Keith Donnelly

Keith Donnelly

Arts Development Officer Visual Arts
South Lanarkshire Council

Resume: 5 short term Visual Arts Residencies

East Kilbride Arts Centre
May – October 2006

Project artists

Project Artists (clockwise from right)

Alison Philp
Rachel Thibbotomunuwi
Belinda Guidi
Dee Faulds
Lynn Wilson
Nicola Atkinson Davidson

Researcher
Dr Fiona Dean

Funding Partners
SAC Lottery (Partners Programme)
Changing Places
South Lanarkshire Council
National Trust for Scotland /
David Livingstone Centre

Project Statement

Bring the Glam to East Kilbride Artist Nicola Atkinson-Davidson

The project was divided into three components specifying each artist conclude   1) research 2) community participation and 3) consolidate/compile work for final Exhibition.

Each artist was given a working venue as a home base ; support hours from both the coordinator (Keith Donnelly) and assigned partner group (i.e. Changing Places /  David Livingstone Centre / East Kilbride Arts Centre), and a set of tools (funds, art supplies etc) from which to further develop the projects. Each artist was asked to ascertain and structure community engagement for their proposals and to successfully conclude these within the assigned budgets and allotted development hours. The cumulative efforts from each project artist and support community was presented as part of a group exhibition at East Kilbride Arts Centre Gallery on October 14 2006, for public review and celebration. To complement the exhibition and reflect on the collaborative roles and partnerships developed during the residency program a sequence of artist and community led discussions were delivered as part of a conclusive roundtable event.

Additionally, during this residence period, critical analysis was compiled per the three artist/community engagements within Changing Places by Dr Fiona Dean. Dr Dean’s findings will be presented and discussed within the Changing Places network prior to considering a final publication for public and academic review.

Past Project legacies

Gypsy Girls Beauty Salon 5 Girls Project Artist Belinda Guidi

RESUME was the culmination of ideas developed through earlier visual artist-residence and community pilot projects during 2004-05. Artists Cath Keay and Vicki Fleck kick started a successful one month project residence in 2004 at the David Livingston Centre; wherein, children and museum patrons were introduced to concepts about social value in the arts and humanities. The following year a larger residency programme was launched involving new community host partners including artists Janie Nicoll, Alex Hetherington, Sylvia Grace Borda, James Mclardy, Scott Laverie, Aya Aguchie, Kevin Reid, Gair Dunlop and Sarah Maclean. Through the interaction with this new sequence of artists and community partners – ideas of legacy, social worth in the arts became more central to the program’s development and success.  In considering these past outcomes, new target objectives with an extended emphasis on research, exhibition and community/educational engagement were proposed as a new benchmark for the RESUME residency grouping.

In reflecting on RESUME, community achievements included developing new program and social extensions for the arts. Diverse engagement provided unexpected community collaboration, for example Rachel Thibbotomunuwi advertise locally:

‘I am interested in finding the other Rutherglens and Cambuslangs in the world to create dialogue and discussion about history, identity, culture, emigration and immigration.  To date, I have located five Rutherglen Towns in Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada.  If you are aware of any namesakes of either Rutherglen or Cambuslang I’d like to hear from you  – perhaps you have family links or know of specific stories or maybe you are just interested in finding out more yourself?’

Although a short term residency provides a vehicle for cost effective arts delivery and social –engagement/intervention there may be other mechanisms which can be applied to achieve further benchmarks and long-term legacies for the continuation of the arts in a sustainable manner for each host community.

In the short-term however brief interventions, as offered through this type of artist programme, can produce new openings and insights within the visual arts envelope.