Strathmore arts festival




Welcome to the stART Festival Website


stART (Strathmore Arts) is a constituted partnership of local people from across Eastern Perthshire and staff from Perth and Kinross Cultural and Community Services offering arts workshops and events in the local towns and villages using community premises. The aim is to offer high quality arts activities for young people in the local area, often using local artists.




stART Festival 2011

stART Festival 2011 will have a Carnival / Festival / Circus theme. The actual date is still to be confirmed.
Some of the ideas for activities that have been proposed for the festival include:
  • A stone carving demonstration
  • Green Fingers: Gardening Design / Landscape Design.
  • Nudist Gnomes
  • Hanging Baskets / Planters.
  • Candles... bee's...
  • Willow art, Lanterns.
  • Food: Local produce,tasting and buying.
  • Story Yurt.
  • Street Art / Performance
  • Seagulls?
  • Scrap Happy Theatre performance.
  • Story Teller (ghostly Blairgowrie)
  • Buskers / Folk music.
  • Street dance.
  • Drumming.
  • Pavement Art.
  • Making Crafty / Folk art
  • Making Muppets / Puppets / Dream Catchers / Masks
  • Crafts, Erict Spinners, Local Craft ideas.
  • Town Hall: Dance / Circus skills, Drumming workshop.
  • SCYD: Computer zone.
  • Florists: Floral Art
  • Ericht Ale House: Poetic justice, pie and a pint.?
  • Cartwheel: Folk Sessions / Open mic.
  • Methodist Church: Gaelic Singers
  • Other ideas: an art / photography competition, display photos in shop windows, and night time activity.







Firesculpture08 (16K)
The fire sculpture from stART 2007 at the height of it's blaze!

You can see more pictures from the 2007 event here.

How long has it been running?

The first stART Festival took place in September 2003, led by Kirsty Duncan and Kirstie Bailey, two cultural coordinators for Perth and Kinross Council. At that point, if anybody wanted to try a new arts activity they had to travel to Perth or Dundee. Among the activities on offer were animation, stage fighting and the construction of a labyrinth in Alyth aimed primarily at young people.

The second stART Festival took place over a single weekend in March 2005 and opened its doors to people of all ages. Building on the success of 2003, there was also Capoiera, Pavement Art and a fire sculpture with procession in Larghan Park.

stART 2007 was the third stART Festival, and was bigger and more successful than the previous festivals. It took place over a weekend in March, and 58 different workshops were on offer throughout the weekend. Just over 1,000 people took part

stART 2009 built once again on the success of previous festivals, and offered a wide range of participatory workshops which were enjoyed by all participants, as well as public events including a Festival Marketplace, a visit by the Travelling Gallery, and a march through Alyth with lanterns, ukuleles, skiffle band and the Beltane Drummers.

stART has also been active in between festivals. Members of the committee were invited to make and carry a banner in Edinburgh at the opening of the Scottish Parliament. stART also organised tree dressing for National Tree Dressing Day and has been active in supporting local community groups who wish to have the arts as part of their programme of events. And the spirit of the festival also feeds cultural activity in everyday life all year round.

Parade06 (41K)
The banners assembled in the Wellmeadow, Blairgowrie, before the start of the procession.

stART is a registered charity whose members fund-raised tirelessly to make this festival happen. The workshops were all heavily subsidized in order to make them accessible to all.

The next stART festival is scheduled to take place in 2011. If you would like to make a donation to the Strathmore Arts Festival, please contact Kirstie Bailey. It will significantly help us to fund stART 2011!


Cultural pathfinder

The 2007 stART Festival received additional funding from the Scottish Government to run a “Cultural Pathfinder Project”. The Scottish Government wants to know how important culture, and access to cultural activities is to people in Scotland. To do this, they have supported 13 projects across Scotland, that aim to give people the chance to choose what sorts of activities they would like to be involved in—collectively, these are called the “Cultural Pathfinder Projects”.

The stART committee incorporated a Cultural Pathfinder Project into its normal Festival by running events called “stART OOTs” and “stART UPs”. The Cultural Pathfinder also funded an in depth study measuring the positive impact that the stART Festival has had on the Cultural Life of East Perthshire.

“stART OOTs” were activities and workshops chosen and run by local groups already operating successfully in the area, as well as activities that celebrated local heritage and Culture. There were 40 stART OOT activities at this years festival, offering 430 workshop places.

“stART UPs” are small amounts of money that are available to help you or your group try out something that inspired you at the festival. See our stART UP display board, or talk to a member of the stART group.

stART is supported by officers of Perth and Kinross Council, Cultural and Community Services, and is a Scottish Government Pathfinder Initiative.