Click-a-Brick

Out of the Blue (OotB) is an Edinburgh-based arts and education trust that aims to make art accessible and generate studio space and a community for practicing artists. But Edinburgh is under siege with new developments threatening to take away much loved venues such as the art studios on New Street (also owned by Out of the Blue) and The Venue nightclub. As the OotB team say themselves, there is a real shortage of affordable space for creativity in the city. So although Edinburgh has a strong, longstanding artistic reputation, we cannot afford to be complacent or let the seemingly edgier Glasgow arts scene dominate. However, Out of the Blue have recently acquired The Drill Hall on Dalmeny Street; a 11,000 sq ft Grade B listed building just off Leith Walk, which is about the most interesting art space to arrive in Edinburgh in a long, long time.

The proposed development plans for this space are really exciting: The Drill Hall is set to become a modern creative centre with lots of studio, exhibition and performance space. It will also have a café, cr'che, art cinema and sculpture garden, all of which can provide room for regular workshops and exciting cultural ventures and events. Importantly, the building plans also state that, "the new structure will be delicately inserted within the curtilage of the existing hall and is sensitively massed to maintain the existing impression of a single voluminous hall".

The building materials are both eco-friendly and set to be used as efficiently as possible. There are in fact two stages in the development project (with a further mezzanine level planned for the future), the start date for the initial phase being January 2006, to be completed within six months. Out of the Blue have already raised £500,000 to achieve all this, but an additional £20,000 is needed to complete the project.

This is where we come in: we need to help by supporting Out of the Blue's recently launched Click-a-Brick campaign in donating only ten pounds to the scheme, really a small contribution that can do so much. Other than a warm glow of doing good for the community in helping make this project happen, you also get something personal back for yourself. Donating ten - or even fifteen - pounds will get your name on a brick on an actual wall, the entrance tunnel to The Drill Hall, as well as on a 'virtual wall' on the OotB website, with a message of your choice too.