Film Access Coffee Morning Dumfries and Galloway:
Inspiring stories of Upland and Cample Line in Dumfries and Galloway working with young people from accessible and remote rural areas
Blog by Film Access Scotland Event Manager Meray Diner
Our second coffee morning took place online on 9 May 2023 in conversation with the Filmmaker, Photographer, and Visual Artist Colin Tennant, with contributions from the Creative Director Amy Marletta at Upland and Artist Filmmaker and CAMPLE LINE Programme Coordinator, Emma Dove. We discussed opportunities for arts and cultural activities in Dumfries and Galloway and tackling the barriers to access them for the community, mainly young people. It ended with an engaging discussion for new collaborations with other film access and film exhibition practitioners from D&G.
Colin Tennant talked about the exciting Jump Cut film project he has been running for young people which has been developed with Upland and DMC (Dumfries Music Collective). Jump Cut is an intensive course for young people (18-30 years) from Dumfries and Galloway to work alongside Colin Tennant, creating short documentary and artistic films inspired by the diverse cultural programme of Upland and DMC (Dumfries Music Collective).
Colin and Amy explained that more central hubs and meeting points are being used to make it more accessible for participants due to the rural location. Bursaries were offered to help encourage young participants to access the opportunity as well as show an example of the value of working in film and arts to help to visualise it as a career path.
Young people worked intensely for two weeks to complete and edit short films about Upland member artists and a 10-minute music documentary on pop-up gig Plaza in Dumfries which was showcased at the Robert Burns Centre as part of the DMC music conference event. Young people also benefited from visiting regional arts projects and get inspired during their process.
Emma Dove talked about the Young Assistants programme at Cample Line.
CAMPLE LINE works closely with the local Wallace Hall Academy, and each year employs a small group of local young people (age 17-18) who receive professional mentorship and help to deliver CAMPLE LINE’s exhibition and engagement programme as part of their wider achievement. In 2020-21 and 2021-22, the mentorship focused around access and accessibility and included audio description and captioning training. The Assistants produced resources, including audio descriptions and a range of recorded content, and creative activities for families. CAMPLE LINE’s 2022-23 Young Assistants are also undertaking communications awareness training and introductory BSL training.
Lucy Dale talks about Claire Barclay’s ‘Unearthing’ (part of a series of 3):
The participants are recruited through the local high school and are reimbursed with an hourly rate to encourage access to the opportunity. Emma explained that the 10 mile radius catchment area of Wallace Hall Academy borders Accessible Rural and Remote Rural areas under the Scottish Government’s ‘Urban Rural Classification’ system. Accessible Rural is defined as “Areas with a population of less than 3,000 people, and within a drive time of 30 minutes to a Settlement of 10,000 or more”, with Remote Rural being a drive time of 30-60 minutes to a Settlement of 10,000 or more.
This inspiring and unique programme included working with young people to learn scriptwriting, filmmaking and sound recording to document and interpret exhibitions and create a variety of accessible ways for visitors to experience CAMPLE LINE’s exhibitions. The video and audio descriptions were as creative and inspiring as the exhibitions themselves.
The young people were given creative responsibility to deliver the work, were able to collaborate and develop new skills, had the opportunity to meet artists, receive professional mentorship from a range of arts professionals, and interact with new people and exhibition visitors.
Below you can find the impressive work of the young people at CAMPLE LINE:
Bethany Platt audio description of Kira Freije’s artwork ‘Awakes to ask did they decide’ https://vimeo.com/showcase/10385643
’15 Reads’ book excerpts (click the headphone icons to listen on the webpage):
https://campleline.org.uk/15reads-spring2023/
Below you can find the impressive work of the young people at UPLAND:
https://www.weareupland.com/projects/jump-cut