) along to support this venture. It won't take long, it'll be great fun (it will.....) and to make it work we NEED YOUR SUPPORT. In the unlikely event that the weather is bad we'll change it to Sunday. Please try to come along. Thanking you in grovelling anticipation.Big Art - Opportunity Knocks!!
Big Art - Opportunity Knocks!!
Channel 4 are running a competition to win a public work of art. Several POL members (and non members) are keen to put Portobello forward for this competition. To aid our bid we have organised a photoshoot at the foot of Marlborough Street (on the cakestand) at 10.30am on Saturday 26th November 2005. We really need POL members to bring their grannies, parents, children, dogs, spouses, POL T shirts ( ) along to support this venture. It won't take long, it'll be great fun (it will.....) and to make it work we NEED YOUR SUPPORT. In the unlikely event that the weather is bad we'll change it to Sunday. Please try to come along. Thanking you in grovelling anticipation.
) along to support this venture. It won't take long, it'll be great fun (it will.....) and to make it work we NEED YOUR SUPPORT. In the unlikely event that the weather is bad we'll change it to Sunday. Please try to come along. Thanking you in grovelling anticipation.Enough of your nonsense - get back to the Play Pen!
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Bob Jefferson
- Posts: 6212
- Joined: 11 Dec 2004, 21:16
- Location: Planet Porty
- Contact:
-
Bob Jefferson
- Posts: 6212
- Joined: 11 Dec 2004, 21:16
- Location: Planet Porty
- Contact:
Our submission is now in, along with over 800 others. This is the main section, written by Marya with additional material from Robert Gatliff:
Why do you want some art? Why should your site be selected?
Portobello, a finalist in this year's Calor Gas Scottish Community of the Year Awards, is a suburb of Edinburgh and lies on the coast, to the East of Scotland's capital. It has its own special identity and, indeed, was a separate town until 1896, when it was incorporated into Edinburgh. It boasts a proud past as a thriving beach resort (a young Sean Connery was a lifeguard in the now demolished open-air swimming pool) and has a legacy of a wonderfully eclectic mix of Georgian, Regency and Victorian architecture to prove it. Our local public swimming baths retain fantastic, renovated Victorian tiled Turkish baths and steam rooms, which attract people from far and wide.
The site itself once contained two large villas. The garden of one of these was used as a site for a tented theatre that hosted a variety of shows each summer. The buildings, along with an adjacent sandstone tenement block of flats, with ornate iron balconies named Marlborough Mansions, were demolished in the 1960's as the initial part of a Council plan to redesign the Promenade and adjacent areas. The grand plans to demolish a larger section of housing close to the beach were withdrawn. This left a gap site that remains to this day. At one time there was a crazy golf course and trampolines, but these were removed in the 1980s when the Council undertook a new planting scheme, constructed a small play area, and a round plinth, about 6 metres across was erected near the centre of the site. Speculation abounds as to what was intended for the site. Plans have long been lost and the site now lies forgotten by the City Council.
In recent years, Portobello has become the neglected neighbour of Leith – Edinburgh's more upmarket bar and bistro ‘docklands' style development (‘Trainspotting' was a work of fiction remember!). Leith has been transformed into Edinburgh's ‘Forth Riviera' while we have lost our pier, our fun fair, our theatres (that once hosted performances by local artists such as Sir Harry Lauder), our zoo, our railway station and our open-air pool. However, our pride in our area still remains.
Portobello is a thriving community, full of people who are proud to live here; some were born here and choose never to leave, while, others, such as myself, came with their young families for the sea air and its strong sense of community and were not disappointed. We are a vibrant, fun loving community with a very active arts community, including visual arts, music and poetry. For instance, this summer, Portobello Community Council commissioned a couple of artists to build sand sculptures on the beach, which proved popular with all who saw them. Local arts trusts, such as "Big Things on the Beach' (www.bigthingsonthebeach.org.uk), who commission and organise annual, temporary displays of public art on the beach have already identified the potential of our location. Portobello Open Doors (www.the-pod.org) organise musical events on the Promenade and in the Town Hall to celebrate the local musical talent to coincide with the Edinburgh International Festival and their website showcases photos of events on the site we have detailed in this submission.
Portobello strives to survive. The local high street is a rarity in these days of out of town hypermarkets and the ‘Tesco town'- there is an award-winning butcher, an excellent local fishmonger, several greengrocers and chemists, an ironmongers and wool shop to name just a few, small, independent businesses. Local support for our retailers was very evident in the recent successful Portobello Campaign Against The Superstore (PCATS). A developer submitted a planning application for a supermarket, which in turn lead to a public inquiry and a ruling against the developer. The local community were united in fighting the development; fundraising events ranged from a Burn's Supper in the Town Hall to sand castle building competitions on the beach. A celebratory ceilidh was held in the Town Hall when the decision of the Public Inquiry was announced, earlier on this year.
We want to celebrate Portobello as a thriving, 21st century community, with a proud past: help us achieve our aim.
Thought I'd better add a wee note here to say that if we are lucky enough to be selected we aren't allowed to broadcast the news until Channel 4 have alerted the media themselves. Which means that if you don't hear any more of this thread for a while it could be good news! 
'Big Things on the Beach' also submitted a general bid for Portobello, not specifying a site.
Fingers crossed that one of the bids is successful.
'Big Things on the Beach' also submitted a general bid for Portobello, not specifying a site.
Fingers crossed that one of the bids is successful.
Last edited by Maria on 11 Dec 2005, 21:57, edited 1 time in total.
www.porty.org.uk
Absolutely, and toes. Thought Portobello bid well writtenMarya wrote:Thought I'd better add a wee note here to say that if we are lucky enough to be selected we aren't allowed to broadcast the news until Chanel 4 have alerted the media themselves. Which means that if you don't hear any more of this thread for a while it could be good news!
'Big Things on the Beach' also submitted a general bid for Portobello, not specifying a site.
Fingers crossed that one of the bids is successful.
Just got the news guys that, sadly, we didn't make it through to the final selection.
We had, however, made it to a shortlist and I had been contacted previously by the programme makers, though I wasn't able to tell you that at the time. Although it is disappointing news, I think we did well considering the very short time we had to draw up our submission.
The finalists are ;
Isle of Mull, Scotland
Waterworks Park, N. Belfast, N.I.
Burnley, Lancashire
Prince Charles Quay, Cardigan, Wales
Cooling towers, Sheffield
Beckton Alps, East London
I'll be interested to see the programme when it comes out in Autumn 2007 and in the meantime we still have the excitement of BTOTB's Re-aPier project, which really would be a BIG art project.
We had, however, made it to a shortlist and I had been contacted previously by the programme makers, though I wasn't able to tell you that at the time. Although it is disappointing news, I think we did well considering the very short time we had to draw up our submission.
The finalists are ;
Isle of Mull, Scotland
Waterworks Park, N. Belfast, N.I.
Burnley, Lancashire
Prince Charles Quay, Cardigan, Wales
Cooling towers, Sheffield
Beckton Alps, East London
I'll be interested to see the programme when it comes out in Autumn 2007 and in the meantime we still have the excitement of BTOTB's Re-aPier project, which really would be a BIG art project.
www.porty.org.uk
Absolutely!Marya wrote: Although it is disappointing news, I think we did well considering the very short time we had to draw up our submission.
public art
