A perfect platform for Perthshire’s creatives

As new arts festival Platform gets under way across Perthshire, the festival’s co-curator tells Caroline Lindsay what the event will have to offer

A new arts festival showcasing the creative talent of Perthshire gets under way from tomorrow.

Platform starts tomorrow at various venues across the county until April 1 and will host exhibitions, design, photography, artist talks, gigs, special installations, drama and film.

Venues include the historic Innerpeffray Library near Crieff – Scotland’s first lending library, the Fair Maid’s House, Cateran Trail and Perth Museum and Art Gallery.

Platform’s co-curator Iliyana Nedkova said: “I am very proud to be playing my humble pioneering part in creating a brand new annual festival,” she says.

“It’s wonderful to showcase so many wonderful and talented artists who cut across all art forms and creative industries.”

Highlights include a special installation by artist Georgia Cook, whose work came to public attention when she created woven willow figures to celebrate the Ryder Cup.

Her latest work is the Willow Window Story Tree (a huge split level willow and paper sculpture at AK Bell Library).

Then there’s the UK premiere of a short art film by Perthshire-born artist Susan Mowatt.

“My expertise is in commissioning contemporary arts and I’d love to see more new works in that area as the festival develops in the future,” says Iliyana.

Local opera singer Anita Mackenzie Mills will explore the connection between music and books in Kinross, and Aberfeldy-based furniture designer Angus Ross, who uses steam to bend, mould, sculpt and fold wood to create his

unique furniture and art will be sharing the secrets of his craft with audiences.

At Breadalbane Community Library Lu Kemp, the director of Perth Theatre, is reviving Linda Cracknell’s drama The Lamp, originally broadcast on BBC Radio Four in 2011.

Inspired by Innerpeffray Library, the story revolves around a friendship between a visiting Kenyan librarian and a widow from a nearby farm.

And if you’re a fan of the great outdoors there’s the Corbenic Poetry Path.

This is a 3km (just under two miles) path at Trochry, near Dunkeld, which meanders through hills, woodlands, moors and riverbanks, all complemented by lines of poetry etched, burned, encased, carved and installed in the landscape.

Iliyana adds: “I am doubly pleased that during Platform we will shine a spotlight on 26 out of the 150 artworks in the Horsecross Arts collection of contemporary art.

“These works, on display at the Threshold art space, feature many international and Scottish artists with a strong sense of pride and belonging or contributing to Perthshire’s creativity.”

Threshold is open to the public from 10am to 6pm.

All 26 works are accompanied by oneoff artists’ and curators’ talks and off-site including exclusive festival editions of the coffee, croissant and art guided tours led by Iliyana.

“You don’t need any prior knowledge of the creative arts and it’s a gentle, fun introduction to the festival,” she says. “Platform is for anyone of any age. “I was on the train this morning and I extended an invitation to the festival to a young mother and her baby.”

I was on the train this morning and extended an invitation to the festival to a young mother and her baby

Right: Angus Ross, who will talk about his steam-bent furniture design work at Platform. Above, from top: one of his creations; part of the Corbenic Poetry path and one of figures by Georgia Cook, who is also exhibiting at Platform.