If you don’t act now what will you tell the next generation?  They won’t see the trees for the Wood.

Here are some things you can do today.

It’s VITAL that everybody who wants to save Union Terrace Gardens for future generations to enjoy takes part!

You can fill in the survey here: http://www.thecitysquareproject.com/consultation/

Or freephone: 0800 111 4881

Text: Send your thoughts by texting 60777 followed by the word ’square’

Email: consultation@thecitysquareproject.com

or write to: The City Square Project,

Weber Shandwick PR,

58 Queens Road, Aberdeen,

AB15 4YE

More information on both projects: www.comparethesquare.com

Other ways to get involved:

Please keep signing the petition! This petition WILL be included in the consultation results. We will hand this in at the end of the consultation period on 5th March – please do forward the link to everyone you think would be interested:
http://gopetition.com/petitions/save-the-new-contemporary-art-centre-in-union-terrace-gardens.html

If you have family or friends who aren’t online they may be missing the opportunity to express their views – please do think if you know of anybody who hasn’t yet taken the opportunity to participate and pass on the phone number and the postal address. Much of this consultation is being run online which may exclude many of Aberdeen’s senior citizens.

Recent news:Annie Lennox has added her voice to the growing campaign to save UTG and the contemporary arts centre – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/8504483.stm

Jim Milne, leading Aberdonian businessman and Chariman of The Balmoral Group, speaks out against the “desecration” of UTG – http://news.stv.tv/scotland/north/156374-leading-businessman-hits-out-at-aberdeen-garden-plans/

Professor Stuart MacDonald, one of Scotland’s leading authorities on architecture and former head of Gray’s School of Art, urges Aberdeen to scrap the City Square Project and adopt the Peacock Visual Arts scheme so it can benefit from the “Bilbao effect” – http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1593417

Peter Ross, in Scotland on Sunday, claims the debate is about more than the “heart” or “lungs” of Aberdeen – it’s about the soul of the city -http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/comment/Peter-Ross-Fight-for-the.6070675.jp

Thank you!

I ♥ UTG ♥ YOU

“It will be Scotland’s biggest display of the works of its most important painters – but the search goes on to find the lost Glasgow Boys.

“Curators of one of the most important art exhibitions ever staged in Glasgow have confirmed there will be 140 paintings at this year’s landmark exhibition of the group of artists who transformed Scottish art in the late 19th century and laid the ground for the more famous Colourists.

“However, the search to find lost works by the Glasgow Boys has, so far, failed to find most of the missing masterpieces that could have featured in the exhibition, held in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum from April 9 until September 27.”

For more info see:-  http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/boys-are-back-in-town-but-hunt-goes-on-for-lost-masters-1.1002525

Also the Kelvingrove’s website: http://www.glasgowmuseums.com/venue/showExhibition.cfm?venueid=4&itemid=270

Now Sir Iain Wood’s grandiose scheme to ‘transform’ the Gardens have stalled, and may even scupper those plans.

A new site has been set up allowing Aberdeen residents to compare the two proposals:  www.comparethesquare.com

Have a look at the different proposals then contact your concillor to let them know your views. Either visit the city council website or use the Write To Them site.

My suggestion is that if Sir Iain wishes to develop a city square then he should develop the site of St Nicholas House, opening up the square in front of the council’s new HQ,  Marischal College, and the area around the marvellous Provost Skene’s house which is hidden from view right now.

There are 34 titles in the sale all at least 50% off the normal price. There are some materials and equipment too. For example grab yourself a rucksack/chair (normally £29.99) for £4.99!

You can find the sale here.

Opening times 1000am -1600hrs

Works from £35 to £450.

Amongst the items are cheap canvases and a small table-top easel.

See the Lidl website for more details.

The Exhibition is open to all and refreshments will be provided. A percentage of all sales is donated to the Tornadee Comfort Fund.

Tornadee Nursing Home
Thursday 3rd December 2009
7-9pm

Map:-

View Tornadee in a larger map

Preview and Purchase Here  INTERNATIONAL SUPERHEROES OF DRAWING ILLUSTRATION AND WORLD DOMINATION

The Mad Hatter's Tea Party by Anita Inverarity

The exhibition, which  will be open on Saturdays  and Sundays  from 2PM to  4 PM will end on Sunday 13th of December.

The show features and sold works by 24 Locals Artists in watercolours, oils, acrylic, pastel,  pen & ink, with a wide variety of framed and unframed works, all of which are replaced when sold,  so artwork will change on an ongoing basis.

Map:
View Peterculter Heritage Hall in a larger map

BBC2 broadcasts at 9pm Saatchi’s School of Art – “the BBC and Charles Saatchi launch a nationwide search to discover the next generation of artistic talent.”

According to the BBC’s press office, http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/01_january/25/saatchi.shtml, “Following a selection process, just six people will be selected to attend an Art School established uniquely for them where they will develop their work under the tutelage of some of the most innovative names in the art world today.”

This reality TV show for the cultured set will be a four-part series and “is part of The Modern Beauty Season, a range of programmes coming to BBC Two and BBC Four which look at the concept of beauty in modern art.”