Scottish Refugee Council is bringing together the talents of artists from different local communities in a new creative skills exchange group, which meets monthly.
Blog by Glasgow School of Art architecture student Jamie Snedden
I didn’t know what to expect from the first ever session of Scottish Refugee Council’s creative skills exchange group. As someone with an interest in the organisation, and as a Glasgow School of Art student, I was simply going along to see what it was all about.
This inspiring morning was the pilot session for drawing together artists and creative people from refugee and other local communities.
The goal of the exchange is to allow anybody to learn from being part of a diverse group of artists, and in turn, to teach their particular skill to the group. In doing so, it creates an increasingly varied and skilled group of artists. The idea is that this group will self-populate and self-regulate, with each artist feeding off each other and creating a network of support. In addition, each exchange will see an expert from a different creative area come and teach a little bit about what they do, and how they do it. For the pilot session this visitor was Glasgow-based artist, designer and award-winning film-maker Jan Nimmo.
What started as a very small number of people grew steadily throughout our session and we ended with a group of participants with an incredible array of skills and talents! There was a wide range of ages, interests and nationalities, each with their own unique story. What was fascinating for me was to see how every one of the participants had a real tie between their story, their culture, and their art.
The next Creative Skills Exchange will take place on Wednesday 26 November from 10am-12.30pm at Scottish Refugee Council’s offices in Glasgow. I’m excited to see what happens, as this brilliant new group grows. If you are interested in collaborating with artists, sharing your creative skills with others, developing new skills for yourself, and meeting other creative minds, I really would encourage you to join us.
To find out more and confirm your place at the next group, please contact Suzi on 0141 223 7939 or email arts@scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk
