News

Announcing Creative Residencies for Carers 2024: Call for Applications

Creative Residencies for Carers is a new Cove Park programme offering short, five-night residencies for unpaid adult carers living in Scotland. Five residency places are available and the residencies will all take place at Cove Park from Monday 18 March to Saturday 23 March 2024. The deadline for applications is Monday, 4 December 2023 (6pm GMT). 

This programme is supported by the Short Breaks Fund operated by Shared Care Scotland. It aligns with the aims, objectives, and requirements of this Fund by offering carers respite and supported time to focus upon their own wellbeing.

Inkeeping with Cove Park’s wider programme, Creative Residencies for Carers will focus upon creativity and the benefits of creative activity for wellbeing and personal development.

Those taking part will have the opportunity to meet and share experiences with other carers and artists, and participate in informal group workshops and events. The programme also offers unstructured time during which the residents can develop their own work and creative projects, read, experiment in the studio, and explore Cove Park’s outstanding 50-acre rural site overlooking Loch Long. The programme aims to help carers to reconnect with creative activity and pursue their own artistic and cultural interests.

Key Points

  • This is a five-night residency which will begin on Monday 18 March 2024. The final full day of the residency will be Friday 23 March 2024. Residents are welcome to stay on site until noon on Saturday 24 March 2024.
  • This programme is for unpaid carers aged 18 years and over, who look after a friend or family member. As this is a residential opportunity, it is appropriate for those who are not the sole carer and have support in place to care for the friend or family member for the duration of this residency.
  • Former unpaid carers may also apply.
  • One facilitated group workshop and one trip (to a local National Trust for Scotland organisation, garden, or cultural venue) will be organised in response to the interests and specialisms of the residents.
  • Although Cove Park’s residencies are self-catering, two group dinners will be provided by Cove Park.
  • No public presentation is required as part of this residency. This opportunity is designed to be stress free and without the pressures of a deadline or the requirement to complete or present a final work.

WHO CAN APPLY

  • Unpaid carer aged 18 years and over and based in Scotland
  • Former unpaid carer aged 18 years and over and based in Scotland

GUIDELINES & HOW TO APPLY 

Please read our Creative Residencies for Carers 2024 Guidelines for more information on how to apply. All applications due Monday, 4 December 2023 (6pm GMT).

Apply online here.

For further information please contact:

Alex Marrs
Programmes & Communications Producer
01436 850500
alex@covepark.org

 

Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities Awarded Residencies Announcement

We are pleased to share news of a new programme of residencies awarded to PhD students of the 17 Scottish academic institutions connected to the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities. These residencies support creative practice and provide dedicated time, space, and freedom for the students to develop their doctoral work within a supportive and inspiring context.

We are delighted to welcome Victoria Evans to Cove Park in May, the first of the 10 students participating in the programme this year, and we look forward to hosting all those awarded residencies at Cove Park this year: Emily Beaney, Marissa Clarke, Lori Delaney, Molly Farrell, Hannah Imlach,  Mhari McMullan, Janine Mitchell, Ahmed Mostafa, and Kiah Endelman Music.

Image: Victoria Evans, ‘Cosmic Domestic’, 4’25” HD Single Screen Video and sound; 2020.

Dandelion – Call for Proposals

In celebration of our Unexpected Gardens project as part of the nationwide Dandelion programme, Cove Park has a number opportunities for artists. Please read on and visit the links to find out more.

Dandelion Day Camp 

25-29 July 2022 

Cove Park is seeking two artists with caring responsibilities who will deliver a full week of arts activities for our Dandelion Day Camp – a summer engagement programme for up to twenty children between 8-12 years of age. Over the course of the week, the children will try new activities, such as making banners and posters, taking part in dance and spoken word projects, food art, and more. Accommodation will be provided for the artists and their families. See attached for more information.

For more information click here

Unexpected Picnic

6 August 2022 (1pm-5pm) 

In celebration of our Unexpected Gardens project, Cove Park will host a picnic on Saturday 6 August with food, music and activities for families. There will be scheduled events, drop-in workshops and participatory installation across all artforms.  We welcome applications from artists who would like to contribute to this event. Suggestions could be but are certainly not limited to guided walks, food or tasting experiences, music or sound installations, workshops, storytelling, and participatory arts projects.

For more information click here

Applications for both opportunities close at midnight on Sunday the 19th of June.

 

NAARCA: Open Call for a Podcast Producer

NAARCA seeks to appoint a freelance Podcast Producer.

The Nordic Alliance of Artists’ Residencies on Climate Action (NAARCA) aims to build a long-term bridge between the Nordic countries and Scotland around the most pressing global issue of our time. The collaboration is founded upon the geological, climatological, historical, and linguistic similarities that unite both regions, and is the starting point for a permanent, expansive and holistic network of radical cooperation. The NAARCA residencies collaborate on research, institutional change and public education around climate action. NAARCA members are Cove Park (Scotland), Saari Residence (Finland), Arctic Culture Lab (Greenland), Artica Svalbard (Norway), Art Hub Copenhagen (Denmark), Baltic Art Center (Sweden), and Skaftfell – Center for Visual Art (Iceland). Read more about NAARCA and the team involved here. 

NAARCA are pleased to announce a new opportunity for a freelance Podcast Producer. We are looking for an enthusiastic and driven producer to create a new podcast series of eight episodes, published over two years. 

Format

The podcast format will be a combination of interviews and conversations (in English). Each podcast episode will have a host and two guest speakers. The speakers come from Nordic Countries and Scotland and represent different scientific, artistic, activist and indigenous knowledge. The guest speakers and topics will be planned in collaboration with NAARCA members and the advisory committee.

Discussion Topics

  • Climate crisis and its effects on the Nordic region
  • Matrix of sustainability (ecological, social, mental and financial)

Target audience

  • International artists’ residencies and contemporary arts organisations, artists and audiences
  • Art universities and colleges
  • Stakeholders of each residencies 

Key Responsibilities of the Podcast Producer 

  • Plan and produce the podcast series in collaboration with NAARCA members and the advisory committee 
  • Contact potential speakers and conduct preliminary interviews to script each episode 
  • Create a production schedule and commit to publishing 4 episodes in 2022 and 4 episodes in 2023
  • Conduct interviews and facilitate the dialogue between host and guest speakers 
  • Provide an introduction contextualising each episode 
  • Conduct post-production edits, sound mixing and design 
  • Prepare each episode for publishing on various podcast platforms 
  • Design and implement distribution plan 

Person Specification

  • Experience producing conversational and/or interview-style podcasts  
  • Knowledge and understanding of podcast publishing process and distribution on various platforms 
  • The ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team
  • Strong attention to detail, following up until issues are resolved
  • Ability to communicate effectively and graciously with a wide range of people, from grassroots activists and artists to academic and policy leaders 
  • The ability to edit raw recordings into engaging and informative episodes that educate, inspire, and entertain the audience.
  • Technical experience of basic sound mixing and post-production editing
  • An active interest and passion for climate-related issues, such as food, energy, water, transportation and climate justice, and its intersection with the arts and creative industries 
  • Knowledge and understanding of how the climate crisis impacts Nordic countries and/or Scotland, a plus 

Production Budget 

Producer Fee: 12000 € // £10,015
Speaker Fees: 8000 € // £10,000

How to Apply 

To apply, please follow this link to our application on JotForm. You will be invited to attach a CV and answer a few questions. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until the post is filled. Our first review of applications will begin on 21 April 2022.  

We encourage applications from all backgrounds, communities and industries, and we are committed to having a Team that consists of diverse skills, experiences and abilities. We actively encourage applications from African Diaspora people; South, East, and South-East Asian Diaspora people; Middle Eastern and North African Diaspora people; ethnically diverse people; people with disabilities; and all those who have been historically underrepresented within the cultural sector. Our intention is to better reflect society as a whole in our Team in terms of race, religion, ability, gender, age and socio-economic status. 

We will accept submissions in audio or video formats if this is preferable to a written application. Please send any audio or video submissions via email to Alex Marrs, Cove Park’s Programme & Communications Producer at alex@covepark.org 

If you consider yourself to have a disability, please let us know if there are any adjustments to the application process that would be of assistance to you.

Cove Park is committed to safeguarding privacy and related data within recruitment processes and abides by all appropriate General Data Protection Regulations. 

Image: NAARCA representatives at Cove Park, November 2021.

 

Digital Archive: A Compendium of Climate Literacies

A Compendium of Climate Literacies

This is the digital archive of the experimental intensive/symposium ‘Turbulence / Emergence / Enchantment: A Compendium of Climate Literacies’ that took place at Cove Park between 4-7 November 2021. It brought together artists, writers, performers, academics, and activists from a wide range of backgrounds to discuss climate literacy.

In the Western tradition, language has been viewed as our most powerful tool for ordering and mastering the world around us. And yet more and more we are having to acknowledge our struggle in communicating the current environmental crisis and its unequally distributed effects.

How do language and action relate to each other in climate science, narrative and activism? How can we rethink our responses to classical and premodern legacies of environmental thinking to create new understandings for the present? How can we open ourselves to new kinds of environmental literacies that give space to the agency of the other-than-human and more-than-human worlds? How do we ensure that languages have an impact on global discourse, in a context where the privilege of climate speech is still dominated by the elite discourses of the Global North?

TURBULENCE, EMERGENCE and ENCHANTMENT, with their unsettling mix of positive and negative connotations, acted as guiding metaphors for the week.


The SoundCloud link below features: 

Introduction to Turbulence, Emergence, Enchantment by Maureen Penjueli, Coordinator of Pacific Network on Globalisation.

 


TURBULENCE

The first chapter includes discussions around the theme of ‘Turbulent are climate, geo-politics, and living beings.’ The Turbulence YouTube playlist features:

Video 1: Climate Clarity/Confusion/Change by Derya Akkaynak (Oceanographer)

Video 2: Disaster, grief, apocalypse and empire in ancient ecological thinking by Jason König (Professor of Greek, Centre for Ancient Environmental Studies, University of St Andrews)

Video 3: After Ice by Kieran Baxter (Heritage Landscape Visualiser, University of Dundee)

Video 4: ‘Restore to us the necessary blizzards’ by Christina Alt (Lecturer in English, University of St. Andrews)

 

The Turbulence SoundCloud playlist features:

Track 1: Purple Haze by Deborah Dixon (Professor of Geography, University of Glasgow)

Track 2: Turbulence by Andreas Malm (Associate Professor of Human Ecology, Lund University)

Track 3: Turbulence by Oana Aristide (Novelist)


EMERGENCE

The second chapter includes discussions around the theme of ‘Emergent is metamorphosis.’ The Emergence YouTube playlist features:

Video 1: The Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes by Radha D’Souza (Professor of International Law, Development and Conflict Studies, Westminster Law School)

Video 2: Worm: art and ecology by Angela YT Chan (Independent Researcher, Curator and Artist)

Video 3: Listening with Another Ear by Annalee Davis (Artist, Cultural Instigator, Writer)

Video 4: Oceans in Transformation by Territorial Agency (Artists)

Video 5: The Swamp – a theory, a school, a design by Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas (Artists)

The Emergence SoundCloud playlist features:

Track 1: At the far end of the cave of gold by Col Gordon  (Farmer & Podcaster) and Iain MacKinnon (Assistant Professor, Centre for Agroecology, Coventry University)

Track 2: World Making by Ashish Ghadiali (Film-maker and Activist)

Track 3: An Inland Promenade by Fernando García-Dory (Artist)

Track 4: Emergence by Karen Guthrie (Artist, Film-maker and Gardener)


ENCHANTMENT

The final chapter includes discussions around the theme of ‘Enchantment is possibility of participating in the creation of just and environmentally thriving futures.’ The Enchantment YouTube playlist features:

Video 1: Small Acts of Hope and Lament by Janice Parker (Choreographer, Dance-maker)

Video 2: Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils by David Farrier (Professor of Literature and the Environment, University of Edinburgh)

Video 3: The Ecological Literacies of St. Hildegard of Bingen by Michael Marder (Ikerbasque Professor of Philosophy, University of the Basque Country)

Video 4: Marginalia by Katharine Earnshaw (Lecturer in Classics, University of Exeter) & Laura Hopes (Artist, Researcher)

Video 5: Language, silence & storytelling: to survive in the marine environment by Zoé Le Voyer & Justine Daquin (curators and co-founders of collective Calypso36°21)

     

The Enchantment SoundCloud playlist features:

Track 1: Epistemology of Caring by colectivo amasijo (Artists, Researchers, Food-makers)


Symposium participants also included: Tamara Colchester & Hermione Spriggs (Artists), Aka Niviâna (Poet, Activist), and Nada Tayeb (Architect, Food-maker).

This event signals a pivotal stage in the development of Cove Park. In its 21st year the organisation is moving beyond the boundaries of the traditional ‘time, space, freedom’ residency to include an enquiry-based model for facilitating cross-disciplinary work and collective intelligence around pressing global concerns. We are expanding the artforms and disciplines that are welcome to the residency, and enlarging its horizons towards other sectors, such as those of academic and scientific research, including the creative industries as a whole. On the occasion of COP26, Cove Park launched its first – and soon to become permanent – enquiry focussed on the environmental crisis and the radical change that our collective intelligence can affect in terms of climate action.

“Turbulence/ Emergence/ Enchantment: A Compendium of Climate Literacies” was organised in partnership with the Centre for Ancient Environmental Studies and Professor Jason König at the University of St Andrews, London-based curator Lucia PietroiustiTBA21-Academy and Markus Reymann, and the School of Classics and the College of Arts and Humanities (Environmental Humanities Research Strand) of University College Dublin and Dr. Giacomo Savani. The symposium was made possible by funding from Arts & Business Scotland: Culture & Business Fund. Thanks to the Green Art Lab Alliance for their support and friendship.

 

Winter Subsidised Residencies 2022

Cove Park is delighted to offer opportunities for artists, researchers and makers from across disciplines to take up a subsidised residency in early 2022. Residencies are offered to individuals and groups working in the arts and the creative industries, in the humanities and sciences.

We are pleased to advertise these opportunities now, in the hope that those interested have enough time to apply for funding to support their residency. Please see this introductory list on our website for guidance as to where you might apply for financial support. Those who are employed might also consider a residency as part of their CPD, and approach their employer for funding.

Dates and Duration
In January & February 2022, residencies are for 6 or 13 nights, beginning on a Monday, ending on a Sunday. Applicants should identify their preferred duration residency dates from the following list:

    • Mon 10th – Sun 16th Jan
    • Mon 17th – Sun 23rd Jan
    • Mon 31st – Sun 6th Feb
    • Mon 7th – Sun 13th Feb
    • Mon 14th – Sun 20th Feb
    • Mon 21st – Sun 27th Feb
    • Mon 28th Feb – Sun 6th Mar

COVID-19
We reopened following the COVID-19 crisis and have been operating successfully since May 2021, in accordance with the latest Scottish government restrictions. Enhanced hygiene, regular testing and mask-wearing measures are in place to mitigate the risks of bringing COVID-19 to the site. You can read more about these measures here.

Please read the full guidelines – which include details of how to apply – here: SUBSIDISED WINTER 21-22 final.
The deadline is 22 November 2021.

Image by Tracey Bloxham / Inside Story Photography

 

Arts & Business Awards 2021

Cove Park is delighted to announce a new collaboration with award-winning design studio Ab Rogers Design and success across three applications for match-funding from The Culture & Business Fund Scotland COVID-19 Recovery & Renewal Strand, through Arts & Business Scotland.

Ab Rogers and his team will work closely with Cove Park to redesign and fit out the interiors of the largest huts at Cove Park, whose curved roofs and wraparound balconies have been part of the landscape for over 20 years. Oak and Taransay Pods have both recently undergone substantial improvements, supported through the Scottish Government’s Community Climate Asset Fund, and will now benefit from nurturing interventions for sitting, eating, working and sleeping, inspired by the spectacular surrounding environment.

Arts & Business Scotland have match-funded Ab Rogers Design’s sponsorship and the funding will go towards a symposium taking place at Cove Park in concomitance with COP26. This 3-day event will bring academics, artists, researchers, makers and writers together to discuss transhistorical and transdisciplinary climate histories and narratives. More will be announced soon.

From 2022, the Pods will be able to house families and become home to residents staying at Cove Park for longer periods of time, in line with our commitment to reducing carbon emissions by reducing travel. The Pods will be unveiled in September.

Arts & Business Scotland, through The Culture & Business Fund Scotland COVID-19 Recovery & Renewal Strand, are also match-funding in-kind sponsorship from Ghanaian-Filipino agrowaste designer Mae-ling Lokko and Scottish architect Tom Morton of Arc Architects. The funding will bolster the Future By Design programme of activity to support four live events around the future of water, co-curated by both Ghanaian and Scottish cohorts of young people, with the guidance and support of Morton & Lokko, and delivered by Cove Park. The focus of many of the events and conversations will be the intersectionality of environmental, racial and social justice.

The culmination of Future By Design, a project funded by and in collaboration with British Council Architecture Design Fashion, will be the opening, also in September, of a hybrid and eco-sustainable ‘open landscape classroom’ on site at Cove Park, which will house public programmes about the impact of climate change on water for the foreseeable future.

David Watt, Chief Executive at Arts & Business Scotland, said“We are delighted that, through The Culture & Business Fund Scotland COVID-19 Recovery & Renewal Strand, not one, but three commercial partners – Ab Rogers Design, designer Mae-ling Lokko and architect Tom Morton of Arc Architects – have been able to come together to support the fantastic work carried out by Cove Park.

Not only will these three individual projects overlap to help future proof Cove Park for generations to come, they will also facilitate a whole host of exciting events and residencies aimed at supporting the centre in tackling important issues around climate change and social and racial equality. After the past year and a bit these conversations have never been more important, or timely, and I have no doubt the benefits will ripple out to the wider west coast community.  

We would encourage anyone inspired by Cove Park and its partners to get in touch for more information on how their local area, arts & culture organisations and businesses, could benefit through The Culture & Business Fund Scotland COVID-19 Recovery & Renewal Strand.”

Cove Park is deeply grateful to Arts & Business Scotland for their generous match-funding across these two programmes. We are also very grateful to Bute Fabrics, HAY and Muji for their generous support to the refurbishment of the Pods.

  

Virtual Studio & Site Tour with Creative Entrepreneurs’ Club

On 25th May at 12pm, Cove Park will give a virtual studio tour and interview with Creative Entrepreneurs’ Club Director Medeia Cohan. The tour will take in Cove Park’s site, its buildings and facilities and will be followed by a conversation and Q&A between CEC’s membership and Cove Park’s CEO Francesca Bertolotti-Bailey and Partnerships Manager Catrin Kemp. Learn more and sign up here:

https://creativeentrepreneursclub.co.uk/event/cove-park-artists-residency-centre-visit/

About the Creative Entrepreneurs Club:
CEC is a home for like-spirited creative people looking to access powerful support, network with peers and develop new skills. Our members determine what we offer and we respond to the challenges that they tell us they’re facing by developing relevant content and training to support them.

We welcome creative entrepreneurs at all stages of their businesses, from those just starting out to those looking to exit.

Membership is free for a limited time at creativeentrepreneursclub.co.uk

Winter & Spring 2021 Independently-Funded Residencies

In January, February & March 2021 Cove Park will run a series of subsidised Independently-Funded residencies. These winter and spring residencies offer artists of all disciplines the chance to step away from their domestic sphere and spend time dedicated to their work and practice on Cove Park’s outstanding 50-acre site overlooking Loch Long on Scotland’s west coast.

The call out is aimed at artists of all disciplines, living and working in the UK. Due to the current circumstances relating to COVID-19, these residencies will begin on certain Mondays throughout January – March 2021.

Please read the Guidelines in full before applying.

The deadline for applications has been extended to 7th Dec 2020.

EXTENDED_Winter Spring IF Prog_Call Out_Guidelines_01 12 20

Alumni Page Launched

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new Alumni page on Cove Park’s website. This information and resource page highlights the ways in which we can continue to support and work with artists following their initial residencies.

Cove Park has hosted over 2,000 artists since its launch in 2000, taking part in Craft & Design, Film & Moving Image, Literature & Translation, Performing Arts and Visual Arts residencies. The success of this programme is due to our relationship with so many wonderful artists and we aim to keep in touch with as many of our former residents as possible. The principle of creating new opportunities for our alumni is very important to us and we will continue to update this page with news and projects of relevance to all our artists.

Image, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Henry Moore Fellowship Residency, 2008 (photography, Ruth Clark)