We Got our Pride on at The McManus!

 

Dundee was a sea of rainbows on Saturday 21^st September as an amazing 14,000 people of all ages turned out for the city’s second Pride event.

This is the first Dundee Pride that The McManus had taken part in and there was a real buzz of excitement from staff, volunteers, visitors, members of our choir in residence ‘Loadsaweeminsingin’ and our Youth Action Group.

After weeks of planning and preparations, the day finally arrived and there was already a joyous atmosphere in the City Centre from 10am.

We kick-started the celebrations out on the museum’s terrace inviting people of all ages to make some colourful creations to accessorize themselves ahead of the parade with our freelance artist team. Meanwhile in our café we hosted our first ever ‘Drag Brunch’. Visitors were treated to a hilariously entraining drag performance from the fabulous Buttercup Buffay and Natalie Caramelli!

Our visitors and café regulars enjoyed a slice of rainbow cake before the entire audience rose to their feet to all join Buttercup and Natalie dance to ‘The Macarena’!!

As the parade began to make its way around to the McManus, some of our staff members, visitors and members of our in-house choir ‘Loadsaweeminsingin’ gathered outside the front of the museum to cheer on the parade and show their support. Our Youth Action Group showcased the Pride Banners they had created alongside our partnering young people for the event, ‘LGBT Youth Scotland’. There was a real feeling of joyfulness and positivity as the carnival of colour passed The McManus, many in colourful costumes and holding up homemade placards!

Once the Parade passed The McManus our artist team and The Youth Action group proudly joined the procession as it made its way down to Slessor Gardens. All art supplies were transported in our very own ‘Pridemobile’ (a shopping trolley fully decked out in rainbow attire of course!) We spent the remainder of the afternoon in the ‘Youth Zone’ doing what we do best… Getting Creative!! Throughout the course of the afternoon a whopping 800 people visited the youth zone where young visitors relaxed in the ‘Chill-out’ area, enjoyed using a pop-up make-up and nail bar, and got hands on and imaginative with arts and crafts actives.

 

Following on from our first Dundee Pride event, The McManus is really excited to announce that we are beginning a new venture working in partnership on a Heritage Lottery fund with the incredible ‘Shaper Caper’. ‘Here. Me. Out. is a FREE yearlong project for young people exploring LGBT+ stories through film, dance, audio, make-up, music and oral history.  The project is led by Shaper/Caper in partnership with The McManus and LGBT Youth Scotland.

For more information about how to get involved contact  yolanda@shapercaper.com

 

 

Feedback from visitors to ‘Get Your Pride On at The McManus’

‘I loved the positive energy of pride and it was amazing to see The McManus supporting it!! Can’t wait for next year!’

‘This year’s pride was amazing! The support for the LGBT community is clearly growing and the future is brightly coloured!’

‘What a brilliant day! Had an amazing time at the drag brunch! So well organised and great fun! Well done everyone!’

Feedback from McManus Youth Action Group

‘Pride was very enjoyable and it made me feel part of a community!’

I loved that I could use art with YAG to express my support for people!’

 

 

 

 

Penguins and Polar bears!

Although we’ve been a little quiet on the blog front, we have been working away behind the scenes here at Creative Learning HQ getting ready for a brand new exhibition we know you’re going to love!!!

This weekend the museums new temporary winter exhibition ‘Among The Polar Ice’ brings together two major series of artworks by leading Scottish artists Frances Walker and James Morrison. The exhibition features the extreme landscapes of the Polar Regions at a time when melting ice and rising sea levels are making world headlines. The spectacular paintings offer a visual record of these fragile areas and raise awareness of global warming.

You will notice our ‘Family Space’ may appear a little icier than usual … the penguins have escaped from an original Frances Walker print and made it feel a little more like home! Wrap up warm with our ‘Polar Dress Up’ corner and prepare for your own expedition to see how many penguins you can find! We also have an exciting new range of books for you to enjoy, and lots of other creative activities to keep your little polar explorers busy!

 

Our Exhibition ‘Among the polar ice’ in the Here & Now Gallery, opens on Saturday 7th September. Play and learn in the Museum’s Family Space. Drop in each day to try out our fun creative activities, themed costumes, books and games  The Family space is open daily 10am until 5pm and returns this weekend.

 

ARTIST ROOMS: Young People’s Projects

We’ve been busy in Creative Learning over February and March as we finished up our recent project ARTIST ROOMS Young People’s Projects. If you’ve been following the blog, you’ll be familiar with our work to support young people from across Dundee to engage with and creatively respond to the work of influential conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner.

McManus Youth Action Group completed their project and last month, collaborated with Dundee Print Collective to develop their final project outcome. The groups text-based work and designs were screen printed as an artists’ book and the group were able to see this process first hand, as well having a go at printing one of the colour layers of the publication in the professional print making studio at the DCA.

I liked learning more about art and gaining confidence in making my own art.

I learned how to look at artwork differently and describe it in a whole new way.

I liked meeting new people.

Photographed by David P Scott. All rights reserved. http://www.davidpscott.com

Photographed by David P Scott. All rights reserved. http://www.davidpscott.com

Since our last blog post, The Wednesday Writers have had a busy few months completing their work for the project. The group presented their creative writing pieces to family, friends, members of the public and museum staff through a public creative writing recital in the ARTIST ROOMS Lawrence Weiner exhibition. The group also prepared their writing work for inclusion in the artists’ book publication alongside McManus Youth Action Group, enabling the writers to have their written work published for the very first time!

I enjoyed learning new things and expressing myself.

I learnt a lot about the artist and the text [work], I found it very interesting and a good opportunity to work with McManus staff.

I have learned a lot of new things about writing and it has helped me gain confidence.

The team, McManus Youth Action Group and The Wednesday Writers came together  to celebrate the creative work, skills and achievements of both groups at the end of March in a sharing event hosted for the participants and their family and friends. This was a great day to celebrate together, share experiences and to get the first look at the artists’ book publication which was shared for the first time! We were also able to bid a fond farewell to ARTIST ROOMS Lawrence Weiner in style; here’s a little bit of feedback from our project team to finish off this week’s post.

Still from video filmed by David P Scott. All rights reserved. http://www.davidpscott.com

Still from video filmed by David P Scott. All rights reserved. http://www.davidpscott.com

Still from video filmed by David P Scott. All rights reserved. http://www.davidpscott.com

I felt genuinely challenged by the discussions we had around the work and love that it required less knowledge of art history, than general knowledge or a view of life.

My role in the Youth Action Group has been very rewarding [and] working with such talented young people is inspiring!

…it’s also been wonderful seeing everyone’s confidence grow over the duration of the project, being comfortable expressing themselves creatively.