New festival showcases creative talent
Silvy Weatherall- A new festival is being held in Whithorn in Dumfries and Galloway to showcase the region's creative talent
- A range of free and nominal cost events are planned over the course of two weeks
- The festival is being held at the South Machars Community Centre
- Organisers said they hoped to highlight the "rich vein of creativity" in the area
A new festival showcasing the creative talent of Dumfries and Galloway is to be held in Whithorn.
The Making and Doing (MaD) event runs for two weeks from 12 to 26 November.
The festival - which is "open to all" - is being held at the South Machars Community Centre and has a mission to "inspire, educate and entertain".
A wide range of participants have been lined up including Tim Westley - a bladesmith who turns washed up plastic and waste metal into chefs' knives.
Others taking part are modern "rag and bone" sculptor Silvy Weatherall, wool textilist Laura Derby and Morag MacPherson who makes hand-dyed kimonos.
Kathleen Hart, from the festival, said it would bring the "cream of Dumfries and Galloway's creatives under one roof".
MaD Festival"The area is renowned for its rich vein of creativity," she said.
"It is our intention to bring the practitioners of this region to this remote rural area and use the South Machars Community Centre as a hub for supporting small and micro businesses in a post-Covid environment.
"People will have access to a variety of creative crafts and practices from metal forging to willow weaving."
In a bid to ensure all its events are accessible she said some were free while others had just a nominal fee.
At the end of the festival an exhibition of work made by all participants will be staged in celebration of the first edition.