3×3 Series – Everyday and the City
Join us for the second of 3 evenings in April to explore ideas under the overall theme of …and the City, as we gear up for Congress 2021 in June.
This Congress Fringe event is free and open to all with an interest in hearing the speakers’ takes on the themes, which will be followed by a chaired discussion.
Everyday and the City
- Selina Hales – Founder, Refuweegee
- Mitch Miller – Artist, researcher, creator of dialectograms
- Jennifer Novotny – Project officer, Scottish Civic Trust’s Diverse Heritage programme
- Karen Anderson – Architect, founder of Hirta
Sessions continue with Play and the City on the 28th.
About the speakers:
Selina Hales is the founder of Refuweegee, set up in December 2015 to provide a warm welcome to forcibly displaced people arriving in Glasgow. The new hybrid word ‘refuweegee’ is defined by the organisation as “A person who upon arriving in Glasgow is embraced by the people of the city, a person considered to be a local.” As a result of the amazing response from people in Glasgow and beyond, Refuweegee have provided over 5,000 community-built, personal welcome packs to people all over Glasgow and across Scotland. Selina’s passion is to create social change, and through her work with Refuweegee she can be volunteer, trustee, cause founder, project manager, fundraiser, researcher, operational director, business development manager and social entrepreneur – all in one day!
Mitch Miller is an illustrator, writer and socially engaged practitioner. He ‘invented’ the illustrative style of the Dialectogram in 2009 and has since worked with residents, employees, users and visitors to a number of different spaces in Glasgow. Each dialectogram blends the memories and experiences of these participants into a work of graphic art that illustrates the social architecture of a place. These have included tower blocks, Showman’s yards, adventure playgrounds, libraries and community centres. Mitch has worked variously as a social researcher, educator, sign painter, sessional lecturer, magazine editor and film programmer. He has authored four books and been widely published as an art and film critic on subjects ranging from early and amateur cinema, contemporary art and illustration and Scottish politics. He is an acknowledged expert on the history of travelling showpeople in Scotland (being from that background himself).
Jen Novotny is a historian and archaeologist delivering the Scottish Civic Trust’s Diverse Heritage project, working in partnership with minority-ethnic, LGBTQIA+ and disabled people, people with intersectional identities, and new arrivals in Scotland to create more inclusive local heritage. She has co-authored and delivered two European Heritage Days cross-frontier projects: Sharing Stories and We Are Culture, which examined the participation of marginalised and excluded groups in European Heritage Days festivals, resulting in guidance documents and an inclusive heritage toolkit used across the Council of Europe’s 47 member states. Jen’s past projects have all blended academic research, citizen research, and community engagement. These include ‘Justice, Not Charity’ in partnership with Disability History Scotland exploring the 1920 National League of the Blind protest march from Scotland to London; ‘They don’t want your charity – they demand their chance’, examining the socio-economic rehabilitation of WWI wounded at Erskine Hospital; and the Erskine Centenary Community Partnership.
Karen Anderson is an architect and founding partner of architectural design practice Anderson Christie, subsequently Anderson Bell Christie. She has worked throughout Scotland in urban and rural areas and won awards for architecture, urban design and masterplanning projects. She is active as a proponent of community participation and best practice in design, and sits on a number of Design Awards Panels. Karen is a co-founder of hirta, a portal for Scottish Design and collaborative working. Karen was previously Chair of Architecture and Design Scotland; a Royal Fine Art Commissioner; and taught architecture at the University of Strathclyde. She has advised Scottish Government on National Planning, Place and Architecture-related Policy, and has been advisor to a number of Local Authorities on Planning and Design Strategy. Karen is currently a visiting Professor at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen.
The 3×3 Congress Fringe is kindly sponsored by Collective Architecture, Iglu and Ibstock Brick.
