Her Majesty the Queen is in town! – Lord Provost in China – New Principal at Edinburgh Napier University – Craigmillar Town Centre – Prince’s Foundation chooses Festival Theatre for Start
Her Majesty the Queen arrived in Edinburgh yesterday and will today host one of her annual garden parties at Holyrood Palace. Yesterday the Lord Provost the Rt Hon Donald Wilson handed over the keys to the city on the Queen’s arrival at Holyrood. There are some Press Association photos of the event here. As Lord Lieutenant of the City of Edinburgh, the Lord Provost is responsible for greeting members of the Royal family and visiting Heads of State.
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The Lord Provost is only just back from a visit to China where he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the city of Shenzhen to encourage closer cultural and creative collaboration between the Chinese city and Edinburgh.
He joined Mr Chuanjiang Yue, Director General, Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in signing a Memorandum of Understanding, which will see the establishment of joint ‘International Creative Industry Incubation Centres’ inside three years.
It is hoped that increased cooperation will harness the opportunities offered by the cities’ fast-growing cultural and creative sectors, promoting Edinburgh and Shenzhen as international creative centres and supporting the growth of local businesses into new markets.
Scotland’s Minister for External Affairs and International Development, Humza Yousaf, oversaw the signing in Shenzhen as part of a four-day visit to China to promote Scottish exports, expertise, education and culture.
Lord Provost Donald Wilson said: “Edinburgh is a major hub for Scotland’s creative industries and home to the world-famous Edinburgh Festivals, while Shenzhen is China’s centre for international design and culture.
“Building on Scotland’s already blossoming relationship with China, I am confident that today’s signing will open doors for Edinburgh’s creative companies to develop further links and explore exciting new business opportunities offered by both cities’ fast-growing cultural and creative sectors.”
External Affairs Minister, Humza Yousaf, said: “In December 2011 the First Minister announced the intention to develop a Memorandum of Understanding between Shenzhen and a major Scottish city and I am glad to see that bear such rich fruit today.
“This Memorandum of Understanding will help strengthen links between these two cities and open up new opportunities for creative businesses in Scotland and China. Agreements such as this underline the growing friendship, trust and understanding between Scotland and China, to the benefit of both nations.”
The next stage of the three-year ‘Partners in Creative Industry Programme’ will see a Council-led trade mission to Shenzhen in the autumn with a reciprocal trip to Edinburgh to follow shortly after.
Once the timescales around the opening of the Incubation Centres have been finalised, a series of creative business seminars and promotion events will be arranged in Edinburgh to coincide with the launch dates. The first batch of creative companies from each city would set up soon thereafter.
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Professor Andrea Nolan has begun work as the new Principal & Vice Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University.
Professor Nolan, formerly Senior Vice-Principal & Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Glasgow, took up her post yesterday morning.
She takes the place of Professor Dame Joan Stringer, who retired from the role of Principal after a decade in the post.
Chair of Edinburgh Napier University Court, The Very Revd Dr Graham Forbes, said:- “Andrea was the unanimous choice of our interview panel and is a worthy successor to Professor Dame Joan Stringer. We look forward to working with her to ensure the continued growth and success of the University.”
Today, Edinburgh Napier has almost 17,500 students, of which around 30% are international students studying either in Edinburgh or undertaking courses delivered with the University’s partners overseas.
Professor Nolan said:- “I am delighted to be appointed as the next Principal and Vice Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University. It is a privilege to lead the University, and I look forward very much to working with the University community, to build on the success of Professor Stringer’s principalship.”
Professor Nolan graduated as a veterinary surgeon from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland and after a short time in veterinary practice, embarked on an academic career which took her to the Universities of Cambridge, Bristol and the Technical University of Munich.
She was appointed as a Lecturer at the University of Glasgow in 1989 where she established herself as a researcher in the field of animal pain. She was made a Professor of Veterinary Pharmacology in 1998 and took up the post of Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine a year later.
She became a Vice Principal for Learning & Teaching in 2004, and in 2009 was appointed to the position of Senior Vice-Principal & Deputy Vice Chancellor.
She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
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New homes, food store, offices and civic square to provide “a new heart” for the community
PARC, the organisation spearheading the regeneration of Craigmillar, Edinburgh, is to move forward with ambitious plans to create a vibrant new town centre for the area.
A multi-million pound masterplan for the transformation of more than 50 acres of town centre space was granted planning approval in 2009. PARC is now set to move forward this year with the major development project which will create a new heart for the Craigmillar community – providing hundreds of jobs and giving a significant boost to the entire regeneration process.
Key features of the proposed town centre development include a vastly improved shopping and retail centre, with a major new food-store, petrol station and local shops. This will be supported by more than 400 high quality affordable homes as well as the creation of a new commercial and civic heart for Craigmillar – including offices, commercial units and a new town square.
Green open spaces and improved streetscapes will seamlessly link the town centre to regeneration projects which have already been successfully completed – including the iconic art deco White House building, two new primary schools sharing a joint campus and the Council’s new neighbourhood office and public library.
Central to the new plans will be the building of a new state-of-the-art community high school to replace the existing Castlebrae High School. In March this year, the Council reconfirmed its commitment to a new school in the town centre, to be completed by 2020.
Welcoming the start of the new development, Chair of PARC, Councillor Frank Ross, said: “The transformation of Craigmillar town centre will set another significant milestone in the regeneration process and will provide a central focal point bringing together all the new developments in the area.
“PARC’s integrated plans will create a new heart for Craigmillar by revitalising the town centre and giving the wider area a strong identity and distinct sense of place – whilst at the same time creating a range of employment and social opportunities for local people.
“We are now looking forward to working closely with the Craigmillar community and stakeholders across the city to make this exciting vision become a reality.”
Having initially explored options for progressing with a development partner, PARC will now progress with the town centre redevelopment as a single, lead entity.
Councillor Ross added: “PARC’s financial position has strengthened considerably over the last two years. The company now has the resources to take forward its ambitious vision for the transformation of the town centre on its own accord, allowing more investment to stay in Craigmillar and in the city.
“Work on the project will begin immediately, which will include appointing a design team and starting a community consultation programme.”
PARC is an urban regeneration company forming a joint venture which brings developers The EDI Group and The City of Edinburgh Council together with groups and representatives from the local Craigmillar community.
The town centre project will come as a welcome boost to the regeneration process in Craigmillar which has achieved much in the last five years despite challenging economic conditions.
As well as delivering a new joint campus primary school, the project has provided just under 600 highquality, affordable new homes for Craigmillar, of which 259 have been built by PARC. Current developments in the area include 95 new homes by Cruden Homes and 60 homes by CEC 21Century.
In 2011 PARC brought the iconic White House back to life as part of a £1.2 million project, fully restoring the art deco building to its former glory and placing it once again at the heart of the community. Re-established as a community focal point, the White House has had a real benefit to the area as a local resource but also as a statement that Craigmillar’s regeneration is well underway, and that it is now a vibrant area where people want to live, to work and to visit.
For more information, visit www.parccraigmillar.co.uk
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The Festival Theatre is just one of only eight arts venues in the UK to be selected by HRH The Prince of Wales’ charity, The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts (Children & the Arts), to participate in its 2013/14 Start programme.
Start, now in its 7th year, gives those arts venues judged to have exciting and imaginative projects and clear determination and passion to deliver work to new audiences, the vital funding and specialist support to run long-term, high-quality arts projects with children from their local schools. The Start programme is designed to reach children from social and economically disadvantaged backgrounds who have very little experience of high quality arts activities and who would benefit most from early intervention in order to unlock their potential.
HRH The Prince of Wales has a fundamental belief that everyone at an early age should have the opportunity to be inspired by the arts. In the seven years that Start has been running, Children & the Arts has helped create such opportunities for more than 104,000 children. The success of Start is due to the long-term partnership it forges between local arts venues and schools that lasts far beyond the lifespan of each individual project.
Start gives schools the means and motivation to take their children to see inspirational performances and exhibitions and teachers are provided with the training and resources they need to use the arts comfortably in the classroom. Equally Start gives children a new environment –which is neither the classroom nor the home – in which they can find new experiences and new ways to express their ideas, imaginations and personalities. It helps children to develop vital skills such as confidence and self-esteem, communication, self-expression and analysis which can actively improve their academic attainment across the curriculum.
Through Start, each child will experience two professional performances or exhibitions over a year and have the rare opportunity to go behind the scenes to meet artists, directors, actors, choreographers, technicians and dancers. Start also provides the chance for children to take part in creative workshops in the venue and in the classroom with highly trained arts practitioners, developing their own art works, performances or dance pieces that are performed or exhibited at a high profile finale event at the venue in front of family, friends and peers.
Duncan Hendry, Chief Executive of the Festival City Theatres Trust, which manages both the Festival and King’s Theatres in Edinburgh said of being selected: “This is a tremendous opportunity for us to engage with local young people. We’ll be working with 305 children with little or no previous theatre-going experience from four primaries in the north of Edinburgh – St David’s RC, Pirniehall, Forthview and Craigroyston. We’ll work with these schools over 3 years, introducing the children to live performance and developing their relationship with the Festival Theatre as a cultural venue.”
Jeremy Newton, CEO of The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts said: “We are extremely pleased to welcome the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, and hope that this will be the start of a great opportunity for local children. The Start programme has helped us reach out to and engage thousands of disadvantaged children across the UK with the arts, who have previously been denied access to them. We know that engagement with the arts from a young age can help children develop vital skills needed to not only improve their academic achievements across a number of subjects but also give them the confidence to strive for a better future for themselves. We look forward to supporting the Festival Theatre and all our new arts venues on what will be some extremely innovative and inspiring arts experiences”.
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
