RAJPOT are celebrating Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month, 2020 with the release of our PDF resource 'Proud in Perthshire of Our Cultural Heritage’ which is available for download here
Let’s start to reclaim our heritage by lighting up Perth Bridge with the golden glow of yester-year for Summer Solstice!
A vibrant Inter-cultural Arts Festival in celebration of diversity
Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 August, 10am – 5pm
Mid-August is full of festival spirit with over 50 events taking place, over two days, in three Yurts and a Romany Wagon, as well as in and around the theatre. Full poster available here
Join, Maori Cultural and Spiritual leader Pouroto Ngaropo, in ceremonies, workshops and talks, along with Flamenco, Hip Hop and Polynesian dance workshops, FREE crafts, including Flower- and basket-making, Woodturning, Stencilling. PLUS workshops, storytelling, fortune-telling, Persian Poetry, and more. See the full programme http://www.rajpot.org.uk/event/bing-anee please note some events are ticketed and can be booked here https://pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com/
Join Iriss for a day of discussion and talks exploring how co-production can equip social services with the cultural competency they need when working with Gypsy traveller and Roma communities. A chance to identify the unique challenges facing these two distinct communities in Scotland and think about creative ways to overcome them.
The full programme of the day's activities can be found here
Registration for the event is free and can be made directly with Iriss via this link
Shamus' work has been selected for inclusion at g39 in Cardiff as part of the 'Shiftwork' exhibition, a joint ventre between g39 and The Romani Cultural and Arts Company showing 3 March - 14 April 2018 with a preview 2 March 2018
Shiftwork brings together four artists Daniel Baker, Artur Conka, Billy Kerry and Shamus McPhee who through their work tease out a number of aesthetic and political issues concerning Gypsy, Roma and Traveller lives through cultural representation.
A number of the works produced during the Gypsy Maker project will be shown, alongside new collaborative works developed in dialogue with g39 and The Romani Cultural and Arts Company.
For more information, please see g39 website and NOW SHOWING #235: The week’s top exhibitions - a-n The Artists Information Company.
Provost Dennis Melloy officially opened the Memorial exhibition on Friday 19th January in Perth which also aims to highlight the many millions of Roma Gypsies who remained unaccounted for at the end of the war.
Many of the atrocities suffered by the Roma Gypsies and other persecuted groups in the Holocaust were only discovered after the war ended in 1945.
He said: “It is an honour to open this exhibition. It should not be forgotten that Roma Gypsies were among the groups the Nazi regime singled out for persecution on so-called racial grounds.
“The fate of the Roma people in some ways paralleled that of the Jews. Under the Nazi regime, the Roma were subjected to arbitrary internment, forced labour and mass murder.”
To mark World Human Rights Day Holyrood’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee last week held a session focusing on what remains a disgraceful issue – the treatment of the Scottish Gypsy/Traveller population.
What emerged was a catalogue of discrimination and abuse aimed at Scottish Gypsy/Travellers. Their stories speak of a Scotland in which gypsy travellers are frequently dismissed and taunted as “tinkers” and “pikeys”, discriminated against for work, bullied in school, and institutionally marginalised.
The full article can be read here
Shamus was commissioned by The Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (Iriss) to produce a pictorial history of Gypsy Travellers in Scotland. It begins in the 10th century with their Indic origins and takes us right through to the present day.
The timeline is available in limited numbers as a large fold-out document, designed to be used as an educational resource either in table-top environments or as a wall-chart and can be requested from the Iriss website.
Also available on the Iriss website is a simplified version, offered as a PDF download.
We are delighted to announce that our 'Hidden Treasures' event at Pitlochry Festival Theatre went extremely well despite murky and changeable weather on the day.
We would like to draw your attention to a wonderful video tour of the event exhibits 
given by Roseanna McPhee.
A large range of video resources from speakers, particpants and workshops are now available to watch from the event page and video page and we hope you enjoy them.
'A Celebration of Gypsy Travellers’ Art, Crafts and Song'
Hidden Treasures is a celebration of Gypsy Traveller art, both locally and nationally, deploying a multi-art format that links to the Tummel and Tay Festival in partnership with Pitlochry Festival Theatre.
2017 has been billed as the ‘Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology’, and therefore represents a unique opportunity to explore the distinctive creative and artistic heritage of the Gypsy Traveller community.
The project will showcase new and selected existing works. The central exhibition focuses on Visual Art, accompanied by participatory Craft workshops (basket and flower-making), Music and oral presentation/debate.
Shamus McPhee is the lead artist and organiser of the 'Hidden Treasures' event and has collaborated with Simply Solar and Triplet Media to produce a new website documenting the work leading up to the event and archiving the contributions made during the event.
