Platform at the Bridge: Easterhouse, Glasgow

An aspirational new arts facility in Easterhouse opens its doors to the public

The Bridge opened to the community in an open weekend over 28 and 29 July 2006.  Over 3000 people attended the Open Day on Friday 28 July with a further 9000 people attending the Festival day on the 29th.  The Bridge is a unique building which bridges the gap between John Wheatley College and the Easterhouse swimming pool.

Platform is the name of the new dedicated arts facility set within The Bridge.  Platform was funded the help of £2,200,000 of Scottish Arts Council National Lottery money, and, along with the library, is a completely new building designed by Glasgow based Gareth Hoskins Architects.  

According to the architects, ‘The project challenges the notion of a traditional 'arts' building to create a new focus for people within one of Glasgow's most notorious peripheral housing estates to engage with and take part in the arts.  The new centre provides theatre, rehearsal, workshop, recording, practice suites, education and gallery spaces, café and local community library.  Rather than create a freestanding 'arts centre' the design nestles the new facilities between the existing public swimming pool and Further Education college.

The Bridge is located between John Wheatley College and the swimming pool and facilitates a unique passage through The Bridge, which starts at the college at one end, goes through the library, then Platform to exit by the pool at the other end.

The Facilities at Platform

• A black box auditorium with 210 seats and capacity of over 650 standing
• A rehearsal space
• A multi media recording suite for both visual & audio material with practice rooms
• A workshop space for scenery, prop & costume making
• A multi functional meeting space
• An exhibition wall
• The Den, a visual arts and crafts room
• A café/ bar with an intimate performance space

In addition to operating its own facilities, Platform will work across The Bridge.  By doing so, Platform will be able to utilise other facilities to create the widest possible arts programme.  For example, by using the College’s ceramics, photography and painting studios along with the library’s IT banks, a wide range of classes can be programmed. The pool provides a further interesting area for potential creative use.

Greater Easterhouse Arts Company (GEAC) manages Platform through an agreement with Glasgow City Council.  Jackie Shearer, ex of Stirling Tolbooth, is the Arts Manager of GEAC and is charged with delivering the arts programme for Platform.

GEAC has been established to manage and programme Platform manage a holistic approach to arts delivery across The Bridge and deliver an extensive arts outreach programme across Greater Easterhouse.

GEAC runs a range of activities across the area - in schools, with youth clubs, housing associations and health based organisations to name a few.   A key feature in the annual calendar is the Greater Easterhouse Festival day attracting around 5,000 people for a carnival procession, main stage music, acoustic tent, kids area, sports arena and information area.

Platform will primarily work across drama, music, dance and visual arts. In the short term, the programme will mainly be touring product and arts development activity with a strong focus on children and young people.  Platform has ambitious plans for the programme that will have regional and national appeal.  An ambition is to establish a music festival for children and young people that would work to complement other national events for this group including the international children’s festival.

Theatre and dance companies will be encouraged to perform at Platform – particularly theatre for children and young people. Easterhouse has a higher than average percentage of young people as a proportion of the population overall, therefore it is important to address this in particular.

Two cultural tenants will be housed in Platform – local performance arts company Visual Statement and National Theatre of Scotland.

The National Theatre of Scotland Young Company is based at Platform, in a single open plan admin space. It has already carried out its summer project based at the new building which allowed young people to work with four professional actors and a director who will help you create performances working with different drama techniques to create small performances which were showcased as part of the Open Weekend celebrations. 

Platform is also home to local performance company Visual Statement who will offer a range of familiar and new classes in the fantastic new facility.

Music

Music will feature as a key element of the programme by way of:

• local band showcase
• being a city venue for touring bands
• informal evenings of traditional music, world and jazz. 

Visual Arts Although there is no dedicated gallery space, Platform will have an artist’s residency programme and exhibition opportunities will be a key feature of the arts programme.

Professional artists have already worked on the project.  Patrick Macklin, David Bellingham and Claire Barclay have produced commissions for artworks for the interior of the building. 

• Patrick Macklin has designed the table tops for the cafe, inspired by the extensive light in the building and in particular the 20 skylights.
  
• David Bellingham's 'The Bridge Shifts' project is a series of text pieces that literally spell themselves out on the floor.  The texts refer directly to the different and often opposing function of The Bridge.
  
• Claire Barclay is working on a series of exciting sculptures which will work as a series of markers across the library space.

It is envisaged that the resources available across The Bridge will be utilised.  For example, film-based works could be screened via the library’s computer terminals or light-based works produced in the swimming pool. 

Through funding from the Scottish Arts Council Partners scheme, Katy Dove is the first artist in residence that brings a practising contemporary visual artist into the heart of Platform for two years (began in March 2006).  Katy is working  in Lochend Community High School on a visual arts project with S3 pupils.  In addition Katy is working with choreographer Sheila Macdougall on a primary school project over six weeks.  These projects will culminate in the October launch of the artworks.