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BNW Big 2nd Birthday

Brave New Words Big Birthday 2

Brave New Words celebrates its second birthday at the Stove on the 29th of September at 7PM with an apocalyptic showcase and open mic of new words spoken and sung. Featuring the launch of a brand new zine entitled Not Safe for Work.

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Over the past two years Brave New Words has been a staple event in the town center attracting emerging writers, performers, singer/songwriters, comedians and even magicians It has showcased the biggest names in the spoken word and poetry scene both locally and internationally and continues to run workshops with schools and community groups on creative writing and performance.

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Organizer Martin Joseph O’Neill says ‘It’s been an incredible two years, with some amazing talent on show from all ages and backgrounds. I’m looking forward to what the next year has in store.’ This year its celebrating with an all-out ‘end of the world’ theme and inviting the public to perform or attend in what is set to be a night not to be missed.  Entirely free, Brave New Words is held every last Friday of the month at the Stove in Dumfries.

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Nithraid 2017: Coos, clowns and Vikings!

September 9th saw our fifth staging of Nithraid, a fun family event that takes place on and around the river. The daring sailing race, starting from the Solway Firth and sailing up the river Nith was made possible by one of the highest tides of the year. While waiting for the boats to arrive, visitors and families were invited over to The Mill Green to enjoy food, live music on a hand built stage, art activities and Viking fights!

Our lovely Project Manager for Nithraid, Sal Cuddihy, was delighted with how the day went and both her and everyone at the Stove would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who was involved in Nithraid 2017 – whether you were working, volunteering or just came along to cheer on the sailors. This was our biggest and most successful Nithraid yet, and it wouldn’t have been possible without those who supported the event.

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Nithraid is created and produced by The Stove Network and is part of our mission to make creative opportunities for local people to be involved in the future of Dumfries. This year, we had a total of 15 boats take part in the sailing race, with all boats carrying a small cargo which was delivered into the town to complete the race. This year’s winner was David Sleggs who was joined on his boat, ‘Scottish Bluebells’, by Paul Sleggs, and won the race with their sailing dingy.

Visitors to Nithraid were treated to an afternoon of great local food and fun family activities. Local music acts played throughout the day on a hand built stage by emerging artists Blueprint100. Amongst the acts were Kate Kyle, Isla Gracie, Colin James and Stoney Broke. Burgers, hotdogs and drinks were provided by Craig Patterson of Catering Plus, and professional up-cycler, Rose Hall, hosted a workshop on creating bags for life using t-shirts. This year, Nithraid also had a Viking theme, with Longfada Viking Group staging a re-enactment which interpreted the lives of people living by the river around 1000 years ago. Wordsmithcrafts, another Viking themed group, was working with other local groups from the area encouraging ‘have a go’ activities for all the family.

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For the first time, Nithraid also continued into the evening for ‘Nithraid Night Time’. Visitors to Nithraid were invited back in the evening for vegan stew, film screenings, campfires and music provided by local musicians, Fraser Clark and Stuart Macpherson.

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Image credit: Galina Walls

A large crowd of people also joined in with the legendary Salty Coo procession, starting from The Stove on the High Street and finishing at the Mill Green, and were treated to this year’s fun and exciting parade from the ‘Moo Coo Collective’, led by Leo Marsh, Jimmy Russell and Agne Zdanaviciute; a group of young artists living in Dumfries.

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This year, Nithraid was kindly sponsored by the People’s Project. The People’s Project is a non-profit organisation which was set up in 2008 by Mark Jardine to rekindle the meaning of community in Dumfries and Galloway. The project aims to encourage acts of kindness across the region of Dumfries and Galloway through numerous projects and events. Nithraid was also generously supported by Holywood Trust, Barfil Trust and many local businesses.

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For more information and photos from this year’s Nithraid, please visit www.thestove.org/nithraid or visit the Nithraid Facebook page!

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Live Music at Nithraid!

As part of the Nithraid this year, our Nithraid riverside village plays host to blueprint100’s curated acoustic music stage, a beautiful, nautically themed new stage and set created by the blueprint team and Emily Cooper with support from artist and maker John Kingston. Into the evening our Nithraid Nighttime events will take a more ambient approach, with live musical scores into the night.

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Opening this years Nithraid is local based singer song-writer Stoney Broke. Stoney Broke has been busy promoting his energy packed debut  “If It Ain’t Broke…” through gigs in North England and the centre belt.

Preceding our viking battle you can watch the amazing up and coming artist Kate Kyle. Kate has been a regular at Stove events including Brave New Words and also collaborated with the Tinderbox Orchestra in Edinburgh earlier this year playing one of her songs to an audience of 600+ people at The Tinderbox Album launch.

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Following Kate Kyle you can watch another Brave New Words regular Colin James. Known for his witty banter and quirky presence keep an ear out for the unofficial Nithraid anthem “Boaty McBoat Face.”

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Launching over the past year local guitar teacher David Bass started his under 18 acoustic afternoon – which takes place on the last Saturday of every month at the Stove – to offer a stage to young performers looking to get their foot in the door in the local music scene. We are delighted to announce that one of the performers playing this years Nithraid will be Taylor Nelson. Taylor recently played this years Youthbeatz event and is set to be one of the artists to watch in the future.

Fraser Clark

Our Nithraid Nighttime will feature performances from bassist and composer Stuart MacPherson, and jazz pianist and composer Fraser Clark. Stuart most recently worked with the Stove on his commissioned Flight piece last autumn and has been involved in numerous projects ranging from the highly acclaimed orchestration of Martyn Bennett’s ‘GRIT’ by Greg Lawson to his work with singer/songwriter Emma Gillespie (Emma’s Imagination). Fraser Clark’s EP From the Depths launched at the Stove at the end of 2016, and his work has been performed by a variety of professional musicians, including The Scottish Ensemble, organist Kevin Bowyer, cellist Robert Irvine and local Dumfries amateur choir, The Balliol Consort.

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Nithraid is Back!

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This Saturday, September 9th will be our fifth staging of Nithraid, a fun family event that takes place on and around the river. The daring sailing race, starting from the Solway Firth and sailing right up to the River Nith in the centre of Dumfries, is made possible by one of the highest tides of the year.

While waiting for the boats to arrive, join us along the Mill Green, opposite the Whitesands from 12noon for food, music and activities for all the family!

This year, our Project Manager for Nithraid is Stove Curatorial Team Member, Sal Cuddihy. She has been working hard with the rest of the Stove team to put together a very exciting Nithraid this year, with some great new additions to the festival; our friends the Vikings are coming to liven up the banks of the Mill Green with re-enactments and combat displays. And for the first time, we will be continuing the festivities into the evening with some live entertainment in a relaxed atmosphere.

Visitors to Nithraid are invited to join us in a full day of activities. Kicking off the day, the Salty Coo procession will leave from Fountain Square on Dumfries High Street, arriving at the Mill Green at approximately 12.30pm.

This year, Nithraid has a Viking theme, with Longfada Viking Group staging a re-enactment which interprets the lives of people living by the river around 1000 years ago. They will be putting on a Viking Combat display at 1pm, at the Mill Green. Wordsmithcrafts, another Viking themed group, will be working with other local groups from the area, and encouraging ‘have a go’ activities for all the family.

Throughout the day, there will also be art activities and demonstrations for all ages, acoustic music on a hand built stage by emerging artists Blueprint100, food provided by Craig Paterson of Catering Plus, and the dunking of the legendary Salty Coo at 4.45pm, where the winning skipper has the honour of lowering the Coo and releasing her into the river.

Then at 7pm, members of the public are invited back to the Mill Green for ‘Nithraid Night Time’ – live music and spoken word performances, visuals, storytelling, food and campfires!

This year, Nithraid is kindly sponsored by the People’s Project. The People’s Project is a non-profit organisation which was set up in 2008 by Mark Jardine to rekindle the meaning of community in Dumfries and Galloway. The project aims to encourage acts of kindness across the region of Dumfries and Galloway through numerous projects and events. Nithraid has also been generously supported by Holywood Trust, Barfil Trust and many local businesses.

For more information, including how to take part, please visit www.thestove.org/nithraid

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