The Commonwealth Games in 2014 was a spectacular display of world-class sporting success. But it wasn’t just about the elite athletes. It involved people young and old across Scotland celebrating, learning, creating, enjoying and appreciating through a spirit of participation, the feeling of being connected to something really quite special.
Fast forward 8 months and the effects are still tangible, and Dumfries and Galloway Council wanted to share local pupil voices as they continue to learn and be inspired through Legacy projects and their global connections.
On Monday 9 March artists and young learners came together at a special ‘Legacy Learning event’ at Gracefield Arts Centre to celebrate their learning and achievements and let people know how Legacy is still on-going for them.
Pupils from Eastriggs Primary, Lockerbie Primary and Lockerbie Academy took part in the event, talking about their own particular Legacy learning. This included new after school clubs that continue to flourish, international lniks with Kenya and St Lucia, contextualised learning around the theme of Global Citizenship and learning and working in partnership with Spring Fling. Eastriggs Primary has an on-going Commonwealth link being Scotland’s Commonwealth Village. Streets in the village are named after places in the Commonwealth – Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India and Canada can be found on street signs all around Eastriggs.
Speaking at the event was Professor Stephen Heppell, whose vast portfolio of educational projects have established him internationally as a widely and fondly recognized leader in the fields of
learning, new media and technology.
Stephen commented;
“I am in awe of the quality of work produced by the children and the ambition that they have shown.”
One dynamic Legacy Project was the exhibition of Dumfries and Galloway art that was taken to London in the Spring of 2014, curated by Spring Fling.
This project was so successful that Spring Fling are going on the road again, to Edinburgh and Berlin.
Cathy Agnew, Chair of DG Unlimited, said:
“The London Showcase Project was a tremendous team effort and has given us an excellent opportunity to get exposure for D&G arts at a national level. One of our key aims is to tell the wider world about the amazing creativity of Dumfries and Galloway – bringing people in to visit and to buy. This is of great value to our economy today, but just as importantly in creating opportunities for young people in the region to develop fulfilling future careers.”
Chair of the Council’s Policy and Resources Committee Ronnie Nicholson said;
“Spring Fling has reached out to new markets with confidence and demonstrated that artists based in and inspired by Dumfries and Galloway can flourish here. I’m proud that our legacy planning encouraged Spring Fling to take exhibitions to London and Newcastle last year and that they are about to embark on similar cultural adventures in 2015, taking Dumfries and Galloway art direct to Edinburgh and Berlin. We saw that this bold approach brought new visitors to our region last year and I am sure it will prove to be the case again, demonstrating that Dumfries and Galloway is better connected than ever before.”
Hazel Campbell, Chair of the Spring Fling Community Interest Company said;
“Our next showcase event out with Scotland will be our first international foray, when we take a group of local artists to Berlin in April 2015. We are confident that this trip will build new international audiences for Spring Fling, to the benefit of the individual artists and Dumfries and Galloway creative sector as a whole.”
Pictures attached
