Magnetic North Blog

From 30 November our paid residency for experienced artists gets underway. Space/Time is a creative retreat for artists from any art form that asks the question “How can you continue to thrive as an artist?”. Normally participants travel together to a location in Scotland. However, due to the pandemic, we have rethought Space/Time as an online residency. The residency aims to refresh participants through a stimulating examination of creativity in this new way of working and living. The residency artists are:

From 16-20 November 2020 we're holding our Space/Time online residency for experienced artists and/or creative producers who are parents or carers. 

Space / Time is part of our Artist Development programme - for this session we are delivering it in partnership with Federation of Scottish Theatre (FST). It is a creative retreat for experienced artists from any art form that asks the question “How can you continue to thrive as an artist?” Ordinarily participants travel together to a location in Scotland, but due to the current pandemic, we have rethought Space/Time as an online residency.

This special edition of Space/Time is aimed specifically at experienced artists and/or creative producers who are also parents or carers and are based in Scotland. The residency aims to refresh participants through a stimulating examination of creativity while being in the role of parent/carer. During the residency, we will question what creativity is within the context of parenting, how it can be nourished and explore how artists can continue to challenge themselves to develop and thrive while being a parent or carer.

Find out about the selected artists:

Louise Briggs

Louise is a producer and creative facilitator working in the visual arts. She has worked on a variety of large and small-scale commissions, exhibitions, events and artist residencies across a variety of media including; complex sculptural and ephemeral installations; site-specific interventions; performance and spoken word; and publication. She has also developed a writing practice that explores and is inspired by visual art. Her research interests are concerned with critical memoir and auto-theory as a poetics for critique, and the use of the cerebral and emotional voice to explore social and political issues relating to the marginalised voice.

 Jusztina Hermann

Jusztina is a performance artist and director specialising in circus and street theatre. She devises her own work with Scottish circus-theatre company Delighters as well as collaborating with other artists as a performer, director and mentor. Her Fire Theatre shows were performed internationally at Festa Del Fuoco di Stromboli (Italy), Earagail Arts Festival (Ireland), Galway Arts Festival (Ireland), Sziget Festival (Hungary). She regularly works with Jabuti Theatre, Rowanbank and Irish landscape theatre company LUXe and has also collaborated with Festa Del Fuoco Ensemble, CircusTheatre Production, Firebirds, Circonnection, ENCI, and Iron Oxide. Since 2018 Jusztina has also curated and produced Scotland's only ongoing circus cabaret night Cirqulation.
www.delighters.co.uk

Ruaridh M Law

Ruaridh works as performer, improviser, DJ and artist, performing solo, in groups and collaborations, across a wide range of festivals, arts spaces, venues and clubs. He’s been commissioned by organisations such as FutureEverything, the Anthony Burgess Foundation and Unconscious Archives in the UK, FIBER and Incubate in Amsterdam and AAA in San Francisco. He regularly works with Scotland’s Sanctuary, for whom he’s produced large-scale outdoor works combining sound walks, improvised performance and experimental storytelling. He runs the Broken20 multimedia label, which has been releasing experimental music, DVD, cassette, vinyl and mixed media works over 10 years and 50+ releases. In March 2020 Ruaridh set up further_in, a streaming channel for all disciplines of art to support those who have lost work due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
ruaridhTVO.broken20.com

Jennifer Paterson

Jennifer is an aerial and dance artist and Artistic Director of All or Nothing Aerial Dance Theatre. She has performed worldwide with companies/directors including Boilerhouse, Iron Oxide, Catherine Wheels / National Theatre Scotland and Cora Bissett / The Arches, often working on large scale outdoor spectacular performances including the London 2012 Olympic Ceremonies. Jen founded All or Nothing in 2006 as a focus for her own work as well as the desire to establish aerial arts within the cultural fabric of Scotland. All or Nothing create, teach, perform and advocate for aerial dance throughout the country, from small scale touring theatre to large scale outdoor spectacle.
www.aerialdance.co.uk

Corinne Salisbury

Corinne is a playwright and a creative producer. She has been commissioned by National Theatre of Scotland, Paines Plough/Pitlochry Festival Theatre, and Strange Town theatre company. Corinne was a winner of the Playwrights' Studio Scotland New Playwrights Award and has been supported to develop new work by Creative Scotland, an Athenaeum Award from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the Peggy Ramsay Foundation and an NTS Guest Room residency. Her play GIRLBOSS was published in Routledge’s anthology ‘Short Plays with Great Roles for Women’ in late 2019.
www.corinnesalisbury.com

Ben Winger

Ben is a performer, theatre-maker and aspiring film-maker. As a performer he has worked with Theatre companies across Scotland and is a Clowndoctor and Elderflower with Hearts and Minds. Ben was the lead artist on the show 'MESS' created for children with complex additional support needs in conjunction with Tenterhooks Theatre, which he was touring just before lockdown. Ben is currently working with Kerry Cleland and Catherine Wheels as part of their MAKESPACE project, and with Starcatchers to create a series of Creative Skills online films for practitioners working in early years settings.

Our next Space Time retreat will run from 4^th-9^th October 2019 at Cove Park in Argyll and the application process is now open. Experienced artists from any art form are welcome to apply by the deadline of 1pm on Friday 21^st June.

Space/Timeis a paid creative retreat for experienced artists from all disciplines that asks the question “How does an artist keep developing?”

It aims to refresh participants through a stimulating examination of creativity. During the residency, we will explore how creativity can be nourished and how artists can continue challenging themselves to develop.

The residency combines facilitated dialogue - built around a series of self-generated questions - with time for individual reflection and work. It is led by Nicholas Bone and Alice McGrath.

 You can find out more about how to apply here and if you need any more information please get in touch with us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Space/Time at Cove Park, photo by Eoin Carey

During the week of 11^th May, we’ll be trialling an online version of our Space/Time retreat.  Usually Space/Time is a residency in a rural location – previously venues include Cove Park in Argyle and Bute, The Old Brewery in Cromarty, Lyth Arts Centre near Wick, Findhorn in Moray, and the Swallow Theatre in Dumfries and Galloway. This is because being away from your regular surroundings is an important element in allowing people to focus on themselves without distraction.  Clearly this is not currently possible, so - like everyone else – we’re having to work out how to do things differently.

People are often intrigued by the idea of these retreats and ask what they’re like. It’s quite hard to explain what the experience itself is like as each person’s experience is different – though participant Rob Young has done a very good job in a previous post – but I can describe what the structure is and what the ideas behind it are.

Our next Space/Time retreat is being held on 4 October at Cove Park.

Space/Time is a paid creative retreat for experienced artists from all disciplines that asks the question “How does an artist keep developing?”

It aims to refresh participants through a stimulating examination of creativity. During the residency, we will explore how creativity can be nourished and how artists can continue challenging themselves to develop.

The residency combines facilitated dialogue - built around a series of self-generated questions - with time for individual reflection and work. It is led by Nicholas Bone and Alice McGrath.

The artists taking part are:

Cathy Forde
Cathy Forde is a writer from Glasgow. She has written many books for children and young adults and her plays have been produced by National Theatre of Scotland, A Play Pie Pint at Oran Mor and by BBC Radio. She also works extensively as a mentor and creative writing tutor.

Daniel Padden
Daniel Padden is a composer and musician making music and sound for theatre, screen and live performance. His work has included film, orchestral scores, children's theatre, tape collages, vocal improvisation and experimental rock music. He has recently created and co-directed 'WhirlyGig', a theatre piece for families exploring the absurd conventions of musicianship and performance.

Alyson Hallett
Alyson Hallett is an award-winning poet and her latest pamphlet Toots was shortlisted for the Michael Marks and Callum MacDonald Memorial Awards. She has also published fiction and drama and has collaborated with visual artists, musicians, dancers and sculptors. She lives in Somerset and curates The Migration Habits of Stones, a poetry and public art project

Rob Young
Rob Young trained in theatre design, spent 13 years in photographic archives and 20 more as an award-winning writer, working for the UK’s top TV, film and theatre companies. He is currently working on a project about children with chronic, complex pain and his new play opens at Buxton Opera House in January 2020.

Emma Jayne Park
Emma Jayne Park works under the creative handle Cultured Mongrel as a dancer, theatre maker, collaborator and micro-activist.  She is obsessed with finding ways to ask better questions. From creating dance with young dancers in rural community spaces to working as a movement director in established mid-scale theatres, her politics always underline her practice with a focus on creating healthy working spaces, questioning hierarchies, collaborative working and aspiring to positive social change.  Her research focuses on bridging the gap between ideology and practice, exploring themes including identity, communication, failure, re-authorship and creative ownership. 

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