January 2024
We begin 2024 with the Food Ecologies Residency, developed in partnership with IASPIS - International Programme of Visual & Applied Arts, Sweden and welcoming the Stockholm-based designer, food artist, and independent curator Josefin Vargö to Cove Park for four weeks. Launched in 2022, this unique series of residencies and international exchange was established with support from British Council Architecture Design Fashion and its Circular Cultures programme. We are delighted to develop this work further with IASPIS in 2024.
Joining Josefin are local, national, and international residents taking part in our annual three-month programme of Winter Subsidised Residencies. In January we are pleased to welcome multidisciplinary artist Penelope Brook, writer for performance, director, and dramaturg Pamela Carter, composer and performer Jane Deasy, writer Ryan O'Conner, visual artist Lizzie Rose, author and short story writer Scarlett Sangster, writer Joanne Stubbs, theatre makers and directors of Two Destination Language Katherina Radeva and Alister Lownie, writer Alexia Wdowski, writer Amanda Wenger, and London-based designer Jennifer Whitworth.
We're looking forward to the launch of several new residencies, projects, and events over the coming months. Scroll down for news of our first Loch Long Crime Writing Residency and calls for applications to the Bridge Awards Residencies 2024 and the Cove Park/Varuna Residency Exchange Programme for 2024 and 2025. We're also pleased to share programme announcements connected to the New Mothers' Writing Circle residency and our work with NAARCA: the Nordic Alliance of Artists' Residencies on Climate Action. Project Studio, our ongoing series of workshops for teenagers, begins again this month in addition to new events for children, their families and carers offered as part of Saturday Studios at Cove Park.
Images: above, Cove Park's site, January 2024 (photography, Alexia Holt); below, Josefin Vargö (image courtesy of the artist).
The Loch Long Crime Writing Residency 2024
Residency Announcement
We are delighted to announce the recipient of Cove Park's first Loch Long Crime Writing Residency is Caro Carver.
This two-week residency is designed to support new crime writing by Scotland-based authors. It was awarded following an open call for applications and takes place in March this year.
Caro lives in Inverclyde with her husband and four children. She is Reader in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow, teaches for the Faber Academy and the Curtis Brown Academy, and regularly speaks on panels and hosts events on writing. Bad Tourists, her first book written under the pseudonym of Caro Carver, will be published by Transworld in Summer 2024. She is also published by HarperCollins as C.J. Cooke for her gothic thrillers. At Cove Park, Caro will be working on her forthcoming crime novel.
We are grateful to our Argyll Patron for their generous support and making this residency possible.
Image: The view of Loch Long from Cove Park (photography, Alan Dimmick)
The Bridge Awards Residencies 2024
Call for Applications
The call for applications for this new group residency, taking place in May 2024, is live! In collaboration with The Bridge Awards, and building upon the first Bridge Awards Residency for an individual artist in 2023, Cove Park is pleased to offer a further 5 fully funded residencies in 2024 for artists based in Scotland whose careers have been impacted by a breast cancer diagnosis and who have undergone successful treatment and are up to five years in remission.
The Bridge Award Residencies are for one week and will run in parallel from Monday 20 May to Sunday 27 May. They are open to people based in Scotland, at any stage of their creative career, and working in any art form or creative discipline. The aim is to provide the artist, writer, creative practitioner, or researcher with time and space to reconnect with their practice, and to do this within the peaceful, supportive, and inspiring context of Cove Park and its national and international residency programme.
Further information on this programme and details of how to apply is available here. Applications should be submitted by Friday 1 March 2024.
We are very grateful to The Bridge Awards and to Maggie's for their ongoing support and help with this series of residencies.
Image: The Bridge at Cove Park (photography, Alan Dimmick)
Cove Park / Varuna Residency Exchange Programme 2024 - 2025
Call for Applications
The Cove Park / Varuna - The National Writers' House of Australia Residency Exchange Programme was launched in 2019 to create new international opportunities for writers connected to both organisations. To date, and with support from The Bridge Awards, we have created three one-month residencies in Australia awarded to the writers and former Cove Park residents Jan Carson, Victoria Mackenzie, and Nicola White, and three one-month residencies in Scotland for former Varuna residents Roanna Gonsalves, Leah Kaminsky, and Jeanine Leane.
The programme has been adapted to take place over two years, with recipients travelling in alternating years: the Varuna writer will travel to Cove Park in the autumn of 2024, and the Cove Park writer will travel to Australia in the the autumn of 2025. We are also pleased to have established a new partnership with Wigtown Book Festival, connecting the participating writers in 2024 and 2025 with this acclaimed Scottish book festival.
The call for applications from Cove Park Associates and former residents for the one-month fully funded residency in Australia in 2025 is now live! The deadline for applications is Monday 4 March 2024 and the residency dates are 13 October to 10 November 2025. Further information and the link to the online application form is available here.
Read the blog by East Belfast-based writer Jan Carson on her Varuna residency in 2023 here.
Images: above, Roanna Gonsalves at Cove Park, 2019 (photography, Alan Dimmick); below, landscape near Varuna (photography, Nicola White).
New Mothers' Writing Circle Residency
The New Mothers' Writing Circle comes to Cove Park for a micro-residency next month, bringing previous participants and other mother-writers to the site for writing workshops, sharings, and solo writing time. We are delighted to share the news that the award-winning journalist and author Chitra Ramaswamy will be the residency's guest tutor, and food will be provided by Parveen's Canteen.
The New Mothers’ Writing Circle is a unique project which centres the experience of the mother and her transformation in motherhood. Set up at the start of 2020, each 8-week programme nurtures small cohorts of 10 - 15 mothers, drawing on diverse narratives of motherhood from Rachel Cusk to Toni Morrison to empower women, build community and elevate voices.
The New Mothers' Writing Circle was founded and is directed by creative producer Catrin Kemp, who worked at Cove Park from 2015 - 2021. You can find out more about the project and Catrin's work here.
Image: Chitra Ramaswamy (courtesy of New Mothers' Writing Circle).
Space Hire 2024
Space Hire was launched in 2023 to welcome other arts organisations, companies, and community groups to Cove Park for meetings and away days. In the programme's first year we were pleased to host The Common Guild, Comhairle nan Leabhraichean / The Gaelic Books Council, Glasgow International, The Mount Stuart Trust, Scottish Opera, and the University of Glasgow (Contemporary Art & Curation).
In 2024 we will continue to offer beautiful spaces with outstanding views at very competitive rates throughout the year. Please contact Nicola Jamieson directly for more information and to discuss your specific requirements.
Mount Stuart Trust had a brilliant Away Day at Cove Park. We had a dedicated meeting room, fabulous views, and everything we needed: screen, refreshments, and lunch. I can honestly say that it was one of our most productive strategy meetings. So important to get away, and I can't think of a better space.
Sophie Crichton Stuart, Chair, The Mount Stuart Trust
Image: The Jacobs Building, Cove Park (photography, Alan Dimmick).
NAARCA Pedagogy Toolkit
Commission Announcement
NAARCA is a 3-year project bringing Cove Park together with Saari Residence (Finland), Artica Svalbard (Norway), Art Hub Copenhagen (Denmark), Baltic Art Center (Sweden), Skaftfell Art Center (Iceland), and Narsaq International Research Station (Greenland) to collaborate on research, institutional change and public education around climate action.
The education and engagement strand of this project focuses on creating a pedagogical toolkit that can be used by schools, community groups, and parents to run creative workshops that seek to inform, inspire and engage children and young people in topics surrounding climate change, while addressing important issues such as climate anxiety, adaptation and empowerment.
Following an open call, we are pleased to announce that NAARCA's Pedagogy Toolkit Commission has been awarded to Maraid Mcewan. Based in London, Maraid is a creative researcher, designer and artist exploring social impact and care through collaboration. Her work is diverse in its outputs, ranging from sculpture, photography, installation, experiential and interaction design, graphic design, design research methods and workshop facilitation.
Maraid held the position of Designer in Residence at the Young Victoria and Albert Museum in 2022, focussing upon mindfulness with young people in London, creating design workshops, soundscapes and practical toolkits. Currently Maraid is exploring ecofeminist perspectives in her work, investigating the interplay between identity, place and climate action. More information on Maraid is available here.
Image: Maraid Mcewan (courtesy of the designer).
Project Studio
Project Studio is a Cove Park programme for teenagers in our local area made possible with a generous award from the National Lottery Community Fund. Launched last year, Project Studio offers free monthly creative activity - including workshops, trips, and events - centred around self-expression and creating community for teenagers interested in the arts, activism, environmentalism, and wellbeing.
The first Project Studio of 2024 took place earlier this month and was led by the Glasgow-based artist Nick Evans. Nick is part of an artists' collective running Sculpture House in Paisley. The artists share a passion for sculpture, sustainability, and social inclusion, and Nick shared his ideas and work with the Project Studio participants as the workshop took place.
This programme is supportive of young people with ADHD, dyslexia, and autism.
We are delighted that: an award from The Stafford Trust will allow us to extend Project Studio and offer more events, building on the work enjoyed so far.
For further information please contact Cove Park's Curator of Engagement, Emma Henderson.
Images above, work by Nick Evans (courtesy of the artist); below, Nick Evans and Project Studio participants, January 2024 (photography, Emma Henderson).
Saturday Studios
Talk Show with Duncan Marquiss
28 January 2024
Glasgow based artist and former resident Duncan Marquiss will lead a new workshop filming interviews for documentary video. This is an opportunity to use cameras, sound recorders and microphones to record conversations while playing informal games to get everyone talking!
Duncan works across a variety of media, from video and music to drawing and print. His films often feature interviews and conversations, exploring relationships between biology and culture.
Two workshops will take place on Saturday 28 January and are suitable for primary and secondary school age children and young people. For more information and to reserve your free place, please visit Cove Park's Eventbrite page. For further information please contact Cove Park's Curator of Engagement, Emma Henderson.
Our Saturday Studio Workshops are made possible this year with support from Argyll & Bute Council.
Image, Duncan Marquiss at Cove Park (photography, Emma Henderson)
