Thu 2 December 2021, 7:00-8:30pm, on Zoom
Join us in ending the year on a high with a fun, friendly evening of conversation, connecting and community at our Amps Forum!
This social evening is a highlight of our Amps calendar, with opportunities to catch up with old friends and meet new supporters of the network. With our usual relaxed and welcoming vibe, we’ll host discussion prompts, space to chat, and this year’s Community Ideas Fund.
We’ll hear from each team of Amps on their collaborative idea, then everyone can choose their favourite project to be awarded the Fund—which is £2,500!
Thu 2 December 2021 // 7:00pm-8:30pm
Tickets are free and booking is essential.
This event is for Amps only—become an Amp and come along!
Event hashtag: #AmpsDundee
We’re delighted to congratulate City Soundscapes on receiving the community’s vote to receive 2021’s Fund!
City Soundscapes is a Dundee-wide sound trail and series of workshops that will open doors to new ways of listening to and engaging with the city’s vibrant sonic environment. People will be encouraged to make their own sounds and music in the place where they live, creating community through provision of kits, games and gatherings suitable for all ages. A collaboration by Rebecca Jones—an artist, maker and musician, who creates bold prints, jewellery and homewares alongside a music practice that ranges from classically trained clarinet to electronic and experimental sound—and Claire Gorman, a community musician and composer who loves playing with other people and instigating small musical happenings.
Creators in the Garden will produce relaxed outdoor opportunities for families who may face additional challenges in other environments to play creatively together and access support. Play is crucial for children’s wellbeing, and the project will work to provide regular activity sessions to meet a wide range of needs. A collaboration by Sandy Greene and Kate Tweddle of creative recycling social enterprise ScrapAntics, and Vicky Armstrong, who is an artist and registered art therapist—she runs Art at the Start, a collaboration between DCA and Dundee Uni Psychology, which looks at the benefits of early art making for infants and their caregivers.
Revealing the Negatives will invite comedians and spoken word performers to take part in a photo series that will open up dialogue challenging the stigmas surrounding mental health, creating space for finding strength and helping people access their own creativity, with the project shared online and in an exhibition in Dundee. A collaboration by photographer Lydia Smith—who makes striking and rebellious work that she hopes will inspire others, and make them stop and think—and Luis Alçada, a core member of Icebreaker Comedy—he’s performed at every comedy club in Scotland and more beyond, with work focussing on his experiences as a father and Portuguese immigrant in Dundee.
Nowhere Space is a site specific art installation which collectively explores and reimagines unloved, forgotten and unsafe spaces across Dundee through community-led research. The project will offer an experience and a platform to facilitate conversations around our relationships with urban spaces, and the safety concerns of young women, girls and non-binary people in navigating them. A collaboration by Su Shaw, a Scottish-Portuguese artist, musician and producer who creates under the alias SHHE; Andy Robertson, a community worker, designer and artist who works as Creative Arts Lead for youth work organisation Hot Chocolate Trust; and Taking Space, which is a collaboration by theatre maker Hayley Blakeman with Lisa Williamson and Gemma Nicol of hidden route theatre company.
The Three Ps: Perform, Photograph, Print is a series of workshops bringing together these three disciplines to benefit the mental health of young people in Dundee, with a focus on those who have been disproportionately affected by social restrictions over the course of the pandemic. The project will highlight how creative self expression can positively enhance wellbeing, building a collaborative process between the team and participants to create a performance that will be documented and collated as a publication. A collaboration by Saoirse Amira Anis, an interdisciplinary artist and a mental health support worker; David P Scott, an interdisciplinary artist who specialises in photography; and Luke Cassidy Greer, an artist and arts organiser who runs local risograph studio, Yalla Riso.
Amps is a community of people who make and cultivate creativity in Dundee, working together to collectively build on the future of the city. We connect through events and projects designed to help establish links, showcase work and develop collaborations. New supporters are always welcome—join Amps and help make Dundee even better!
The Community Ideas Fund is an annual cash award that enables a creative and experimental Amps collaboration to benefit Dundee. The more Amps there are, the bigger the Fund is—50% of all subscriptions go towards the pot.
Help us grow the Fund and make Amps more accessible by supporting a Pay It Forward subscription! Your contribution will help someone experiencing cost as a barrier to getting involved.
2020’s Fund was awarded to Eilish, Manuela and Russell for their project, Hilltown Community Plaza. Read their guest blog to find out more.
Thanks to Rebecca Jones, aka Woolly Jones, for this year’s Forum artwork!
If you would like to support us in creating even better content, please consider joining or supporting our Amps Community.