Home

Welcome!

We’re delighted you’ve visited the PCAA website. We hope you’ll feel inspired to join our friendly community of people who enjoy creativity in all the arts, including music. You’re warmly welcome as an active amateur or professional artist, crafter, writer or musician, and you’re warmly welcome if you simply enjoy what our talented members and friends offer us! Scroll down for details of our current exhibition, the latest news of our storytelling project, exhibitions and concerts.

If you’d like to receive news from us by email (Mailerlite) – please click here.


PCAA 2023-2024 classical concert season

JKL Duo – Music inspired by Burns on guitar & flute

Friday 26th January 2024 7:30pm at West Street Arts Centre.

Tickets are available shortly.


Storytelling with the PCAA:

Please click here for more details of our storytelling events

Storytelling Group

The PCAA now has a new Storytelling Group which meets on the last Saturday of most months.

The next meeting is on Saturday 25th November 3pm
This is a group for new, experienced and would-be storytellers. It’s facilitated by an experienced storyteller, Elaine Robertson, and follows a loose structure, but everyone will have a chance to contribute if they want to.
Numbers will be strictly limited and pre-booking is essential to avoid disappointment at the door.
Please email penicuikarts.org@gmail.com to book your place!

Storytelling Club

The next PCAA Storytelling Club is on Friday 8th December 7:30pm at the Arts Centre.
Tickets are only £5 (£3 “pay less”) – a total bargain, thanks to grant funding from the National Lottery. Buy them at the Arts Centre café, 4 West Street, Penicuik, or online by clicking here

Storytelling Workshops

The next workshop on Saturday 9th December, 10am – 2:45pm is run by our very experienced and engaging Ruth Kirkpatrick.  Come and develop your natural skills!
£30/£10 (pay less). NO TICKETS – PLACES MUST BE BOOKED IN ADVANCE by emailing penicuikarts.org@gmail.com or texting 0781 505 2929.

Payment in cash, cheque, or card on the day, or by direct bank transfer beforehand.


Café Christmas Closure

The Arts Centre café-gallery will be closed at 3:30pm Friday 15th December for the Christmas and New Year break.

It will re-open on Monday 8th January 2024.

Café closed on Saturdays until further notice

It will remain open Monday to Friday 10am – 3:30pm.

The Saturday closure will be reviewed on an ongoing basis and hopefully may prove to be a temporary measure. We apologise for any inconvenience and disappointment caused.

PLEASE BE ASSURED THAT YOU CAN STILL EXPECT A WARM WELCOME AND GOOD QUALITY REFRESHMENT MONDAY-FRIDAY 10am-3:30pm (2:30pm Wednesdays).

We appreciate your continued support of the Gallery café,
4 West Street, Penicuik, EH26 9DL.
THANK YOU!

The Arts Centre Café garden is open!

Trip hazards in the back garden have been remediated, though there are still small slopes to negotiate, so please take care if you’re mobility is limited or if your vision is impaired.


Exhibitions in the café-gallery

Please click here for more information.

Until Friday 15th December – Christmas closure 2023,  Jan Miller & Friends in November Exhibition


PCAA Community Projects

We also have funding to run a film making project about Penicuik’s Paper-making industry – see below!

For more details about all Community Projects and/or to register interest, please visit our Community Projects webpage  and/or email penicuikarts.org@gmail.com

Penicuik on the big screen?! 

We now have funding from the SCOPS Trust for the second year of the papermaking film project.

Gerda Stevenson has collected and processed your stories and completed a film script.  We have a shortlist of potential amateur actors (though do contact us if you’re keen to be auditioned!) – we need actors of a certain age who could pass for being 65 – 90 years old. (penicuikarts.org@gmail.com).

There will be opportunities to shadow the professionals (cameraman, lighting, sound). Please get in touch! penicuikarts.org@gmail.com

Please click here for more details!


Fancy making a splash!?

Click here  for fun music resources for children


A trip down Memory Lane!

As part of our 45th Anniversary celebrations, we’re creating a page of links to photo albums and YouTube clips from past years.

We hope you enjoy the trip down Memory Lane!


Grateful thanks to…

…Everyone who donates to us, however little, however much. It helps us to provide uplifting and fun arts, crafts and music events for the people of Penicuik and the surrounding area.

…Councillors Willie McEwan, Debbi McCall and Connor McManus for generous grants totalling £8750 to help towards the cost of our current building works.

…Chamber Music Scotland for a grant of £1900 to help us provide a season of classical music concerts 2022 – 2023.

…Chamber Music Scotland for a grant of £500 to enable us to pay professional cellist Justyna Jablonska to perform a series of three short concert at Cowan Court in Autumn 2022.

…Arnold Clark for a grant of £1000 towards PCAA’s costs for the upcoming Penicuik Heritage Regeneration Project roof repairs for 2-4 West Street.

…TRACS Pockets and Prospects for a grant of £1430 to help us pay professionals and running costs for four storytelling club nights and two storytelling workshops in 2023

…Tasgadh for a grant of £925 to help us pay professionals and running costs for five storytelling workshops in 2023

…MyCool Music Foundation for a grant of £1000 to help us pay a professional (Kirsty Law) and running costs for six singing workshops, January to March 2023


Our own PCAA Poetry book is still on sale.

£10 each (plus £2 p&p). Please click here to buy yours, or from Pen-y-Coe press. If there are none in stock there and you don’t like shopping online, please send an email (penicuikarts.org@gmail.com).

Photographs from Penfest 2023 can be viewedplease click here

Music from online Penfest 2021 is still available on YouTube – please click here!

Click the icons below to find out what we do and how to join us!

What’s On

Our Café-Gallery

Craft Cooperative

Room Hire

PCAA Over the Years

How to Join us

Click here to contact us