We are an informal network of like minded people who are passionate about Dundee and optimistic for its future. We believe the city has tremendous strengths and we want to build on its many successes.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

A DUNDEE WAVE OF CHANGE (update January 2012)

The dissemination event for the Dundee Wave of Change project will take place on the evening of Wednesday 2nd May 2012 so please put this date into your diary.  Further details will follow.

Background

• The Olympic Legacy Trust UK is helping communities across the UK to build a legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
• The Scottish component of the Olympic Legacy Trust is called People Making Waves, a national volunteering programme based around cultural activities
• Go Dundee was identified as an existing process which connected people across the city and was invited to lead a programme of events called A Dundee Wave of Change
• The Dundee Wave of Change activities are designed to complement the work of the Dundee Partnership, the ‘One City, Many Discoveries’ campaign and other initiatives to promote the City of Dundee
• As well as several national events, there are two other regional Wave of Change projects in Scotland – A Govan Wave of Change and A Lochgilphead Wave of Change

Dundee Wave of Change activities

Dundee Wave of Change core group

Members of the Go Dundee subscription list were invited to join a Dundee Wave of Change core group and around 40 people took part in four meetings between December 2009 and October 2010.   The group agreed the overall aims and activities of Dundee Wave of Change and also developed a number of specific projects.  It was agreed that Dundee Wave of Change would aim to add value to Dundee’s social and cultural future by engaging with communities across the city.

Hot Chocolate Trust

During Easter 2010 the Hot Chocolate Trust ran a Dundee Wave of Change initiative giving young people creative outlets to share their stories about their city and their communities.  It encouraged participants to re-imagine what is possible for Dundee in the future and where their role might lie in making their dreams a reality.  Creative and varied methods were embraced including discussion, drawing, screen-printing, photography, cooking and song-writing to help facilitate conversations across the broad diversity of young people.

Dundee City Council Adult Learners team

A number of projects were undertaken by various adult learning groups with the support of Dundee City Council’s Adult Learning team, including:

• Family learning events were run by five Adult Learners team members and included an art project, postcards from the future and speech bubbles capturing comments from participants
• A women’s group event discussed their hopes for the future
• ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) events included a five-week course at Mitchell Street Centre based around Dundee Wave of Change and a ‘Wishes for Dundee’ project using pictures and collages
• A creative writing project was undertaken by Hulltoon Writers’ Group

Song writing groups

Two community music projects were carried out in association with A Dundee Wave of Change.  A group of pupils at St John’s High School worked with well-known Dundee singer/songwriter Michael Marra and a song writing group in Fintry worked with another well-known Dundee singer/songwriter Eddie Cairney.  A series of song writing sessions took place and several songs were composed and recorded by each group.

City Journey 2011

On 4 June 2011 an event called ‘Hidden Dundee’ took place consisting of a series of visits to places that are important to the city in some way – e.g. economically, socially, culturally – but to which people don’t normally have access.  The event was attended by over forty people and was designed to increase people’s sense of belonging to and engagement in their home city.  The venues visited were Dundee House (prior to its official opening), Tayside House, The Rep, The Shore, STV Studios, Tag Games and Dundee Science Centre.   A Dundee Wave of Change session called ‘Three Wishes for Dundee’ was included in the event.

Future activities

Youth Work team

Planning is underway with Dundee City Council’s Youth Work team for an ‘Our Dundee’ film to be made by young people about their experience of living in Dundee and their hopes for the future

Community engagement

It is hoped that further community engagement events can be organised to seek views on Dundee’s social and cultural aspirations

Dissemination event

A closing event will take place on the evening of Wednesday 2nd May 2012 to bring together the output from all the individual projects and to celebrate the engagement that has taken place with many different communities across Dundee.  It is intended that many of the people who have taken part in the various Dundee Wave of Change projects and contributed their thoughts, stories, artwork, songs, etc. will participate in the dissemination event.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

GO DUNDEE CITY JOURNEY 2011 – ‘HIDDEN DUNDEE’ **

38 people took part in the sold-out City Journey 2011 which took place on Saturday 4th June.  This year we visited seven great venues – Dundee House (new council offices), Tayside House, The Rep, The Shore, STV News studios, Tag Games and Dundee Science Centre. Thanks to everyone who took part in this event – both participants and hosts.

Click here to see a full set of photographs of the City Journey 2011.

The City Journey 2011 was organised by Go Dundee as part of A Dundee Wave of Change – a component of the nationwide project A Scottish Wave of Change which, as part of the Cultural Olympiad, is looking at the future of Scotland through stories.  At the event attendees were asked to create three wishes for Dundee in 2021 and you can read what they came up with here.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Since 2005, more than a thousand people have participated in several stimulating Go Dundee events – making connections, telling their stories, encouraging each other and getting inspired!  At each event we make space to share ideas and suggestions. Then we act on them to keep the momentum going. It’s all about boosting confidence in the city.

The small core group who organise Go Dundee give their time freely. There’s no officialdom or capital ‘P’ politics involved, just people who are passionate about Dundee. If you share our passion, and want to know more about go Dundee, see story for more info.

If you want to hear about up and coming events, or would like to get more involved, then click here to join our mailing list.

Send us your comments and ideas – click here to send an e-mail to Go Dundee (opens in a new window).

Photography by Seonaid Lafferty.

(updated 12/11/09 by JL)