Palette arts going nationwide - John McLellan
Great oaks and all that, but the success of the Edinburgh Palette arts and community organisations facilitator means it has outgrown its name.
The model of taking hard-to-let spaces and turning them into bases for small businesses and charities at an affordable rent has transformed places like St Margaret’s House in Meadowbank, where it is still a warren of micro-industry after several attempts to sell up by landlord Caledonian Trust have come to nothing.
The “Art” sign emblazoned on the side is the only indication something extraordinary goes on inside the uninspiring 60s exterior, and it’s the basis for the organisation’s new national identity as Scot-Art, standing for Advancing Regeneration and Transformation.
There is no question that’s what it achieves, with its industrious make-do, mend and modify approach turning a nondescript council depot in Portobello into a leafy studio village and putting a grim warehouse on Granton’s West Shore Road to good use.
It took over State Street’s soon-to-be-demolished offices on Ferry Road, and also has operations in the Scottish Gas headquarters on Waterfront Avenue and Lochside View at The Gyle.
Now the concept is taking off in Aberdeen, hence the new name, but not in a soulless office block but The Mither Kirk of St Giles, the city’s oldest church and home of chaplaincies for the UK oil and gas sector and the 2nd Battalion Royal Engineers. And back at the other St Giles, there are plans to stage a fashion event in the Cathedral during next year’s Fringe. Praise the Lord and pass the ambition.