Community and Creativity are at the heart of The Cumnock Tryst.  Every individual has the capacity to create something new, often in ways which might be hitherto unimaginable. As part of the Cumnock Tryst 10^th Birthday Festival, this exhibition celebrates the festival’s community engagement programme by looking back at some of its most exciting and innovative creative projects over the past decade.  We will be exploring some of the wonderful collaborations the festival has developed to bring about opportunities for people to experience the joy of creating music in many different ways. 

Some of the projects showcased in this exhibition include Sonic Creations, a visual and performing arts celebration of sound, sculpture and light, The Moss and the Cosmos film, a beautiful exploration of East Ayrshire, the people and the place as part of A Musical Celebration of the Coalfields, and Abstract Excavationism: The Art of Industrial Land Reclamation. This series of photographs by celebrated photographer and musician Simon Butterworth is the source of inspiration for new compositions by young people in this year’s anniversary festival as part of The Music of Land Reclamation, a composition project for Higher and Advanced Higher Music students at the Robert Burns Academy, led by Sir James MacMillan and Gillian Walker.

Through composition, film making, photography and musical sculptures the exhibition demonstrates the vital relationship between community and creativity placed at the heart of the festival.