Join the Big Welcome picnic from 3.00 pm to 6.00pm on Portobello Promenade on Sunday, July 24th as part of the 2012 Olympic Open Weekend and Cultural Olympiad.
We invite everyone to decorate a tablecloth to show your international connections with people and places around the world that you love.
Bring your tablecloths, your cakes and picnic to Portobello Prom to help set out a tea table along one kilometre of the Portobello sea wall. Bring your sport, your performance, your music and your dance to entertain each other and our overseas visitors, to show the world that Edinburgh’s Seaside is a great place to visit.
We would like your tablecloth ideas to be as creative as possible. Join one of our artist led workshops to stimulate your imagination. Workshops will be held on Saturdays at:
| Place | Date |
| Portobello Community Centre, Adelphi Place | June 25th; 1.00pm – 5.00pm |
| St. Phillips Church Hall, Brunstane Road North | July 2nd; 1.00pm – 5.00pm |
| St. Phillips Church Hall |
July 9th; 1.00pm – 5.00pm |
| St. Phillips Church Hall |
July 16th; 1.00pm – 5.00pm |
Register your tablecloth on our website and support the work of Amnesty International. The Big Welcome is supported by Creative Scotland, Portobello & Craigmillar Neighbourhood Partnership and Edinburgh City Libraries.
Thank you for your interest in The Big Welcome. We hope you enjoy participating in this project of Big Things on the Beach.
What do I do next?
- Create Your Tablecloth. A tablecloth says ‘welcome’ around the world. Starting with an old tablecloth or sheet, use your creativity and imagination to say welcome in your own way. Show how you are connected to other people around the world – family and friends – and with special places you have been to sometime in your life. The cloth is only the start. Be as imaginative as you like with what you draw, paint or attach to it. Make sure that your tablecloth stands out amongst the hundreds that we hope will cover the one kilometer length of the Portobello sea wall. If you want help with ideas for your tablecloth, join one of our artist led workshops (children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult).
- Register your tablecloth. The Big Welcome is a free event but, if you would like your tablecloth to be registered on the Big Things on the Beach website, you can complete the registration form at the bottom of this page and pay a registration fee of £5.00. You can register a tablecloth as an individual, a family or a community group. Registration will mean that your name is listed as a participant in the project. Half of the proceeds will help to cover the costs of the event. Half will go to Amnesty International to support their work around the world.
- Bring you tablecloth to Portobello Promenade. Come to the Prom from 3.00pm on Sunday, July 24th – and find a place on the sea wall for your picnic at 4.00pm. Cloths will be spread from the ‘Cakestand’ at the foot of Marlborough Street, going as far as possible in both directions. If you are a performer in any art or sport, come prepared to entertain the other picnickers. Show us the best of what Portobello and Edinburgh has to offer.
What is The Big Welcome?
The Big Welcome is part of the London 2012 Open Weekend. Events are happening around the UK between July 22nd and 24th to anticipate the Olympic and Paralympic Games next year. As well as the Games, the Olympics includes a Cultural Olympiad. Big Things on the Beach is planning to build on The Big Welcome over the next few years to create a programme of sharing and exchange with artists and communities around the world. The Big Welcome is our way of saying that we want to make Portobello a vibrant cultural destination in the future.
What is Big Things on the Beach?
Big Things on the Beach is a public arts trust formed by volunteers who are residents of Portobello, Edinburgh to promote the use of Portobello Promenade and Beach as a site for the creation and display of public art. There is information about all our activities, past and present on our website
What Happens Afterwards?
If you agree, we will save your tablecloth for possible use in a future public art project or exhibition. Our next project will be a Public Art Fest as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival, from August 27th to September 3rd. in the Portobello Indoor Bowls and Leisure Centre.
Registration
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
Big Things on the Beach is a public art trust in Portobello, a seaside suburb close to the city centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was formed by a group of residents in 2003 to explore the potential of the seafront as a site for engagement with public artworks by both emerging and established artists.
