As part of celebrations for Independent Record Store Day UK, Creative Stirling CIC (Community Interest Company) are hosting their first event, an open air gig within the confines of the City’s Historic Old Town Jail yard, in conjunction with Stirling’s own Europa Music, an independent record store with a claim to having Scotland’s largest vinyl record stock.
Owner Ewen Duncan is enjoying his 30th anniversary of trading and 20th year in Stirling this year, with business stronger than ever thanks to the current resurgence of vinyl within contemporary music culture.
The gig is geared to attract real music enthusiasts and vinyl fanatics, and to promote emerging talent from the City’s local scene, with bands such as Jack Butler, End of Neil and Souey, DJs Avant Radge & Sun Radge [Jelly Roll soul and tribute] and Deep RT [Moksa]. Edinburgh-based band 2DeepSoul [live] complete the line-up for the event.
There will also be records and other music merchandise for sale, an exhibition of print poster design and information about the creative programme and other services Creative Stirling CIC will be offering. It promises to be a fantastic evening; the driving energy is a mix of young local talent, and the organisers have been blown away with the enthusiastic response from everyone in the online community.
The event is set to raise the profile for new CIC, Creative Stirling, who are a talent collective starting up a new not-forprofit organisation in the Old Town Jail. With support from Stirling City Council and the University of Stirling School of Research and Enterprise, the collective are being led by an experienced management team (Directors Joe Hall, Tina Coviello and Alasdair Gammack) to devise a programme of professional development opportunities, responding to local demand for creative industry focused business support.
Activities with Creative Stirling are focused around digital technology, designed to promote and facilitate media literacy. With print, design, web technology and creative writing graduate talent, it aims at outreach projects to create new opportunities for cultural experience, shared creative learning and social engagement across a broad range of groups in the local community.
The project brings together technology and creative expertise that can offer support for professional training in a particular design software, or a student looking for access to additional facilities and support, or just help for local groups who want to have fun getting up to speed with their social media.
The business at the Old Town Jail will be home for the young collective, a dynamic multi-talented crew that count illustration, graphic design, printmaking, digital film, and web design among their creative abilities.
“Everything we are doing is about helping people to help themselves and if people are willing to participate, it will lead to exciting new developments for Stirling’s vibrant diaspora of young creative talent”
The courses are about exploration, with local artists, musicians and writers, people with craft and design skills in an extended database of talent who will be drawn upon to hone their services and keep everything constantly evolving and fresh. That’s the key: it’s too easy to get in a groove and the arts isn’t like that. Creativity has to keep moving forward.
Joe Hall explains, “I had an idea in my head about a platform for truly flexible, useful creative dynamic that brought new and established talent together.
“Our capital is our broad skills base within the team and we can build a business infrastructure around that, one that will nurture new talent and give more opportunity to local people to engage with us and reap the benefits, whether just buying artwork, attending a creative workshop, training session or an outdoor event, or just enjoying the visible impact of what we do in an artsbased public outreach project.
“Courses are about exploration, with local artists, musicians and writers, people with craft and design skills in an extended database of talent who will be drawn upon to hone their services and keep everything constantly evolving and fresh. ”
“Starting something new in the current economic climate was always going to be a challenge but the positive response to what we are doing demonstrates we are meeting a need. We just need more people to know and show their support, and be involved.
“Everything we are doing is about helping people to help themselves and if people are willing to participate, particularly with vital fundraising opportunities like this during our start-up phase, it will lead to exciting new developments for Stirling’s vibrant diaspora of young creative talent.”
Independent Record Store Day: Breakout is at the Old Town Jail, April 21, from 6pm to 11pm. Ticket entry is £6, available from Europa Music, Friar Street, which will have live bands leading up to the evening event. Check out Record Store Day JAILBREAK on facebook, or drop into Europa Records to find out more. Tickets also available on eventbrite.
