A BRAW week of arts, crafts and culture
Organisers finalise plans for festival events
Organisers are busy finalising plans for the new It’s BRAW festival in Blairgowrie and Rattray this autumn.
Blairgowrie and Rattray Arts Week - BRAW - will take place in October, hot on the heels of the fifth BOOKMARK festival.
The new festival has evolved around the Rattray Arts Festival, which used to take place in Rattray over the August bank holiday weekend, and rather than taking place in one venue over a weekend it will feature a range of activities and venues over seven days.
Lesley McDonald and Tina Gliddon, who took on the Rattray Arts Festival last year when founder Johanna Frampton stepped down after seven years at the helm, are behind plans for the new event, which is due to take place from Monday, October 9 to Sunday, October 15.
Lesley said that she and Tina, along with artists Ella Stewart and Anick Pitcher, and Tracie Dick from the Create at NEST venture in Blairgowrie, were looking forward to the new event which promised a range of arts, crafts and cultural activities over the week.
She said: “We were keen to build on the Rattray Arts Festival and extend it both in terms of the length of time it was on and the range of events and activities it offered.
“The idea is that by coordinating dates with the BOOKMARK festival, we will be offering visitors to the area even more of an attractive destination that will hopefully encourage them to stay in the area for even longer.
“Maybe people will come to the area for BOOKMARK and stay on for It’s BRAW, or be coming for It’s BRAW and decide to come earlier and enjoy BOOKMARK too.
“And as well as having something for visitors, we hope that the Blairgowrie and Rattray Arts Week will appeal to local people too.”
As well as arts and crafts workshops during the week, there will also be a traditional music night in the Balmoral on the Monday night, and a quiz night and a murder mystery night in Cargill’s Restaurant on the Tuesday and Wednesday nights respectively.
The Blairgowrie Players will reprise their performance of The Arrow, which debuts at BOOKMARK, on the Thursday night, and on Saturday night there will be a music concert at Blairgowrie Town Hall featuring the popular Coaltown Daisies and talented local duo Jordan Fox and Callum McHoul.
The Rattray Arts Festival then takes place on Saturday, October 14 and Sunday, October 15 at Rattray Church Hall.
And on the Sunday afternoon, there will be a performance of a show featuring youngsters who have enjoyed the drama workshops throughout the week with the Scottish Community Drama Association’s Carol Williams.
Lesley went on: “We are delighted to have the team at Create at NEST in Reform Street involved. They will be holding a range of craft workshops during the week with everything from weaving with Ashleigh Slater to needle felting with Sarah Urie, drawing with Aileen Stackhouse to fused glass with Rachel Bower, as well as upcycling, silver ring making and printing techniques.
“We are also really pleased that there will be a number of artists’ workshops too in Blairgowrie Parish Hall with talented local artists such as Johnathon Mitchell, Tom Barron and Barbara Robertson all signed up so far.”
The team behind the event say that there are a number of sponsorship opportunities available for local businesses or individuals. Anyone interested in supporting the event should email admin@itsbraw.scot or pop into Cargills, Bunters or Create@ Nest.
For more information on the festival, search for It’s Braw Blairgowrie and Rattray Arts Week on Facebook.