Edinburgh arts and education trust Out of the Blue is celebrating the completion of a £750,000 renovation, the final phase of a seven-year project to convert a former military building into an arts centre.
Out of the Blue is a social enterprise and multi-arts venue offering studio and production space for the city’s cultural community. It provides opportunities for everyone in Edinburgh to participate in the arts through innovative and accessible projects. It is also home to an arts café and an exciting range of weekly classes, events and exhibitions.
After the nine-month renovation, the trust, based in Leith’s Drill Hall, has created additional studio space for 30 artists, a spacious new music practice room, a garden and an extended café kitchen.
To celebrate the fantastic new facilities, Out of the Blue will be holding an exhibition of work by resident artists from 28 May to 10 June. There will also be a special open studio event from 28 to 29 May.
Launched in 1994, the trust originally worked from a small exhibition space in Blackfriars Street, Edinburgh, before converting a redundant bus station in New Street into a hot bed of creative activity in 1996 and finally moving into the ex-army Drill Hall in 2003. This latest renovation marks the completion of a seven-year project to fulfill the potential of this inspiring space.
Out of the Blue thrives on its strong links with artists, arts organisations and other creative businesses. It supports artists by providing space to work and opportunities to sell their wares, as well as enabling them to pass their skills on to others in the community.
There are now a total of 82 studios at the Drill Hall for use by Edinburgh’s artistic community. Current residents include the Illuminated Stained Glass Partnership, the theatre company Plutôt la Vie and Art in Healthcare, which promotes the benefits of art to health and wellbeing.
The new garden is, in a sense, a ‘blank canvas’ for an upcoming project to turn the former firing range into a sculpture garden.
The new music practice room will be available for use by all of Edinburgh’s musical community, including the Boombox project for young people, which provides opportunities to learn to play a variety of musical instruments and develop confident performance skills.
The café serves a range of fresh food and drink made with organic, free-range, fair trade and local produce. Its kitchen has benefited from an extension and a range of new equipment as part of the renovation. A key part of the café’s ethos is to train young people from the local community as a positive step towards paid employment.
Careful, sustainable restoration and regeneration has transformed the Drill Hall building into a welcoming and vibrant arts centre. Out of the Blue also has its own Carbon Reduction Officer, funded by the Climate Challenge Fund, to ensure the sustainability of the building and the various projects it hosts, as well as inspiring the local community to reduce their carbon footprint.
Rob Hoon, Coordinator of Out of the Blue, comments: “The last seven years have seen the creation of a significant resource for creative production from an ex-army drill hall. The new facilities will allow us to do more of everything that we currently do and give us the opportunity to make more of an impact for a greater number of people across the city and beyond. We would like to thank all of our funders, supporters and everyone involved with Out of the Blue for helping to bring this magnificent space to life.”
For more information on Out of the Blue, please visit www.outoftheblue.org.uk
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