Renewable Energy
The Energy Sang
by Sheena Blackhall
Tune: Underneath the spreading
chestnut tree
Petrol, ile an deisel, poor it in,
Fuel tae makk yer motor rin.
Win an fire an watter aa can gie
Pouer tae use as energy.
North Sea gas can cook yer tea
Hydro dams makk electricity
Win an fire an watter aa can gie
Pouer tae use as energy.
Tarry coal an kinnlers, wid an peat
Burn in the fire tae gie us heat
Win an fire an watter, aa can gie,
Pouer tae use an energy.
Hydro-Electromania
by W. L. Ferguson
GOD made o Scotland a braw place,
Wi knowes an howes an burns that race
Doon mountain sides wi foamy grace
To meet the tarns
That i’ their azure depths embrace
The gowden starns.
But cunnin chiels frae Babylon
Maun turn Creation upside doon;
God’s solitude becomes a toon
Wi mills a’ birlin;
Its reekin lums mak nicht o noon,
-An a’ for sterlin!
Thae Babylonians, oot for gain,
Wad rin oor rivers throu a drain,
Or pit a loch whaur there was nane;
A strath, they’d move it!
Oh! gowd can mak ruch places plain,
-Thae chiels’ll prove it!
Commerce an Industry an Lear
Hae lang been Mon’s chief end doon here,
But noo he something’s fand, I fear
‘ll blast an blaw Himsel, his schemes, poo’er, plant an gear
To smithers a’!
If you know of any others please send them to me.
Arts and Communities
The Scottish Parliament’s Enterprise and Culture Committee is undertaking an Inquiry into Arts in the Community.
The remit for the Inquiry is “To investigate the funding, organisation and policies relevant to community arts in the context of the overall strategy for culture in Scotland.”
This sits in parallel with the Cultural Commission announced by the Scottish Executive and headed up by James Boyle. I am not at all clear how they relate to each other. On the other hand your local MSP may be on the Enterprise and Culture Committee.
This is a unique opportunity for anyone involved in arts in the community to make their case to the Scottish Parliament.
It is clear that there is a real need to highlight the complex and multi-faceted character of arts and communities work. This is all to often characterised as a bit of mudrock or quilting in the village hall.
In reality it involves professional artists and groups of often excluded people working together to strengthen their communities and articulate their views. It manifests itself in drama and music, public art and creative writing.
All those involved in participatory and socially engaged practice need to make their experiences known through this process. The Committee and our MSPs need to understand that there are a huge number of examples of excellence in this field, but that they have a different dynamic and a different set of characteristics from excellence in the classical high arts.
Art Futures
Concerned about the position of the artist in the Cultural Review? Sensing increasing marginalisation? Worried about your ability to become a social worker?
Support artfutures and the campaign to value visual artists as artists.
Carron, Ravenscraig, Glengarnock
Starting at the only remains of the Carron Works, looking at the stone tower with carronades in the gateway. Finding the blue gate (a triumphal arch) from the Edinburgh International Exhibition of 1886. Going to the cemetery and seeing family graves, crying.
Through Ravenscraig without stopping (Gavin was not there to ground us).
Ending in Glengarnock, seeing Lorna’s gate, finding all the different bricks telling a story of industries drinking in the Masonic Lodge.
Photos by Chris Fremantle, Anne Douglas, George Beasley
Some Reading
children, spaces, relations – metaproject for an environment for young children
Ed. Giulio Ceppi and Michele Zini, Reggio Children, 1998
‘The municipal infant-toddler centers and pre-schools of Reggio Emilia are internationally recognised as an experience of particular cultural interest and constitute a model of “relational space” dedicated to young children.
As part of a range of activities and initiatives organised to further develop and promote this educational experience spearheaded by Loris Malaguzzi, Reggio Children initiated a line of research in conjunction with Domus Academy on designing spaces for young children. The aim of this project is to enable a “meeting of minds” between the avant-garde pedagogical philosophy of the Reggio Emilia preschools and innovative experiences within the culture of design and architecture.’
Figuring It Out: The Parallel Visions of Artists and Archaeologists,
Colin Renfrew, Thames and Hudson, 2003
Leon Battista Alberti: Master Builder of the Italian Renaissance,
Anthony Grafton, Penguin Books, 2002
Ghost Riders: Travels with American Nomads,
Richard Grant, Little Brown & Company, 2003
Francois Matarasso’s Nine Principles of Success
CHRIS FREMANTLE 
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