March at Cove Park

March sees the very welcome return of the Cryptic Residency Programme. Devised by Crpytic, this annual programme supports leading musicians and digital artists, providing the time and resources required to focus upon new work. This year, the participating artists join us from Argentina, Australia, Catalonia, Ghana, Mexico, Scotland and Québec.

Cove Park is delighted to be working for the first time with Sound and Music, the national charity for new music. Sound and Music's major composer development programme - New Voices - will allow drummer, composer and producer Stuart Brown to work at Cove Park for 2 weeks this month. During this time Stuart will focus upon solo work for drums, percussion, electronics and real time audio-visual triggering, as well as exploring the potential of this approach for collaborative projects.

Image: Scotland + Venice 2019, Professional Development Programme Residential, February 2019 (photography, Alan Dimmick)

European Residency Programme

Cove Park is delighted to be one of 16 Scottish arts projects awarded funds through a partnership between British Council Scotland and Creative Scotland to create a nationwide series of projects involving European artists and partners. This award will allow Cove Park to offer a new multidisciplinary programme of residencies in 2019 and 2020, developed in collaboration with partners in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden, amongst others.

Cove Park's European Residency Programme will also create opportunities for artists based in Scotland to undertake residencies hosted by our partners in Europe. A number of these residency exchanges will be maintained and developed beyond 2020 and continue to create opportunities for exchange between Scotland and EU nations into the future. Further details of this programme and information on our partners will be announced on 29 March 2019.

The Press Release issued by British Council Scotland is available here.

Image: Cove Park's Cubes, Arran Bute and Cumbrae (image, Ruth Clark)

Scotland + Venice 2019
Professional Development Programme

With just over 2 months to go until the launch of Scotland + Venice 2019 and the premiere of a major new work by Charlotte Prodger, we are pleased to announce the names of the 17 Scotland-based individuals who will take part in the associated Professional Development Programme. This programme offers a significant opportunity to support Scotland’s presentation of Charlotte's work at this year’s Venice Biennale of Art.

Cove Park is spearheading the Scotland + Venice Professional Development Programme. This year, in addition to partnering with six Scottish Art Schools and Colleges, the Programme will also benefit from new collaborations with the Scottish Contemporary Art Network (SCAN) and Templar Arts and Leisure Centre (talc), in Argyll and Bute. The aim is to open up this opportunity beyond those currently in further or higher education and to help address the significant barriers individuals can face in pursuing or progressing a professional career in the visual arts.

We were pleased to host all 17 participants - joining us from Aberdeen, Argyll and Bute, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth and Orkney - for a residential training weekend in February and look forward to working with them all this year.

The Professional Development Programme receives support from the participating institutions, with additional funding from Art Fund, from the National Lottery through Creative Scotland and from British Council Scotland.

Image: Scotland + Venice 2019, Professional Development Programme Residential, February 2019 (photography, Alan Dimmick)

Literature Residency in Australia

In the inaugural year of our exchange programme with Varuna, the National Writers House, we are please to announce that Vicky MacKenzie has been awarded a residency in Australia. Based in Fife, Vicky is a poet, short story writer and novelist. A Cove Park resident in 2014 and 2016, MacKenzie's writing prizes include a New Writer's Award from the Scottish Book Trust, the Robert McLellan Poetry Award and the Ruth Rendell Short Story Prize. At Varuna, Vicky will be working on her first short story collection, Creaturely, which explores the ways that humans are animals, as well as our connections and relationships with other species.

Varuna, the National Writers House is located in Katoomba, which is part of the world heritage Blue Mountains region of New South Wales. Built by the Australian writer Eleanor Dark and her husband Dr Eric Dark in the late 1930s, the house is now recognized as a site of cultural significance listed on the NSW heritage register. In 1989 Michael Dark, the son of Eleanor and Dr Eric Dark, gave the house to the Eleanor Dark Foundation so it could be used as a retreat for writers. 

This exchange programme is generously supported by The Bridge Awards and will run initially for three years. We look forward to welcoming an Australian writer to Cove Park for four weeks this summer.

Image: Vicky MacKenzie

Start Your Novel - A Residential Masterclass

Building upon a very successful new writers' masterclass held in 2018, we are pleased to announce details of  'Start Your Novel - A Residential Masterclass', taking place from 26 - 29 April 2019. Together with Scholastic editor Genevieve Herr and LBA Books literary agent Louise Lamont, this residential for budding writers will focus upon different ways to develop a compelling story. Participants will also benefit from individual sessions with the tutors. Further information, and details of how to book one of the 7 available spaces, is here.

Image: Cove Park's Cubes (image, Alan Dimmick)

Fife Contemporary - New Maker Residency

We are pleased to announce a new residency developed in partnership with Fife Contemporary, an independent visual arts and craft organisation, based in St. Andrew's, Fife. As part of the organisation's New Maker programme, this residency is designed to support a recent graduate. We look forward to welcoming Caitlin Hegney, a graduate of Glasgow School of Art, to Cove Park in March for a residency which will allow her to focus upon her jewellery practice. You can read more about the residency here and we would like to thank Fife Contemporary for making this opportunity possible.

Image: Caitlin Hegne,  Cerulian Brooch (photography, Shannon Toffts).​

The Lighthouse & Cove Park Crafts Residency: Call for Applications 

After the success of Poppy Nash’s 2018 residency and current exhibition, The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Design and Architecture, in partnership with Cove Park, will once again offer an opportunity for emerging crafts makers, designers and architects in 2019. This fully-funded residency aims to support research and the development of new work, leading to a six-week exhibition within the Review Gallery at The Lighthouse.

In 2019 this two-week residency will run from 20 May -
3 June at Cove Park. Applications are now welcome and further information on how to apply and the funding provided is available here. The application deadline is 18 March 2019.

Image: 'Care', Poppy Nash, 2019. Image, Maeve Redmond.

Hands-On in March

This month sees a diverse programme of workshops and events for children, young people and adults. We are pleased to welcome poet and 2018 resident Jen Hadfield back to Cove Park for a special evening event on Friday 22 March. Jen will discuss her latest collection of poems, 'The Stone Age' and this free event is open to all. This month's Saturday Studio - our free workshops for children and young people - will take place on 23 March and be led by visual artist Lotte Gertz and graphic designer Maeve Redmond. To find out more and book your place, please visit our website.

Image: Saturday Studios Workshop with Laura Aldridge, January 2019

We would like to thank all the individuals, Trusts and Foundations supporting our programme this year. They include: The Monument Trust, The Andor Charitable Trust, The Binks Trust, British Council Scotland, The Bridge Awards, The Craignish Trust, The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, The Fenton Arts Trust and The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation.