Forest BB

Hi Brittonie

Thank you for your email regarding Voluntary Arts Week. It was great to have the Forest Cafe involved last year and it would be fantastic to work with you again.

We are in the process of planning a Voluntary Arts Week launch event which we envisage will be more like a press launch than like the ‘open to the public’ event we held in Festival Square last year, this is due to the space available to us. We intend that this will take place in the evening on either 14 or 16 May and will example various arts and crafts groups, such as yourselves, through a mix of ‘hands on’ workshops and performances -inviting press, guests and various people related to arts and culture in Edinburgh to get involved. Does this sound like something you would be interested in taking part in? This is very much in the planning stages but I can keep in touch with you about this as it develops if you would like to be kept up to date and get involved.

There are also several other ways you can be part of Voluntary Arts Week. If you have any workshops/meet ups planned to take place during Voluntary Arts Week (12-20 May), or would like to organise one, you could list this as a Voluntary Arts Week event. We are currently collating listings which will be added to our website in due course, if you can forward the following information regarding any planned events I will put these on our database and add them to the Events Listing online as soon as it is up and running:

· Date

· Start and end time

· Brief intro to the event and your group

· Location, including postcode

· Contact details

· Website

· Image/Logo

I have also attached a Voluntary Arts Week empty belly poster which you can edit with details of your Voluntary Arts Week activity to publicise this in your local area.

This year we are also running a ‘What’s in your Window?’ campaign where we are asking groups to partner up with community centres, libraries, charity shops, cafes etc. to create lively window displays of their work during Voluntary Arts Week (12-20 May) as a way to raise awareness of what they do and let people know how they can get involved. Much like the event in Festival Square last year, we see this as a great way for arts and crafts groups to showcase their work and reach potential new members out with their usual meet up.
It would be great to see a Forest Cafe window display exampling different aspects of the activities you run – printmaking, knitting, poetry, music etc. I notice that you run workshops from the Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh and have recently worked with The Third Door to host Inky Fingers, do either of these, or any other buildings you have links with, have a window you could potentially use? These are just ideas - if you would like to get involved I have attached a ‘What’s in your Window?’ poster which we are asking groups to display alongside their window display. You can edit this with details of any upcoming activities so interested folk can read a bit about what you do and how to get involved. You can also upload a photo of your window display onto the Voluntary Arts Week website during the week, to spread the word about what you do further afield.

It would be great to have you on board again. I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards.
Cassandra Barron