The Plaza
The Plaza
A NEW KIND OF VENUE FOR DUMFRIES…
INSPIRED BY INITIATIVES SET-UP THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY THE PLAZA IS DUMFRIES’ FIRST ROVING MUSIC VENUE. DEDICATED TO THE TAKEOVER OF THE UNDER-UTILISED, THE ABANDONED, THE RUINOUS AND THE UNUSUAL.
Music venues provide the bedrock for musicians to build their audience, hone their sound and cement their unique appeal as a live act. With the increase of streaming platforms and free releases, the live experience, more so than ever, is tantamount to the success of musicians and artists.
The Plaza is a new kind of venue, re-interpreted. Dedicated to the ‘takeover’ model, The Plaza seeks to find the places where live music ought to live.
Inspired by organisations and festivals such as the Hidden Door, Empty Shop Durham, the Moth Club and various other initiatives throughout the country, the Plaza is attempting to redefine the nature of music venues, employing a ‘takeover’ model using the unusual, the empty, the abandoned and the wild, The Plaza exposes the places where music could, and should, live. Bringing to the surface some of the key questions around music venue provision in Dumfries & Galloway.
With the deeply unfortunate news of the relocation of the region’s largest music festival, the project equally wants to encourage a greater understanding of the contribution live music makes to the local economy as well as start the conversation with the regional music scene on how a ‘DIY’ ethos may lead to the creative community becoming more than it ever could have imagined. The Plaza challenges and asks the right questions of our local authority as well as other ‘decision-makers’. How do we build, together, the infrastructure necessary for this particular (and most lucrative) of creative industries to flourish?
The Plaza affords us the opportunity to encourage, support and, together with our young audiences, develop careers aside from music-making in photography, film, event management, programming and installation. Simultaneously inviting artists and the music community to help us build a new kind of space, every 2 months.
The Plaza, which takes its name from a former dancehall and concert venue on Dumfries High Street, launched in April 2019 at the Nithsdale Rowing Boat Club. A finale showcase, wrapping-up Dumfries Music Conference’s Female Takeover, thereafter it migrated to the centre of the High Street, creating 'The World’s Smallest Music Venue’ and in October with a takeover of Soul Soup, a mental health charity and cafe for young people.
The D&G music scene is a remarkable and unique thing. It’s down to the festivals, event-makers, marketers, pubs, nightclubs, bands and artists that it has become such a force. We want to celebrate the established, create room for a new sound, support the local scene and build new careers, helping to develop the talents and skills of people in the region through doing what music does best – making it for ourselves and reclaiming the right of access to culture.
The Plaza is supported by Help Musicians Scotland.
Stephen Thomas Band
