WHO COORDINATES DOORS OPEN DAYS IN ARGYLL AND BUTE?
Jenny Hunter, Creative Arts and Education manager, Dunoon Burgh Hall Trust
Argyll and Bute (7th - 8th September)
This is my first year as a coordinator for doors open day. I'm the Creative Arts and Education manager for Dunoon Burgh Hall Trust which is a community arts charity based in a historic building. I manage the creative programming - from our exhibition programme in museum standard gallery spaces, creative learning opportunities and fundraising for specific arts and heritage projects.
I've only just become involved in Doors Open Days a couple of weeks ago by default. I stepped in when we discovered that our local authority had declined to run this.
Being so new to Doors Open Days the challenges I might face as a coordinator have yet to arise. I'm looking forward to bringing together and marketing some of the amazing heritage offerings in the area - from shopkeepers, to forgotten influential figures and the incredible architecture.
Special in our programme this year is the Dunoon Burgh Hall Trust! This is an arts venue in Dunoon which reopened in 2017 following major refurbishment work. We have museum standard galleries showing work from the internationally renowned ARTIST ROOMS: Andy Warhol and Richard Demarco, to Argyll based Cowal Open Studios. We have a café, theatre with original stage and balcony and which was the first theatre in Argyll when it was built in 1878; workshop spaces, gift shop and meeting rooms.
Dunoon Burgh Hall will be offering guided tours on the heritage of the building. Find out the story behind the Viking stained glass, the architectural gems, the social history and why the Burgh hall was built. Over the weekend we will be presenting a heritage display of our archives – photographs on a glass plate slide and cardboard found in the caretakers flat, one act plays found behind the stage, and a message in a Solripe bottle! Also see recent discoveries in our outbuilding which is undergoing renovation.
You can see the full programme of events, activities and buildings that are opening their doors in Argyll and Bute here.