AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

" We can either react in fear or anger to the state of our world, thus becoming part of the problem, or respond creatively and become part of the solution."

World Community Arts Day: February 17, 2010
http://www.communiversity.org.uk/worldcommunityartsday.htm

Born in Craigmillar, one of the poorest areas of Scotland, and introduced to the arts through the Craigmillar Festival Society, Andrew Crummy's childhood memories are of festivals, drama, music, clowns, colour and laughter. Trained as an illustrator, Andrew's professional life started off working for such publications as the New Musical Express and The Observer, but developed into large scale, collaborative artworks in public and community settings. In 1995 Andrew, his mother, and many others in Craigmillar set up The Communiversity, aiming to to raise awareness of the artistic and cultural tradition of Craigmillar and its worldwide network. Since then Andrew has created over 70 large scale artworks worldwide, and even received an honorary doctorate degree for his work in 2006. See some of Andrew's work here: http://www.smallandcrummy.co.uk/.

The Craigmillar Festival was, in effect, founded by Andrew's mother Helen, who would not accept the local school district's refusal to invest in children's music lessons. In the process of building a community "that cared and shared" the Craigmillar community found that art was the key catalyst of success. By 2006, the internationally renowned Craigmillar Festival was the largest employer in the area, dealing with social welfare, housing, employment, arts, planning, and more. Now involving a community of around 17,000 people, the Craigmillar Festival spawned the rapidly growing World Community Arts Day in 2006.

Andrew welcomes you to come and join the party on February 17, 2010, the 4th World Community Arts Day, where "Art is a catalyst for caring and sharing". The simple request is that you be creative on this day.