Community and creativity are at the heart of The Cumnock Tryst. We know that every individual has the capacity to create something new, often in ways which might be hitherto unimaginable. This project is giving community groups across Cumnock and Doon Valley the opportunity to create a piece of music reflecting their own response to their landscape, social history, community, people and place.
This project is one of 22 projects as part of the Coalfield Communities Landscape Partnership which is aiming to address the threats to local heritage; create opportunities for learning, recreation and wellbeing; reveal the past lives of the communities; and equip people with the skills and knowledge to manage their landscape sustainably. This project has been generously supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
You can visit the Coalfield Communities Landscape Partnership Facebook page HERE.
The Moss and the Cosmos
To kick off the Musical Celebration of the Coalfields project, Sir James MacMillan, Artistic Director of The Cumnock Tryst, led a series of online workshops that explored four themes, Coal, Environment, People and Place, all of which have particular significance within the Coalfield Community Landscape Partnership area in East Ayrshire. Participants were joined by photographer Colin Prior, author Alexander McCall Smith, poet Michael Symmons Roberts, composer Pete Stollery, visual artist Kim Beveridge and naturalist Chris Packham, learning how to capture their own moment in time. We received over one-hundred photographs, films, texts and sound recordings from across the area. Film-maker Kim Beveridge and composer Alistair MacDonald then worked together to incorporate those submissions into this film, “The Moss and the Cosmos”, a beautiful exploration of East Ayrshire, the people and the place.
Community Workshops
Between April 2022 and June 2023, we will run sessions with community groups in and around Cumnock to create texts and music which will come together to form a full piece of music - A Musical Celebration of the Coalfields. The groups will work with specialist composers, librettists and musicians to create their story that represent their community. Sir James MacMillan will weave the music together in to the new work for performance at The Cumnock Tryst Festival in October 2023.
Performances
Members of the community who have been involved with the project from the start, will join other local people to perform A Musical Celebration of the Coalfields. The music will bring their story to life using everything that has been created along the way, from the music created to images submitted from the online workshops. This will be a unique opportunity for them to work alongside a professional team and professional musicians in public performances during The Cumnock Tryst Festival 2023.
