A local group of creative young people belonging to a new organisation The Young Stove get into the Christmas spirit in time for Dumfries’ Christmas Lights Switch On! The group will be channelling the idea of a Natural Christmas by hosting an ambitious community led arts project in Dumfries town centre on the 27th November. By using handcrafted gifts and natural materials the group hope to inspire a return to the traditional values of Christmas as a time of giving and a break from modern consumerism.
Young Stove member Emily Cooper said. ‘Come and find us from 3pm in Queensberry Square on 27th November – look for the amazing Christmas tree construction, exchange a Christmas wish and make a lantern present.’
The Young Stove is the latest project of arts collective The Stove Network, in development led and directed by young people ranging from 18 to 30. The project aims to create new opportunities for emerging artists and students to get involved in the local arts scene as part of the wider organisation. The Young Stove is recruiting new members, if you would like to be involved please come along to the lights switch on and to find out more about future projects and introduce yourself!
The Young Stove represents not only an exciting chance for young people to form their own creative community but for them to have a wider positive impact on the community in general and the creative landscape of Dumfries and Galloway. As one Young Stove member Michael Moore points out “The potential for art growth in the region is big, we just need that energy to be realised. Nothing beats apathy better than art”.
From 3pm until the Lights Switch on a 6pm, artists from the Young Stove collective invite members of the public to join with them in an exchange of giving and sharing. Look out for them around the Bakers Oven on the High Street. This, the first of many more such projects from The Young Stove, will encourage people to celebrate Christmas with a conscience, an ethos that is deeply instilled in the heart of the group and will undoubtedly make this an un-missable event in the Dumfries arts scene.
