Blue Skies, Dundee’s festival of kite-flying, stargazing and rainbow-chasing, will return to the city from Wed 10 – Sun 14 August with a jam-packed programme of activities in locations across the city. From cloud-spotting to kite-making, this year’s programme brings together 15 partners in 11 venues around Dundee.
Highlights of the programme include a screening of The Man with the Golden Gun at Dundee Museum of Transport, complete with mocktails and classic cars, programmed as a partnership between the museum and Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA); events and an exhibition focused on the art of navigating by the stars at HM Frigate Unicorn; and Cloud Spotting around the city and in Slessor Gardens, complete with yoga and meditation sessions from Heart Space.
Dundee Rep Pop-up Storytelling Tent
The festival will also return for its annual outing to Celebration in the Park at Baxter Park on Sun 14 August, where visitors can try fun activities from many of Dundee’s cultural organisations. DCA will offer kite-making, cloud-spotting and drawing activities; Dundee Rep will be spinning yarns about outer space in its Pop-Up Story Tent; Dundee Science Centre will delve into the links between our food, our health and our planet as part of The Crunch, an initiative created by the Wellcome Trust; HM Frigate Unicorn will be offering starry-themed face painting and a chance to discover objects from the ship; and V&A Museum of Design Dundee will help visitors become designers for the day with the help of local designers.
At last year’s Celebration in the Park, Creative Dundee launched their project Follow Me! Stories from Stobswell, which will be celebrated as part of the festival programme in an evening event on Thurs 11 with a screening of the film ‘A Postcard From Stobswell’ at Baxter Park Ranger Centre. Elsewhere in the festival, audiences can marvel at the night sky at Mills Observatory; create their own kites and get creative with Raspberry Pi computers with the Hilltown Project and DCA; make their own wings at the D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum; and take part in workshops and activities at Verdant Works.
Sailing by Starlight. Foxhound Photography 2015
Across the week, the team from DCA will also be out on location, supporting communities and groups to deliver creative activities in their own venues.
Beth Bate, Director of DCA, said “I’m delighted that so many of Dundee’s cultural and community organisations are coming together for this year’s festival. I hope the people of Dundee will join us across the city for a wonderful four days of inspiring creative activity.”
Blue Skies was founded in 2012 and is delivered by a partnership of organisations from across the city of Dundee, led by DCA. Partners in 2016 include Dundee Rep Theatre, Dundee Science Centre, Heart Space, Verdant Works, HM Frigate Unicorn, Dundee Museum of Transport, V&A Museum of Design Dundee, The University of Dundee, Mills Observatory, The Hilltown Project and Creative Dundee.
For full festival listings visit www.dundeeblueskies.co.uk.