Team of lead artists and facilitators announced for Caring Scotland
CARING SCOTLAND
- Team of lead artists and facilitators announced for Caring Scotland
- Call out for Care Experienced people to share their stories, launched by a week of events, across Scotland, marking Care Experienced Week.
- An In Conversation event with acclaimed artist and writer of Slum Boy, Juano Diaz talking to journalist and broadcaster Paul English at the National Library of Scotland
As previously announced
- Caring Scotland – a new three-year project, led by acclaimed playwright Nicola McCartney documenting the lives of Care Experienced people in Scotland
- Project created in a unique partnership between National Theatre of Scotland, Who Cares? Scotland and National Library of Scotland
- Project culminates in a new oral history audio archive at the National Library of Scotland and a touring interactive installation and photographic exhibition in 2027
- Caring Scotland funded with a £250,000 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund
We are delighted to announce the team of multi-disciplinary artists who will be working with lead artist, Nicola McCartney on the creation of and research into Caring Scotland.
Caring Scotland is a far-reaching creative oral history project that will document the lives and experiences of at least 100 members of the care experienced community in Scotland. The project aims to raise the profile, celebrate the achievements and foster empowerment of the care experienced community and is inspired by the practice of playwright and socially engaged theatre-maker, Nicola McCartney.
Artists Kevin Gilday (writer), Lewis Hetherington (theatre-maker and writer) Sara Shaarawi (writer), Jo Mango (musician & songwriter), Roxana Haines (director) and Mal Fraser (filmmaker) will form the team that will drive the project and engage with care experienced people from across Scotland to collect their stories for an unprecedented oral history audio archive.
As part of a special week of events, taking place during Care Experienced Week (19-26 October 2024), these artists will be visiting five different venues across Scotland to launch the project, meet local care experienced people and start to collect stories. All stories will be deposited in the final oral history sound archive, housed in perpetuity at the National Library of Scotland and will inspire the creation of the touring interactive installation as well as the photographic exhibition.
The project will finale in 2027, following a three-year period of consultation, workshops, interviews, research and development supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Locations and dates to meet the team include the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh (19 Oct), University of Highlands & Island, Inverness (24 Oct), Mitchell Library, Glasgow (25 Oct) and on the 26 Oct Music Hall, Aberdeen and Dundee.
There are several ways that Care Experienced people, of all ages, can become involved in the project, either individually or as groups. Full information on how to get involved can be found here.
Lead artist Nicola McCartney says;
"I'm honoured to lead this project which is about actively listening to and recording the stories care experienced people want to share about their lives. The most important story is the one we tell to ourselves about ourselves. And these individual stories are a vital and hitherto often overlooked part of the nation's story, what Scotland was, is now and what we can become."
As well as the Care Scotland team going on the road, the National Theatre of Scotland will be hosting a special in conversation event on Tuesday 22 October, with partners the National Library of Scotland.
Acclaimed artist and author Juano Diaz will be in conversation with writer, broadcaster and journalist Paul English. They will delve into the themes of Juano’s powerful memoir, Slum Boy, an exploration of his upbringing in the Scottish care system. Published to critical acclaim, Slum Boy reveals the raw, unfiltered experiences of a young boy navigating the complexities and challenges of life in care. Diaz’s narrative is a testament to resilience and the human spirit, resonating deeply with themes of identity, belonging, and the search for self. Juano will discuss the deeply personal journey of writing Slum Boy, and how his experiences have shaped his artistic and literary voice.
Juano Diaz, artist, lent his support to the project;
"Every story matters. By sharing our journeys, we turn our experiences into powerful voices of hope, resilience, and change. Projects like Caring Scotland offer us a platform to remind the world that those who have spent time in care have a voice that belongs and a story worth telling. By doing so, we not only transform our own lives through these shared experiences but also touch the hearts of those who care to listen, inspiring understanding, empathy, and a stronger community."
Caring Scotland will be delivered by National Theatre of Scotland in partnership with Who Cares? Scotland, the National Library of Scotland and is funded with an award from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Lead artist, Nicola McCartney, has extensive experience of the Care Experienced community, as a member of the Children’s Panel and as a foster parent. Caring Scotland is a continuation of her creative practice and her ongoing research into the care system in Scotland, Previously, in 2021, Nicola was commissioned by National Theatre of Scotland to create Holding/Holding On as part of their Care in Contemporary Scotland – A Creative Enquiry programme. Nicola’s practice of active listening enables participants to take control of their narratives. Caring Scotland will empower the Care Experienced community by offering members a platform for their voices to be heard by the people of Scotland.
The project is supported by national Scottish partners; Dundee Rep Theatre, Citizens Theatre, Glasgow and Aberdeen Performing Arts alongside local authority social work departments with whom the theatres already have positive existing connections.
With The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s support, the project will be open to all members of the Care Experienced community across Scotland to contribute to and take part in. The project aims to reframe public perceptions of Care Experienced young people in Scotland, as well as celebrating their achievements and potential.
The project will be co-created with the Care Experienced community. A Youth Advisory Group will be set up to advise on the delivery, and co-design the project.
Further information for potential participation is available by contacting Paul Fitzpatrick - Director of Creative Engagement at National Theatre of Scotland paul.fitzpatrick@nationaltheatrescotland.com
Contact Information
Emma Cairns
Notes to editors
NATIONAL THEATRE OF SCOTLAND PRESS OFFICE CONTACTS:
Emma Schad – Head of Communications / emma.schad@nationaltheatrescotland.com Tel: +44 (0)227 9016 M: +44 (0)7885998533
Jack Oliver – Media and Communications Officer / jack.oliver@nationaltheatrescotland.com M: +44 (0)7580132816
Notes to Editors
The National Theatre of Scotland is dedicated to playing the great stages, arts centres, village halls, schools and site-specific locations of Scotland, the UK and internationally. As well as creating ground-breaking productions and working with the most talented theatre-makers, the National Theatre of Scotland produces significant community engagement projects, innovates digitally, and works constantly to develop new talent. Central to this is finding pioneering ways to reach current and new audiences and to encourage people’s full participation in the Company’s work. With no performance building of its own, the Company works with existing and new venues and companies to create and tour theatre of the highest quality. Founded in 2006, the Company, in its short life, has become a globally significant theatrical player, with an extensive repertoire of award-winning work. The National Theatre of Scotland is supported by the Scottish Government. www.nationaltheatrescotland.com
Who Cares? Scotland was established in 1978 and is Scotland’s only national independent membership organisation for Care Experienced people. Its strategic vision is to secure a lifetime of equality, respect and love for Care Experienced people in Scotland.
For more information, get in touch with our Communications Team at comms@whocaresscotland.org
The National Lottery Heritage Fund - our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. That’s why as the largest funder for the UK’s heritage we are dedicated to supporting projects that connect people and communities to heritage, as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past. Over the next 10 years, we aim to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to make a decisive difference for people, places and communities.
Heritagefund.org.uk Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter/X, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLottery #HeritageFund
The National Library of Scotland is a major European research library and one of the world’s leading centres for the study of Scotland and the Scots – an information treasure trove for Scotland’s knowledge, history and culture.
Its collections are of international importance. Key formats include rare books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, music, films and official publications. The Library holds more than 30 million physical items dating back more than 1,000 years, as well as a growing library of digital material.
Key Artist biography
Lead artist Nicola McCartney is a playwright, director and dramaturg. Her plays include: Easy, Heritage, Home, Standing Wave: Delia Derbyshire in the 60s, Rachel’s House, Cave Dwellers and Lifeboat. She co-authored How Not To Drown with Dritan Kastrati (Thick Skin/ Tron/ Traverse) which won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2019. She is also a social theatre practitioner and has worked with all sorts of groups including people within the criminal justice system in UK and USA, asylum seekers and refugees, drug users, survivors of domestic violence and childhood abuse. Nicola has worked with Traverse’s flagship outreach programme, Class Act, since 1997, taking it to Russia, Ukraine and India. In 2018 she was a recipient of a Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Olwen Wymark award for encouraging theatre in the UK. Nicola is currently Reader in Writing for Performance at University of Edinburgh where she leads the Master’s programme in Playwriting.
Full biographies of lead artists here