News Archive
PRESS RELEASE – 25/01/2008
Dundee to showcase top music talent as go NORTH 2008 hosts
Councillor Rod Wallace and Director of Education, Anne Wilson met children from Our Lady’s School to launch this year’s City of Discovery Picture Book Award.
This innovative prize acknowledges excellence in story-telling for children as well as encouraging youngsters to read and experience the principles of democracy in voting for the winning book.
The award is judged by two age groups of children from a panel of 13 participating schools throughout the city; Primary 1, at whom the books are mainly aimed, will enjoy looking at and listening to the stories and convey their likes and dislikes about each book. An older age group, those in primary 6, also play an important role in reading the stories to the youngsters, analysing their reactions and drawing up reports before the two groups cast their vote.
Councillors met some of the children tasked with selecting the winning book who revealed the 2008 short-listed titles:
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Clip-Clop by Nicola Smee published by Boxer Books. |
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Who Are You, Stripy Horse? written by Jim Helmore, illustrated by Karen Walland and published by Egmont. |
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The Night the Lights Went Out, illustrated by Carl Pearce, written by Anna Perera and published by Tamarind (Random House). |
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Augustus and His Smile by Catherine Rayner, published by Little Tiger Press. |
The City of Discovery Campaign funds a winning prize of £1000 and £250 for runner-up titles. Each short-listed author and illustrator will also receive a limited edition comic figure, donated by DC Thomson Ltd, which also designs and produces the promotional posters and bookmarks for the Awards.
Chairman of the City of Discovery Campaign Lord Provost John Letford said, “The City of Discovery Picture Book Award is an opportunity for older children to experience democracy and responsibility, and is a fantastic introduction for children to high-quality picture books at a young age. This is entirely appropriate in a City renowned both for its comic and literary heritage and we are delighted with its success in the three years since its establishment.”
Convener of Education, Councillor Laurie Bidwell said, “The Award aims to celebrate excellence in writing and illustration and, more importantly, to provide opportunities for children to enjoy reading, discussing and appreciating the creativity of a picture book while also experiencing the voting process. The Award offers a number of benefits and learning opportunities, and has been recognised on a national level for this.”
Convener of Leisure and Communities, Councillor Richard McCready explained, “In partnership with the city's libraries, 13 Dundee schools will take part in this year's City of Discovery Picture Book Award totalling around 450 childen. Each year more children have the chance to benefit from, and enjoy, the whole experience.”
This year the schools are: Ardler, Barnhill, Blackness, Craigiebarns, Eastern, Glebelands, Longhaugh, Macalpine, Our Lady’s, Rowantree, Sidlaw View, St. Joseph’s and St. Mary’s.
The 2008 Award Ceremony will be held in the Whitehall Theatre on Tuesday 17th June at 11am.
PRESS RELEASE – 02/2008
Arts & Heritage Staff Celebrate Recognition of the CIty’s Fine and Decorative Art, and Whaling Collections
Congratulations are due to the McManus Galleries & Museum staff who successfully demonstrated that the City’s fine and decorative art collections, along with its whaling collection, have been recognised as being of national importance.
As you would expect, the City has one of the best collections of Scottish painting in the country. But did you know that the art collection numbers some 6,000 items, spans four centuries of production by artists working in Britain and Europe and is remarkable for its breadth, diversity and quality. Were you aware that McManus Galleries & Museum has prints by the French greats Jean Renoir, Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet and Marc Chagall, the finest work by a Pre-Raphaelite artist in a Scottish collection – Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s ‘Dante’s Dream’ – or that Dundee was the first local authority to collect fine art photography?
Recent fine and decorative art acquisitions, supported by significant external funding, have focused more ambitiously on work of international quality to place the Scottish collection in context. This includes photography by Mat Collishaw and studio glass by Bruno Romanelli.
Dundee’s proud history as a seafaring port has resulted in a unique and internationally important whaling collection. The highlight of this collection is the Tay Whale skeleton, but also includes fascinating Inuit material, photographs, scrimshaw and historic harpoons.
The Scottish Government launched the ‘Recognition’ scheme last year in order to recognise collections which were considered to be of national significance, but which were not held in a national museum.
Recognised museums have the opportunity to bid for special funding to make the collections more accessible and to improve care of the collections.