Performers on parade

Published on Sunday 8 April 2007 00:19

EDINBURGH's Dalmeny Street is the last place you expect to discover a hotbed of cultural activity. One of the roads peeling off Leith Walk, it is quiet and residential, a cushion between the busy city centre and the increasingly gentrified Leith waterfront.

Many walking to the nearby children's playground might not even notice the old Drill Hall halfway along. But here, occupying quarters once belonging to the Territorial Army, is Out of the Blue, a bustling village of artists, designers and creative types that is about to open permanently to the public.

I arrive at the large dock doors at the same time as the actor Nabil Shaban, who's here to rehearse with Benchtours theatre company in a smart new rehearsal room with sprung wooden floors and triple-height ceiling. Soon after, the dancers from Curious Seed arrive to check out the cobweb-strewn corridors where they're thinking of putting on a site-specific show for the Leith Festival in June. It's still too early in the day for the painters and sculptors to show up, but the product designers and arts administrators are already at work.

The building houses 50 units, some of them newly built with environmentally sustainable materials around a central performance and exhibition space on the old army drill floor. To say they are in demand is an understatement. The waiting list has nearly 1,000 names. That's in addition to the 100 artists housed by Out of the Blue in the former Scottish Power headquarters in Portobello.

"That suggests there's a drastic shortage of space," agrees project manager Dana MacLeod, who has seen her organisation through from its hand-to-mouth beginnings in a shop front in Blackfriars Street to a 30-artist colony in a former bus depot in New Street, subsequently demolished, and now to its impressive site in Leith, fitted out with grants including a recently announced 244,000 Lottery award and 125,000 from Historic Scotland. "Artists are so interested in being in Out of the Blue because it's a shared space, a community space and has a mix of art forms," she says.

What the organisation has always had on its side is a degree of financial independence - initially because all the staff were volunteers and latterly thanks to bar sales from the affiliated Bongo Club. It means it has been able to respond to the needs of the artists without being hampered by bureaucracy. "We got to quite like our independence," says MacLeod. "It means you respond to what is happening rather than projecting your five-year plan. But while we appreciate our autonomy, it does mean we've had to concentrate more on funding."

IT WAS A boon to receive a 500,000 commercial mortgage on the listed building from Triodos, an ethical bank that encourages social enterprise, as it was to get grants from the Scottish Arts Council, various trusts and the general public, who have been contributing to a click-a-brick donation scheme. "This is a permanent space for the arts in Scotland," says MacLeod. "It's not owned by a property company with a lease, it will always be a home for the arts. That's something people want to invest in."

The redevelopment work - which still has a final stage to be completed subject to further fundraising - means Out of the Blue no longer has to be a well-kept secret. Instead, it is turning into a public space that will shift the city's artistic centre of gravity. Later this month, the resident artists are clubbing together on a group show, kick-starting what is planned as a year-round programme of exhibitions drawn from Scotland and beyond. A licensed caf will open at the same time, encouraging the creative exchanges that take place when artist meets artist - not to mention giving a leg-up to local youngsters on a training-for-work scheme.

"You do bump into people a lot around here and having the doors open will be conducive to that social networking," says MacLeod. "Having the public in here is just part of what we do - the core is providing space and opportunities for artists. We're an incubator for creative work, a place where artists can work with other artists, try out ideas and share tools. That's happening whether the public is here or not. But there aren't many spaces where you can go and see artists developing things in-house. To be able to make and present work in one space is what separates us from most other venues."

It's not the first time the Drill Hall has been open to the public. In 2005, the Edinburgh International Festival infused the space with the bonkers Barcelona comedy of Nuts Coconuts. Since then, there has been the Edinburgh Independent Radical Book Fair, the Arts Market and a couple of exhibitions. This, however, is the first time the organisation has been able to show a permanent face to the world. "We've surprised ourselves at the volume of audiences we've had," says MacLeod. "We don't really have any competitors in this area of town and it would be amazing if a creative quarter started emerging. For us, it's not a commercial space, it's about boosting the activity for creative people and the scene in Edinburgh. The more that's created, the bigger the scene and the stronger the level of attention. The audience can follow suit."

Out of the Blue, Drill Hall, Edinburgh, will be open to the public from April 23. www.outoftheblue.org.uk