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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.

PENFEST – MUSICFEST 2023

FRIDAY 22nd September – Sunday 1st October

PENFEST is our annual arts festival. This year, it will be a bumper event with a MUSICFEST incorporated (thanks to Graham McDonald).

SAVE THE DATES! It will be fantastic!

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER DETAILS AND TICKET SALES. 

Here’s a slide show of posters for all events – please click side arrows to navigate quickly through the posters. Hover your cursor over a slide to pause.

Penfest Open Exhibition for the Penicuik Turner and People’s Choice Prizes

Anyone and everyone in the community is welcome to submit up to three pieces of art for the 2023 Open Exhibition. 

Jaya Ogilvie has agreed to judge Turner this year. Jaya is a multi-disciplined artist and tutor, who graduated from Sunderland University with her Masters Degree in 2003. More information is available on her website https://www.jayaogilvie.com/

Edinburgh Renaissance Band

Following their 50th Anniversary at Edinburgh Fringe, this unique and highly entertaining band will play on Friday 22nd September 8pm at St James the Less Church, Broomhill, EH26 9EE.

The Castaways!

Very popular local female harmony group will perform on Wedesday 27th September 7:30pm at Penicuik Community Trinity Church, High Street, Penicuik.

“Formed in 1994 as a close harmony group, over the years we have evolved into the ladies singing group of today. In the past few years we have been singing and entertaining in homes for the elderly, church groups, day centres, and occasionally we’ve given special concerts eg for Rotary and Arts Group. We perform mainly in Edinburgh and the Lothians. We perform concerts in certain venues on a yearly basis. At Christmas each year, for example, we sing in Pentland Gardens Centre to raise funds for Beeslack Disabled Club. We hope that you enjoy our selection of music.”

Jessies Well

Well known and entertaining duo will perform on Friday 29th September 7:30pm at the Arts Centre, 4 West Street, Penicuik, EH26 9DL.

Jessie’s Well are an acoustic duo based in Penicuik Scotland, comprising of Tim Blott on guitar and harmonies and Gay Blott on lead vocals. Their original material is a unique take on the Folk and Americana genres bringing in an array of influences from Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, The Civil Wars and Shovels and Rope. Gay’s versatile vocals and Tim’s superb finger style guitar along with their wit and wonderful storytelling is not to be missed.

Tickets for all Penfest 2023 events are on sale in the arts centre café and online (please click “shop” in the menu above)

Scots Music Group news

The Scots Music Groups runs a wide range of classes in Edinburgh. You can learn an instrument from scratch, join a singing group, or enjoy different levels of mixed instrument classes. Many people start well into retirement! It’s fun and it’s friendly and welcoming. Enrolments have just opened!

Click here for more details!  

Or go to the Scots Music Group website by clicking here.

The Arts Centre Café garden is open!

Thanks to the bright idea and hard work from Sheena Stewart and Ann Beveridge, furniture and bins have been placed strategically over the trip hazards in the garden. This means we have limited outdoor space to offer our café visitors while we wait for paving work to be done. There are still small slopes to negotiate so please take care if you’re mobility is limited or if your vision is impaired.

The PCAA 2023-2024 classical concert season is funded

We have been successful in our application for funds from Chamber Music Scotland to bring you more world class classical music in 2023-2024.

Tickets will be available online and at West Street Arts Centre cafe about a month before each event.

 

Exhibitions in the café-gallery

Please click here for more information.

From Sunday 10th September 2023 until Saturday 4th November 2023,  POINT OF VIEW – an exhibition of work from the Penicuik Sketchers (the PCAA Art Group)

PCAA Storytelling

The PCAA is starting a new Storytelling Group. It will run once a month in room 1 at the Arts Centre on the last Saturday of each month 3 – 5pm, starting in October.

This will be a peer-support group for new, experienced and would-be storytellers. It will be facilitated by an experienced storyteller, and will follow 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 express interest (no bookings taken just yet).

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?! 

Your chance to take part in a fantastic new project funded by the SCOPS Trust.

We need your stories about Penicuik’s paper-making industry days – email Sue penicuikarts.org@gmail.com or text/phone 0781 505 2929

We need volunteers for acting, costumes, other support work, etc.

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).

Music from 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