The Arts End of Somewhere
PAMIS Creative Arts
The Arts End of Somewhere
Winners of the Amateo Award 2021
Amateo, the European Network for Active Participation in Cultural Activities, is delighted to announce the winning group of its 2021 Awards. Announced at Amateo’s 4th annual edition, held in Milan, Italy, the winner is PAMIS & The Arts End of Somewhere from Scotland.
Their commitment and engaging approach to promoting a more inclusive society through arts and culture stood out from all of the 59 applicants across Europe and beyond. PAMIS and The Arts End of Somewhere were awarded the Amateo Award statue and a cash prize of €1,000 to develop their inspiring activity.
“The 2021 Amateo Award recognises the hard work that The Arts End of Somewhere put into everything that they do.” – Heather Molloy (PAMIS Programme Lead)
The jury members were impressed with the winning project’s impact on the local community and, especially, vulnerable groups. They felt that PAMIS and The Arts End of Somewhere will further inspire and encourage inclusive practices in the field of amateur-led participatory arts.
“An extraordinary, empowering project that understands deeply the need to be able to speak for oneself. The project clearly puts people with profound and multiple learning disabilities right in the centre as artists, co-creators, and enacters of social change.These are the people who, through first-hand knowledge and lived experience, can provoke systemic evolution by giving cultural institutions, organisations and festivals the information they need to make their offerings accessible. The further extension of the project to the media can only serve to spread knowledge to a wider audience.” – Amateo Awards Jury member
The Arts End of Somewhere are an arts collective based in Dumfries.
They are an amazing group of people who all have additional support needs who came together to learn about multi-sensory storytelling in May 2019. Since then, they have formally become PAMIS Volunteers and research, write, and develop multi-sensory stories with people with PMLD in their community.
In 2020 they won the ‘Highly Commended’ award for Creative Innovation from the Scottish Commission for Learning Disability for the work they had produced during the coronavirus pandemic.
There are currently 8 members of The Arts End of Somewhere: Courtney Scriven, Faye Cattanach, India O’Mara, Katie Wright, Sarah Law, Greg Carberry, Skye Hughes and Zoe Charlesworth
PAMIS’ work with The Arts End of Somewhere has been made possible with the support from our funders Creative Scotland and The Holywood Trust
Publication
In August 2021, the Arts End of Somewhere launched their first multi-sensory picture book ‘The Kippford Mermaid’ online at Edinburgh International Book Festival.
The Kippford Mermaid is a based on a romantic local folk tale to Dumfries and Galloway and features interactive elements throughout.
The book was published by Curly Tale Books and is available to purchase online for £10 at The Kippford Mermaid – Curly Tale Books
All proceeds from the sale of their book will go directly back into their work developing inclusive creative communities with PAMIS.
Creative Collaborations
The museum is in Eastriggs, Annan and on the former site of a World War 1 munitions factory that stretched across to Gretna. The group worked with staff at the museum and developed two multi-sensory stories.
Harry’s Life in WW1
About a soldier’s experience in the trenches, this story was developed and performed by Courtney Scriven, Katie Wright, Faye Cattanach and Skye Hughes.
Ruby’s Life in WW1
This story is about the experience of one of the women working in the munition factory making cordite. This story was developed and performed by Sarah Law, India O’Mara and Zoe Charlesworth.
To find out more about the museum and events visit www.devilsporridge.org.uk
The Kippford Mermaid Publication
Performed and launched at the Big Dog Book Festival in 2020, this story has been adapted from a local folktale ‘The Mermaid of Barnhourie’ and is about a mermaid who falls in love with a local sailor.
The Arts End of Somewhere are working with Author and Illustrator Shalla Gray of Curly Tales book publishers on the publication of the first multi-sensory story picture book.
For updates and other information about the group, visit their Facebook page @ArtsEndOfSomewhere
Theatre and Performance
UNCON Festival 2021
With support from Creative Scotland and the National Youth Arts Advisory Group, the Arts End of Somewhere produced a documentary titled ‘Our Creative Future’ that explored the experiences of young people with learning disabilities and PMLD in the creative and performing arts. The group also investigated how individuals and their families had been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and what their creative aspirations were for the future.