Glasgow Open House Arts Festival 2021: Artists in Isolation
Glasgow Open House Arts Festival is a DIY non-profit city-wide event, that encourages people from all backgrounds to explore alternative ways of interacting with the arts, outside of the usual gallery or museum. Hosted by the local community, the festival's 3 previous programmes have taken place in flats, garden sheds and other unexpected locations. The most recent festival programme in 2017 showcased the work of over 200 artists in 69 venues across the city. This year, we aim to create a safe & socially distanced festival, from the 24th to the 27th of September.
It’s been a really difficult year for everyone! We have all really missed engaging together in cultural and community events, and the pandemic has made us realise just how important the arts are for our mental health and well-being. With your help Glasgow Open House Arts Festival 2021 will bring desperately needed opportunities for joy and togetherness to the local community, as we recover from the devastating effects of the pandemic.
Through a programme of in-person and online exhibitions, performances and discussions, we aim to provide space for artists and the wider community to question and express their lived experiences of the ongoing pandemic. Imagine beautiful window displays in flats and houses across the city, collaborative sculptures in outdoor spaces, wall murals and painted shop-shutters, online and doorstep performances, all within a safe, socially distanced programme, free and accessible to all. We are encouraging artists, musicians, performers, community groups, schools, organisations and creative members of the public from all backgrounds to take part.
We are a small team currently operating on a voluntary basis and paying out of pocket for festival expenses, so we are really counting on your help and support to bring our vision for a truly inclusive festival to life!
We have made the difficult decision to reduce our target to £4000 to reflect the absolute minimum we need for the festival to go ahead (in its simplest and voluntary form). More than ever you can see how your donations will make a difference and contribute to the return of the festival.
Glasgow Open House Arts Festival 2021: 'Artists in Isolation' hopes to bring together and support the community to engage with the arts, outside of the usual gallery or museum. With £4000 in donations, we will be able to cover the basic running costs of a 4-day socially distanced arts festival free for everyone to enjoy! Your support will allow us to collaborate with and spotlight artists, organisations and groups already supporting diverse creative output in the city.
We will still be looking to fund support for artists, wages for the team, operational and team working costs, community engagement and accessibility for our events via public and private funding applications. £4000 raised from this crowdfunder will represent 12% of the cost of our ideal festival, allowing us to go ahead with the programme in a very basic form if we aren't successful in raising all of the funds we are aiming for.
More than ever you can see how your donations will make a difference and contribute to the return of the festival. Check out our fantastic rewards and help us be part of your light at the end of the (covid) tunnel!
Glasgow Open House Arts Festival was founded in 2013 by a small group of art graduates including the festival's director, Amalie Silvani-Jones, who has returned to relaunch the festival with a new team. A visual artist, Amalie has worked within various arts roles including for the Refugee Festival and Wasps Artists Studios. Amalie is currently supported by two festival coordinators: Sofia Cotrona (as Marketing & Blog Assistant), a student of History of Art and Business at the University of Edinburgh and Sophia Gruber (as Digital Content Creator & Video Editor), a multidisciplinary designer and filmmaker.
Glasgow Open House Arts Festival is committed to tackling issues of inclusion and equality. In order to make sure we engage & include the diverse groups of artists and audiences set out in our constitution, we have begun the process of forming an 'advisory committee' to provide support to the festival team. The committee meets online once a month and will consist of 7-10 Glasgow based advocates, with expertise and networks formed from working with diverse groups of artists and arts organisations.
By supporting this crowdfunder, you’ll be allowing us to spotlight artists from under-represented communities and playing a vital part in the continuation of everyone’s favourite DIY arts festival! 'Artists in Isolation' hopes to bring together and support the community to engage with the arts, in a truly inclusive festival.
Let us be the light at the end of your (covid) tunnel and help us to bring back the joy of music and performance, in the form of a socially distanced festival in September!
We have some lovely new and original rewards on the page, as well as lots of other rewards still available! Keep an eye on our Instagram this week for 2 artists' takeovers and the launch of a new reward by performance artist Madeleine V Brown!
As well as festival merchandise, original artworks and artist prints, supporters can claim a bespoke hand-drawn mural by Glasgow Artist Flore de Hoog or an individual painted mural by artist and designer Alice Dansey-Wright!
Glasgow Open House Arts Festival screen-printed organic cotton ethically sourced T-Shirt and Sweatshirt produced by Print Clan
Glasgow Open House Arts Festival Stitched Badge produced by Wild and Kind
Painting 'Sub-Prime No.6' & Artist's Book 'Grandes Et Petites Machines' by Craig Mulholland
'HAUSKATZE' by MV Brown, a photographic flipbook documenting a domestic performance and interspecies collaboration
A4 Original charcoal drawing on paper wrapped around wooden panel by Robert McCormack
Original collage works on paper by Janie Nicoll
A4 Artist Prints by Sophie Grindlay
Jenny Haytch Illustration Bundle
Hand-Drawn Wallpaper by Flore de Hoog
Hand-painted Mural by Alice Dansey-Wright
3 photographic prints from Chris Jones' series 'My Dad's Tools'
Video Credits:
Music: Life Online - Stay At Home (Prod. Ben Rayner)
Original track: https://lifeonline.bandcamp.com/track/online-life
Kindly donated by Life Online - Recording and Performing Music Project
https://www.facebook.com/lifeonlineuk
Video Footage: footage is a mixture of the festival's own archives and clips kindly donated by
Art in Scotland TV
https://www.artinscotland.tv/
Amalie, Sofia & Sophia X