wednesday (3 August) to mark national Playday.  The family-friendly event will promote the importance of outdoor play for young children and encourage adults to get involved too. The Grassmarket will feature six different play zones: water play, sand play, active play, intuitive play, creative play and natural play – all aimed at encouraging free, unstructured fun for young children.

http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/news/article/590/grassmarket_set_to_mark_national_playday_with_giant_kids_zone

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-14313739

Crowds are expected to flock to the newly-refurbished Victorian part of the National Museum of Scotland as it reopens following a £47.4m refit.

Sixteen new galleries take visitors on a journey through the wonders of nature, the cultures of the world and through to science and discovery.

More than 8,000 objects will be on display in the new area, 80% for the first time in generations.  The newly refurbished museum opens its doors in Edinburgh today (Friday).

Gallery37ExpressSS

Aged 14 – 19? How will you be spending the first fortnight in August…?

Are you interested in visual art or fashion design and clothes making?

Fancy a fortnight of creative fun? GALLERY 37 EXPRESS

fashion / visual art

Come and work with inspirational, professional tutors and create an exhibition of vibrant work.

Monday 1st – Friday 5th

AND

Monday 8th – Friday 12th August 2011

… at Impact Arts’ creative spaces

on Sword Street, Dennistoun.

Bus passes & lunch will be provided.

Fill in the registration form, return it to us and we shall be in touch with more info!

Any questions? Call Impact Arts on 0141 575 3001.

Three year celebration of creativity http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2011/07/27083942

Culture and External Affairs Secretary Fiona Hyslop sets out how Scotland will take advantage of the opportunities offered by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Scotland’s Cultural Plan for London 2012 and Glasgow 2014 aims to promote Scottish culture and creativity on the world stage, increase international and domestic tourism and develop Scotland’s creative sector.

Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival is now seeking submissions of short films and moving image works made by young people under 19 to compete for the Chris Anderson Award and a cash prize. The winning film will also be screened at the Leeds Young People’s Film Festival – one of the biggest film festivals in the UK for young people. This competition commemorates the life of Chris Anderson who was an active supporter of both the Festival and young filmmaking.

The Festival is set to return for a 7th time, Friday 23 ¬- Sunday 25
September 2011, spilling out of the Maltings Theatre and into various unique
architectural locations across the town during one action-packed weekend.

The Festival is now seeking submissions of short films and moving image
works made by young people under 19 to compete for the Chris Anderson Award
and a cash prize. The winning film will also be screened at the Leeds Young
People’s Film Festival ¬ one of the biggest film festivals in the UK for
young people. This competition commemorates the life of Chris Anderson who
was an active supporter of both the Festival and young filmmaking.

The Chris Anderson Award was launched in 2007 to encourage young people
involved in filmmaking and to identify promising new talent across the North
East and Scottish Borders. The award offers a cash prize which has kindly
been donated by the family of Chris Anderson – his widow Chrissie Anderson,
and his son Paul WS Anderson, director of Resident Evil and Alien Vs
Predator.

Selected films for the competition will be screened at The Maltings Theatre
on Saturday 24th September.

A young programming committee from the Festival Film Club at Berwick Youth
Project will select the programme of films that make up the final
competition programme.

“It was great to get selected for and win the Chris Anderson Award and have it screened at Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival. It made me and my friends feel very proud.” Chelsea Feeney (age 18) Beacon Hill Film Project, ‘The Pirate and the Mermaid’ Winning film 2010

“Getting a special mention was cool, it was great to have so many people enjoy my film” Abby Thomson (9) Director of ‘How to Make Friends’ Jury Special Mention 2010
For submission guidelines and entry form go to http://berwickfilm-artsfest.com/chris-anderson-award
Deadline for submissions is Friday 26th August 2011
This opportunity is available in: Scottish Borders
For further information, please contact adam@berwickfilm-artsfest.com (Adam Graham), or visithttp://berwickfilm-artsfest.com. The deadline is Friday 26 August 2011

The Hands On guide, produced by Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) in partnership with Glasgow Museums, is a step-by-step guide to using everyday and museum objects, as well as paintings, inside and outside the classroom.  The guide is aimed at early, first and second level teachers and practitioners. However, the thinking frameworks used in the guide and the tips for museum visits will be useful for teachers at any level.

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/resources/e/exploringobjectbasedlearning/introduction.asp?strReferringChannel=learningteachingandassessment&strReferringPageID=tcm:4-646682-64

Due to essential maintenance work Glow will be unavailable as of tomorrow for three working days (23rd – 27th July 2011).
During this time the Creativity Blogs, Case Studies and Glow Groups will all be unavailable. However you can still search the Creativity Portal for inspiration, resources and creative partners. There are now 90 resources to take a creative dawdle through and 73 creative partners to investigate. Happy hunting!

See the winning entries in the eighth year of this annual competition featuring work by nursery, primary, secondary and special education school pupils.

A record-breaking 5,895 entries were received this year with winners coming from across Scotland including Irvine, the Isle of Lewis and Buckhaven. Young artists were inspired by a variety of themes centering on key artworks from the National Galleries’ collection.

http://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/seasons/5:19207/date/2011-07-19/21106/21253<http://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/seasons/5:19207/date/2011-07-19/21106/21253>

ArtWorks Scotland

ArtWorks: Developing Practice in Participatory Settings’ is a UK wide programme of investment by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation (PHF) with support and funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Creativity Culture & Education (supported by Arts Council England) and the Cultural Leadership Programme.  As part of this UK wide programme the Scottish Pathfinder, ArtWorks Scotland which is match funded and led by Creative Scotland will provide opportunities for artists across all artforms to refresh their skills, network with other practitioners and tap into central information about events and courses available to them.

ArtWorks Scotland is now inviting groups of artists who currently work in or aspire to work in participatory settings (such as communities, prisons or schools) to take a lead on networking and sharing practice between Sept 2011 and Dec 2013. The groups of artists will be directly connected to the ArtWorks Scotland programme and will create a consultation base for project developments. New or existing networks of artists can apply for a total of between £1,000 and £9,000 to support activities related to sharing next practice in participatory settings through a peer to peer learning approach. Artists can either gather in a geographical area to discuss practice or come together around a topic they wish to explore and will be given basic training in peer to peer learning techniques. Both cross artform groups and groups from a specific artform are welcome to come forward for support.

If you would like further information about this opportunity and an application form please make an email request to Chrissie Ruckley at Creative Scotland putting AS peer learning networks in the title. The deadline for applications is 5pm, August 12^th 2011: Chrissie.Ruckley@creativescotland.com

Tel: 0131 523 0070

All-new chocolaty Flash Bar wins UK contest for Lenzie pupils http://www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/news/other_news/fairtrade_competition.aspx

East Dunbartonshire Council reports that the children of Millersneuk Primary in Lenzie have won a national competition to design and market a new Fairtrade snack – beating off competition from hundreds of other schools. ‘Flash Bar’ was the name of the pupils’ winning entry in the Snack Attack Challenge run by Traidcraft, the UK’s leading Fairtrade organisation. It is an energy snack containing Fairtrade chocolate and popping candy and is aimed at children.

Find out more about Traidcraft and Millersneuk Primary’s success in the News & Events section at: http://www.traidcraftschools.co.uk/