£200k arts project will boost Seedhill
Funding for Evolve aims to build community spirit
Residents will be at the heart of a brand new £ 200,000 arts project to regenerate Seedhill.
RIG Arts secured the funding for the exciting 18-month project, called Evolve.
It will build on the existing community momentum formed during RIG Arts’ previous project in the Paisley area, the Seedhill Urban Growing and Recycling project (SUGaR).
Karen Orr from RIG Arts said the project would be driven by the community and what they’d like to see happen in the neighbourhood.
It will include an artist- inresidency programme, creative workshops, events and the use of green and underused spaces.
Karen said: “We are delighted to be a recipient of the Culture Collective fund and to have the chance to give something back to Seedhill after working with the SUGaR project over the last few years.
“We can’t wait to bring some much-needed creative relief and fun to the wider community with residents and artists working together to reimagine and improve the area.”
SUGaR was a food growing and upcycling project which ran from 2016 till 2019.
During the project, RIG Arts built up a relationship with many local residents and saw the potential to do more when they saw the Creative Scotland’s Culture Collective programme fund.
For Evolve, four artists in residence will be selected by a panel consisting of RIG Arts, Williamsburgh Housing Association, Renfrewshire Leisure, community representatives and an arts coordinator.
Karen said: “When we saw the fund we thought it would be a good opportunity to build on our relationship with Williamsburgh Housing Association and Renfrewshire Leisure.
“We wanted to reach a wider audience.
“We want to work with as many local residents as we can to see what they want to do with the area.
“There’s no point us coming in and telling them we’re going to make some new murals when what they want is the McKerrell Street park redeveloped.
“We also don’t want to parachute artists in to put on workshops then leave again 18 months later.
“We want to build a bit of agency and get the residents to be involved and take over what we do.
“Our aim is to help build some community spirit, some community pride and a sense of identity for the area.
“We’ll be putting on stuff that’s really fun and interesting and free so there are no barriers to getting involved.
“We’re really hoping skills will be developed and some community champions will come forward.”
Karen hopes the project will start in May with meetings with the community to see what direction they’d like the project to take.
Then they’ll create a steering group and start hiring freelance artists.
Events and workshops will start shortly after.
For more information on the project or if you’re interested in taking part, email info@rigarts.org
We’ll be putting on stuff that’s really fun, interesting and free, there are no barriers to getting involved