Our Work in the Community of Dunterlie

Culture Collective

Village Storyteller Daniel Serridge has been based in Dunterlie, Barrhead since October 2021 as part of Creative Scotland’s Culture Collective programme that seeks to place artists and creatives in local communities to develop responsive participatory arts programmes. These local communities have been identified as those who have been adversely affected by the impact of Covid-19. 

TRACS and the People’s Parish

Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland (TRACS) were made responsible for nine Culture Collective areas and identified The Village to work in Dunterlie, Barrhead. TRACS were keen to place an emphasis on folklore, folk narratives and folk music as part of their work and therefore The Village have worked over the course of 21/22 to integrate certain folk and traditional art forms in the community these include; Folk Jam’s – an afternoon session of folk music, stories, food and other family activities, Community Ceilidh’s and, more pertinently, Harp and Carp – A performance group that integrates storytelling with harp music. 

Harp and Carp 

Following the success of a pilot project that saw seven intergenerational participants from across Barrhead come together to develop skills in

 telling stories and playing the harp to create a public performance for the Village Storytelling Festival in July 2022, The Village would like to continue developing this performance group. This pilot was an attempt to see if there was interest in traditional art forms in the Barrhead community and, if so, to root out any skills and interests in this particular area. We’ve found over this period that there is interest and desire to learn more, skill up and perform. We also discovered that following the pandemic, confidence and self-esteem were at an all time low, some participants openly admitting that this was the first time they had left the house and engaged in activity for three years. 

After only eight weeks worth of work, a core group of harpists and storytellers emerged and the performance as part of the Village Storytelling Festival proved to be both moving and uplifting, sitting perfectly alongside professional performances. The group bonded significantly, and new friendships were made during the process. One storyteller, grew in confidence so much that they were encouraged to take a small group of children to one side at a recent Folk Jam to tell them stories. This was of their own instigation and demonstrated a desire to continue finding spaces and places to perform. With this in mind we wish to take the project further and continue to offer people high quality opportunities but also give them the confidence to lead the group and take ownership.

The Corra Foundation

As part of our work in Dunterlie we have been supported by and developed a relationship with The Corra Foundation. They are a charitable organisation that supports communities to develop their own voice, identifying community champions and supporting people within that community to make decisions, instigate projects, seek funding and take ownership of their spaces and places. As Corra place a huge emphasis on ideas stemming from the community, we wish to begin a process of supporting community members to take ownership of the work we’ve instigated in order that the culture collective programme has a legacy beyond its initial 12 months.