Projects
Village Creative
Last year, Heids and Herts ran a series of workshops with local artists funded by the University of St Andrews to help communities reconnect as we emerged from COVID-19 and showcase village halls as creative spaces. In our evolving role as Enablers and Facilitators, we have tweaked the model of the Village Creative and now award Village Creative Awards directly to community builders working across North East Fife.
With secured funding for a new series of creative community projects to tackle loneliness and improve community cohesion, wellbeing and interest in arts & heritage, we are delighted to announce that we have confirmed four Village Creative Awards worth £650 each. We look forward to working with the Giffordtown Village Hall Committee and their writing project, A series of cooking and baking workshops with Colinsburgh Community Trust, The Listening Library', an intergenerational podcast project with the Youth Ambassador group affiliated with Balmerino Gauldry Kilmany Logie Community Council, Garden Tales: Cultivating Community Through Art - Collessie Village Hall Committee and a village history mural project with Gateside and District Community Association.
This stream of community projects taking part in the Village Creative 2023 is funded by Fife Council Local Community Planning Budget and "Binn Wind Turbine Community Fund managed by Foundation Scotland"
Newsflash - Funding Boost expands Village Creative
Selected from over 60 worthy applicants, new funding from independent Scottish broadband provider GoFibre and its GoFurther Community Fund means that Heids and Herts can further expand the Village Creative across 2024.
With the additional support from Go Fibre for essential grassroots community projects, we are delighted that we can pass on Creative Awards worth £650 each and move forward into the New year to develop - 100 Years of Memories project with OAP's at Kilmany Parish Church, A series of cooking and baking workshops with Colinsburgh Community Trust, Craft Workshops with children, young people and their parents and carers - Families First, St Andrews and an Arts and Poetry Project with CiC Community Café and LGBTQ HUB, Cupar
Village Creative aims to stimulate community cohesion, inclusion and equality and tackle the crisis of isolation and loneliness, which affects over 15,000 adults across all of our communities in North East Fife
(Our trustees Amber Shaw-Smith and Jenni Gudgeon are pictured in Falkland celebrating the Go Fibre funding news)Haiver FM – Howe Community Radio Station
Our Haiver FM broadcast on 87.9FM ran simultaneously across the Community Media Association portal with daily bulletins across Mental Health Awareness Week from 9th – 15th May 2022, followed by two weeks of 12 hours of live daily scheduling from 16th to 29th May from the temporary studio in the Jubilee Hall, Burnturk.
The Haiver FM media player attracted 2500 listener sessions across 22 countries, with listeners tuning into a staggering 28353 minutes across the month of broadcasting. Heids and Hert's social networking pages reached 12,900 people with 2,291 engagements.
Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for regular podcasts and project updates as we progress with the Haiver Community Radio and Podcast Project - Giving the Community a Voice.
This project was funded by the Fife Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund, administered by Fife Voluntary Action with funding from the Scottish Government.
The Sonic Museum
Since setting up and running a temporary community radio station around Mental Health Awareness Week in 2021, and as part of our ongoing mission to challenge the stigma around loneliness and isolation, the Trustees of Heids and Herts Scotland have been empowering, facilitating and enabling local communities to explore and compare the impact of sound on our lives, capture memories, soundscapes, sonic postcards and delve deeper into the rich intangible audible heritage across our part of the Kingdom (North East Fife) and the further possibilities for creativity through the manipulation of sound with technology.
We have assembled a field recording lending resource (comprising 12 digital field recording kits) with funding for additional equipment from the Community Learning and Development Device Fund managed by SCVO. We aim to further develop our Sonic Museum project and, since the turn of the year, have piloted four projects, including sound compositions with youth ambassadors in and around the village of Balmarino, memory box initiatives with St Andrews Heritage Museum and Garden, Blether Together in the church hall with the remote Rathiliat community and Garden Stories in the hamlet of Collessie. The Sonic Museum project revolves around the idea of capturing an audio record and shining a light on the cultural, human and natural wealth, history and diversity of communities across North East Fife.
We are further exploring collaborations in recorded poetry, plays and short stories with heritage organisations, community groups and arts organisations to encourage involvement and provide the opportunity to write and perform.
Creative Community Spaces - Day Conference - Wed, 26 April 2023 Falkland Estate
Professor (Emerita) Karen McArdle, FRSA, University of Aberdeen, joined our Facilitator, Peter McCaughey from Waveparticle, for our first-ever gathering and collaboration day, bringing together colleagues involved in building stronger communities across North East Fife. A brilliant day of bonding and sharing around strengthening social cohesion and resilience inspired us all. We are planning follow-up events and will keep everyone posted about dates in 2024.
Our thanks to the Arnold Clark Community Fund for funding this initiative.
Hearth in the Howe
Hearth in the Howe was a series of community story-catching events gathered around the idea that sharing stories strengthens common values, combats loneliness, and inspires compassionate actions.
We worked with several local communities and the brilliant professional storyteller Sheila Kinninmonth for a celebration of diverse stories and reminisces about rural living.
Hearth in the Howe Sponsors
Hearth in the Howe was part of the Year of Stories 2022 Community Stories programme. ith Fund support from EventScotland, MuseumsGalleriesScotland and National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Scotland's Year of Stories 2022 was a celebration of stories inspired by, written, or created in Scotland. Stories are a vital part of Scotland's culture, and every community has a different tale. A host of events are being held across Scotland this year – by community groups, museums, culture and heritage organisations and visitor attractions – showcasing our rich storytelling and literary heritage.
