For two days in November, the Bakers Oven on Dumfries High Street, will be the project hub for a bold new community venture for the town centre – and everyone is invited to be part of it!
Midsteeple Quarter is an innovative, community-led initiative to breathe new life into Dumfries town centre by developing a section of the High Street as a live/work quarter. Following on from recent reports that Dumfries is ‘close to becoming a ghost town’, consulting with the community has created a consensus that re-populating the town centre is an urgent necessity.
Matt Baker of Community Development Trust: The Stove Network commented, “Dumfries has seen the closure of 18 businesses in the last 4 months, and Midsteeple Quarter is an urgent response to this. Without help, the situation is likely to get worse. This is a bold initiative that will see local people developing their own High Street as a contemporary living, working, socialising, learning and enterprising hub.”
Over the 15th and 16th November, the Bakers Oven will feature a drop in space throughout the day including a People’s Dumfries exhibition, film screenings, pop up living room and work-in-progress on the Midsteeple Quarter project. There will also be several evening events and focus workshop groups to take part in.
Through the night of the 15th November, Stove Curatorial Team Member, Martin Joseph O’Neill, will become an in-house writer in residence in the Baker’s Oven, writing throughout the night as part of ongoing project – Midnight Moonlight Smalltown Rain. Words and thoughts will appear in real time on the windows of the Bakers Oven. Come dawn, the story will be complete.
To conclude the two days of events, an AGM meeting will be hosted at The Stove Network, 100 High Street on Wednesday 16th. The AGM is the chance for all 350 Stove members to hear about activity during the past year, priorities for the next one, and to have their say about what The Stove should be doing in the future. The AGM will then be followed by heading across to an evening reception at the Chapter One event at the Bakers Oven, led by Stuart Macpherson’s immersive sound work, ‘Flight’. All members of the public are welcome to attend, however, only Stove members can vote at the AGM.
Bakers Oven is located at 135-139 High Street, Dumfries, and will be open from 11am to 7pm daily as part of Chapter One.
For more information, please visit www.thestove.org, or contact [email protected].
