Culture Creative commissioned to deliver Electric Glen in 2014
Culture Creative is celebrating the success of a new outdoor, night-time light festival – Electric Glen took place at Rouken Glen Park and was visited by more than 12.500 visitors.
Culture Creative delivered the event on behalf of East Renfrewshire Council over five consecutive nights and the event has been commissioned again for 2014.
Culture Creative worked with White Light to develop a 1.5-kilometre illuminated trail round the Victorian boating pond, the waterfall and glen. A crew of nine, headed up by creative director, Phil Supple and production manager, Jezz Hellens took six days to set up the route which included installing over 14 kilometres of cabling and 400 generic, moving and LED fixtures all powered by three generator sets.
Phil Supple, creative director of Electric Glen commented: “Electric Glen was originally commissioned to celebrate the heritage of this iconic park and its different landscapes and geology. The trail, which moved from the relative calm of the boating pond to the intensity of the rock end waterfall and rugged paths of the glen, was quite a challenging one to design and set up. The crew worked tirelessly, including through some appalling weather in the final phase of the build to ensure it opened on schedule and ran smoothly.”
As well as lighting installations, Culture Creative also commissioned artists Jamie Wardrop and Adam Scarborough, to create a story wall in the glen. This sound work wove together voices, location recordings and music from Rouken Glen’s past and present. To add a performance aspect to the trail, Argyll-based Walking Theatre Company were brought on board to bring back the magic of the Rouken Glen Entertainers – a small troupe of variety performers who were based in the park at the turn of the 20thcentury.
Supple added: “The fact that Electric Glen sold out well in advance of the start of the run just shows the popularity of this kind of winter night-time experience. The feedback we’ve had from visitors has been amazing and we’re really looking forward to returning to this beautiful park next year.”
Electric Glen was funded by Creative Scotland, East Renfrewshire – A Place to Grow Campaign and Heritage Lottery Funding.
