Making History in Leith

Who makes history? The answer according to Shawn Micallef is that we all do. And history can happen on a park bench, in a shop doorway or by a post box in Leith.

Shawn is creative director of [murmur] an innovative Canadian arts company who have come to Leith for their first project outside Canada and the US. With the help of funding by New Media Scotland, [murmur] will make local history come to life by recording the memories and stories of local people and communities living in Leith. But first [murmur] needs to hear from you.
murmur blur1
murmur at work in Toronto: www.livewithculture.ca

Shawn emailed Leith Open Space Group after reading about us on the new Greener Leith website. He is keen to involve as many different ethnic communities as possible and says: “We want the voices to reflect those of Leith residents, and make sure there is a diversity in those voices — Ideally, we want local communities to look at [murmur] as a way to get their voices heard, and we’re just here to provide the tools to do so.”

Leith Open Space Group is putting Shawn in touch with people who came to our two Open Space events and quite a few of you are already interested in taking part. But there is plenty of room for more so don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have a story or memory to share. Just email leithopenspace@btconnect.com

As Shawn describes it, “The stories are usually 2 or 3 minutes long — just short little anecdotes about that place. It’s history from the ground up, told by the people who know — voices that are often over looked when the stories of cities are told.â€?

murmur logo
You can get a taste of [murmur] by visiting their website and listening to some of the ‘audio documentaries’ they have recorded in parks and on street corners in cities like Toronto and Montreal in Canada, and San Jose in California.
Each [murmur] listening point is marked by a green ear bearing a telephone number you can call on your mobile phone.

Leith Open Space Group is delighted to get the chance to support this exciting project – and many thanks to Greener Leith for offering us a place on your community website!

One thought on “Making History in Leith”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *