At the Collective Gallery today – Meadows tennis tournament – At the Scottish National Gallery today – Wartime Experience at the Museum of Flight today – Discretionary Housing Payments
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The Meadows City Tennis tournament takes place today. More information here.
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Through American Eyes: Frederic Church and the Landscape Oil Sketch, which will be on show from 11 May to 8 September, will celebrate the work of one of the greatest American landscape painters of the nineteenth century. Church (1826–1900) is renowned for his spectacular landscapes, which combine dramatic compositions with beautifully observed light effects. His particular fascination for stirring subjects, which celebrate the sublime view of nature, took Church to locations as distant as the Arctic Circle, Ecuador, Jordan, Jamaica and Bavaria.
Working out of doors and painting directly from nature, Church created oil sketches which could later be worked into large-scale studio landscapes. This exhibition will bring together some 25 of these remarkably fresh and spontaneous paintings, such as Königsee, Bavaria, 1868 and The Iceberg, painted in the waters off Labrador around 1875, which are a testament to the ambitious scope of Church’s vision. The exhibition will also include paintings such as Winter Twilight from Olana, c.1871-72, and Sunrise (The Rising Sun), 1862, which were executed close to Church’s home in Hudson, New York, with its with magnificent views of the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains.
To illustrate the relationship of Church’s oil sketches to his finished studio canvases, the exhibition will also include the greatest American landscape painting in Europe, Niagara Falls, from the American Side, 1867, which is in the Scottish National Gallery’s own collection. This masterpiece, which measures more than two metres squared, was donated to the Gallery in 1887 by an ex-patriot Scot, John Stewart Kennedy, a Lanarkshire-born emigrant entrepreneur who had amassed a substantial fortune in iron and coal.
The exhibition will reflect Church’s pioneering and adventurous spirit and highlight the significance of his achievement: in a time before National Geographic and David Attenborough, Church’s paintings of the Arctic, South America, Europe and the Middle East drew great crowds keen to see the visual wonders of the world beyond their reach.
Through American Eyes: Frederic Church and the Landscape Oil Sketch has been organised by the National Gallery, London, in partnership with and through major support from the Terra Foundation for American Art.
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Today in East Lothian at the Museum of Flight you can go back to the 40s and think you are involved in World War II. There will be music and flying displays.
Hands on history! You are promised music from the Blitz Sisters. We met them in a queue last year at the Fringe and recorded this little snippet.
Date: Sun 12 May
Time: 10:00-17:00
Cost: Adult £10:50 / £8.50, Child £5 (under 5 free)
Family (2 adults, 2 children) £27.50, National Museums Scotland Members free.
Parking: Free
Booking: Book tickets online or call 0300 123 6789.
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The council’s Corporate Policy and Strategy committee meet this Tuesday morning. They are yet another committee which is going to discuss the increased need for council to award Discretionary Housing Payment as a result of UK benefit reforms.
The council has around £1.3m set aside but there is some recognition that this may not be enough and so the DHP fund will have to be carefully managed. The purpose of the report to this week’s meeting is to decide upon rules for making these payments. They usefully give fictional examples of when it will be paid and when it will be refused.
For example:-
Mr and Mrs Smith rent a three bedroom property for £340.00 per week. They have two children and receive the following benefits:
Jobseekers Allowance – £111.45
Child Tax Credit – £88.07Child benefit – £33.70
Housing Benefit – £340.00 Total welfare benefits – £573.22The benefit cap for Mr and Mrs Smith is £500.00 per week. Therefore, their award of Housing Benefit is reduced to £266.78 per week (reduction of £73.22).
Mr Smith has been unemployed for one year and has had difficulties finding employment in his usual vocation. He is currently attending his local Work Programme provider for support to find work.In addition, Mr and Mrs Smith’s oldest child is 15 years old and in the process of completing her GCSE’s at school. Mr and Mrs Smith have found a cheaper property that would take them below the benefit cap in another area but it would mean their oldest child would have to move schools. They believe this would have a negative impact on their child’s education.
DHP of up to £73.22 could be awarded until Mr or Mrs Smith move into work or their eldest child completes her GCSEs.
If you are having difficulty paying your rent then the council want to hear from you, and will try to help.
Requests for DHP must be made on an application form. The form can be obtained online at www.edinburgh.gov.uk by telephoning 0131 469 5000 or collected at the local office situated at 249 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1YJ;
No application is required for any claimant that falls under Section 4 (When DHP will be Paid).
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