Artful Migration Conference 20th October 2023

This will take place in Duncan Hall, Easterbook Hall on the Crichton Estate Dumfries from 10am – 4.30pm

Entrance fee: £10 in person with online attendance offered – details to follow

The Artful Migration conference will share learning and explore themes relating to the Artful Migration residency programme, which has been developed by Upland (contemporary art agency based in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland and Moving Souls Dance. The programme has created three artist residencies between 2017 – 2023 that give artists a unique insight into the migratory birds of Dumfries & Galloway through partnership working with local nature reserves.

A pilot residency took place in 2017-18 at WWT Caerlaverock focusing on the Whooper Swans, undertaken by Angela Alexander Lloyd, and a second residency, undertaken by John Wallace, ran from June 2020 – August 2021 at NTS Threave Garden & Estate focusing on the osprey. This year artists Leeming & Paterson are exploring the elusive nightjar, supported by project partners Forest Land Scotland & RSPB.

The conference aims to reveal the achievements of this unique residency programme, in collaboration with environmental organisations and examine what can be learnt about new methods of approach that truly integrate the insights of artistic practice with state-of-the-art ecological science and local land management experience. This event is about collaborative inquiry and new connections.

Keynote speakers: Sacha Dench – Ambassador, UN’s Convention on Migratory Species and CEO and founder of Conservation Without Borders, and Chris Fremantle, Research Fellow and Lecturer at Gray’s School of Art.

Artful Migration artists will give presentations about their work which will also be available to see at Gracefield Arts Centre, 28 Edinburgh Road, Dumfries, DG1 1JQ on the day of the conference.