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Newsletter 01 - April 2003 (Right Click and Save Target As)

NEWSLETTER: March 2003
Common Ground on the Hill, Scotland 2003 - the story so far
We had a successful launch year for Common Ground, Scotland in August 2002. Around 130 people spent a week on a residential basis at the Auchincruive campus of The Scottish Agricultural College near Ayr, with many more people taking part in concerts at Ayr, Irvine and Kilmarnock and hundreds of people getting a taste of our activities during trips to Culzean Castle, Dean Castle, and The Scottish Maritime Museum.

Many took opportunities to gain a deeper insight into the works of Robert Burns with visits to several heritage sites guided by Drew Goodwin, some took in a spot of fishing or golf, some took the ferry to Arran . and everybody made new friends and widened their horizons.

Before we started we said that Common Ground Scotland would contain all the essential elements of Common Ground on the Hill in the USA - a week of workshops based firmly on traditional music with opportunities to experience something new from Native American Arts to singing in a Black Gospel Choir - but with a distinct Scottish flavour.

That 'Scottish flavour' included more informal late night sessions than might be considered wise with a busy day ahead of you, and to round off the week, a campus based festival billed as 'The National Folk Festival, Scotland'.

So what are the plans for 2003?
Basically, we intend to repeat and build on the framework established in 2002. We are not aiming to be much bigger - but expect to spread our wings and soar a little more.

For most people the mixture of American musicians with our home-based musicians was fresh and inspirational. In our 'Robert Burns meets Martin Luther King' concert, Jean Redpath on stage with blues and gospel singers Lea Gilmore, Shelly Ansor and Alice Dorsey and a group of Old Time musicians, was considered by Jean to be a highlight concert in her thirty odd year professional career.

In 2003 we will gently steer the musical balance of Common Ground Scotland in a Scottish direction, not necessarily by reducing the American content, but by adding to the Scottish roster, building on the enthusiasm for the idea of 'Common Ground' and using the talents of those who pioneered Common Ground Scotland last summer.

The dates are fixed
Common Ground Scotland will run from 3rd to 10th August, 2003. Registration and a welcome event will be on Sunday 3rd and the workshops will run from Monday 4th to Friday 8th. From Friday 8th to Sunday 10th there will be a festival weekend. The Festival Weekend The festival will be similar to last year, with a strong focus on Scottish traditional music, but in reality it will be a 'Common Ground Festival'. One of the plus points of the festival last year was the onstage collaborations between artists who had got to know each other during the week.

The idea of 'The National Folk Festival, Scotland' is still very much in the frame. We think that our overseas visitors want to see strong representation of the home based traditions within the festival but we don't want to exclude the other elements that make up Common Ground. Our intention is that in 2003 we will concentrate and consolidate on Common Ground, laying the groundwork for The National Folk Festival element to be developed more in 2004.

The longer-term plan for The National Folk Festival involves an expansion of related concerts in other parts of Scotland with a 'hub' event at Auchincruive. This will give opportunities for visitors to extend their trip to include concerts in other parts of Scotland

The Cultural visits
The Cultural visits were a great success. The plan is to offer more of these as an option but with other workshops still continuing on campus. At the moment we are planning one major trip that may appeal to most of our participants. We will go by coach through Galloway having lunch and tea out and ending up at a concert in Dumfries with Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham. Emily Smith, who will be one of our tutors this year, will also be singing at the concert - possibly in turn supported by some of our visiting musicians.

Options after Common Ground
Many visitors extended their holiday after Common Ground. Depending on demand, we may be able to arrange some 'Visit Scotland' options. These could include a visit to Arran; a Highland Tour; Glasgow and The World Pipe Band Championships and 'Fish Scotland'. Please bear in mind that we are not a 'tour company', our intention is to help where possible and to facilitate shared plans by Common Ground participants.

Costs
The costs will be similar to last year and where possible our aim will again be to provide inclusive prices. The trips out and external concerts will however be add on options and we intend to try to give people greater flexibility on some of the meals.

The Booking Process.
We expect to have most instructors and courses in place by the end of April but until then we will be asking people to make provisional bookings on the basis of the current outline of the week and likely costs. Please make provisional bookings as soon as possible - today even.

Accommodation will be a restricting factor for us in 2003 and we would ask people to pay an accommodation deposit along with their provisional booking. We expect our programme, tutors and costs to be confirmed by the end of May at which point we will ask people to confirm their booking.

We will establish a schedule of when the balance of payments will need to be paid - our prime concern will be to ensure that accommodation is fully reserved in line with the policies of the accommodation providers.

Accommodation options
Accommodation will be a restricting factor for us in 2003 as there are a finite number of beds available on campus. We want to encourage people to enjoy the benefits of the 'campus experience' but will help to arrange alternative accommodation nearby in hotels or guests houses etc. We plan to investigate the provision of 'shuttle bus' services to make it easier for people who may prefer to stay off campus to commute. We hope to be able to offer improved options for camping and caravans within the campus.

Promotion.
Our primary means of publicising the event in 2003 will be 'word of mouth'. The concept of 'summer camp' and attending for a week as your main holiday is not well established in Scotland. Add to that the differences between Common Ground and a more typical Scottish festival, and it becomes hard to fully describe the event in adverts and posters.

If you attended Common Ground in 2002, we need you to be our recruiting agents. We have extra copies of the review article printed in The Living Tradition, if you can distribute any of these, please ask and we will supply them to you. Please don't underestimate the power of a personal recommendation - if you can make some phone calls and personal invites, it will make all the difference.

We also have some mailing lists. Some are email lists, some for post. At the moment we don't have a regular newsletter or newsletter editor but plan to establish this shortly.

Our website currently has a lot of information relating to 2002. Our website needs to be more informative and with better, more realistic write ups of each class and activity. We are currently addressing this and welcome any feedback and help with the provision of text.

Membership
We have decided to ask people to become members of Common Ground Scotland. There will be a basic membership fee with options for people to become 'sustaining members' by making extra donations of money or time. We will also encourage organisations to become supporting members.

Individual memberships will be £10 Family Memberships will be £25 Organisational memberships will be £25, £50 or £100 (dependant on the size or financial resource of the organisation)

To become a 'sustaining member' simply add a donation towards the general work of Common Ground to the basic membership fee.

The benefits of memberships will include priority booking for Common Ground events and access to any services and resources developed by the organisation. The primary reason for being a member should be a desire to positively contribute to the aims and objectives of Common Ground.

Finance
The nature of Common Ground, with a relatively large number of instructors, will inevitably mean that we will need some form of additional finance beyond direct ticket income. Some of this may come from grants and sponsorship but our feeling is that we will be stronger if the core elements of our work come from within the membership. We will be looking for benefactors and intend to establish some scheme of Gold, Silver, and Bronze supporters to allow individuals, groups or organisations to sponsor activities at various levels..

Constitution
We are in the process of constituting Common Ground Scotland as a company limited by guarantee and with charitable status (a 'Not for Profit' organisation to use American terminology). We intend to establish a board of directors representing the broad range of interests in developing Common Ground. We anticipate that this board will comprise of between 12 and 24 people, most or all of whom are likely to have already attended and contributed to Common Ground.

We plan to formally affiliate with 'Common Ground on the Hill' in the USA.

Any cheques or donations should be made to 'Common Ground Scotland'. A bank account in that name will be opened once the company is formally constituted. Cheques and applications for membership may be sent now.