EMBASSY gallery

DI-why 🛠️😌💪

what do we even do all day ????
Recently we’ve been working on our space, organising our equipment and building a permanent home for our archive!

Our archive boxes are now accessible to members in our co-working space (available for community takeovers) and we have a nice slick projector set up too 😎 😎 😎

We’re still tidying and testing wires at the moment but we have some more updates coming soon! In the meantime, have a little peek at our website for our open calls ❤️‍🔥

EMBASSY xx

Fruit Salad are coming to EMBASSY!!!!

Fruit Salad’s next event is a little of the same but a lot of different! They will be taking over gallery space to host an exhibition showcasing Jiayi’s () incredible art work.

They will also be hosting a live performance art show on the 12th, Showcasing local q***r performers! And while the rest of the Art Fest is FREE, the live show will be a mere £8 a ticket! The Open Call for experimental performance art is open now and closes on 23rd June so getttt those submissions in! Link in the biooo

Finally they’re welcoming the incredible to host a (yes, it’s true) FREE workshop. Waheyy, accessible art for all! Specially the workshop will focus on Q***r intimacy writing and performance art (have a little gander at their Insta for more info on their work)!

See u all there

WE NEED YOU!

EMBASSY is seeking new members to join the Board of Trustees!

This is an incredible opportunity to join a small, engaged team, gain skills and insights in organisational governance and procedures, and to contribute to the development of an iconic artist-run institution. To be clear, this is a voluntary role that is not the same as the Operational Committee.

We are particularly interested in those with experience in finance, fundraising and HR/employment law. (We are specifically looking for a treasurer role- link in bio!)

The most important attributes of trustees joining the board include a willingness to be supportive and engaged, and sharing a passion for critical thinking and creative learning.

The Board of Trustees is a voluntary role which requires a commitment to attend quarterly in-person meetings (pizza included) as well as supporting EMBASSY’s Operational Committee on an ongoing advisory basis. 🍕🍕🍕

We especially welcome expressions of interest from those identifying with groups that are underrepresented in the arts in Scotland.

Application Packs are in our bio !

Embassy has been a little unluckily lately and unfortunately we have had to cancel tonight’s performance due to illness!

❗️ANNOUNCEMENT ❗️EMBASSY MEMBERS FUND

What is it??? A micro-bursary of £500 This fund is designed to support the art practice and/or research of EMBASSY members.

Not a member? Sign up through the link in our bio for as little as £2!
⬆️⬆️⬆️

Applicants must self-identify as an emerging artist and be based in Scotland. Applications are open to those from at least one of the following communities*:BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)Working ClassLGBTQIA+Care Experienced Caregiver Disabled

Applicants will be selected based on who we believe would benefit most from the financial support. Applications are not open to CURRENT students (if u graduate this summer then u can apply !!) 🌞🌞🌞

How to apply: Please complete our Google form, (link in bio😌) which includes a maximum 500-word artist statement. (You don’t have to fill it all in!)
🫨🫨🫨Also❗️
Portfolio: Provide a link to your website, or professional Instagram, or submit up to 3 images of your work, or video links !! We are looking for clear, concise artist statements that are easy to read and understand.

DEADLINE ❗️Midnight on 20th September
We will be selecting a total of 5 EMBASSY members

Once the bursary is granted, there will be no further monitoring or obligations! No strings attached ✂️

*in the case of Duos and Collectives members must all be based in Scotland and identify as emerging artists; however only 50% of members need to identify as part of the referenced communities.

Where is this money From?This money is from our current Creative Scotland Grant. Who is making the selection?The EMBASSY Committee; Ezra Berrnico, Alice Disken, Millie Player, Lucas Priest, Lauren Green.

✨ !TONIGHT! ✨

LISTENING PARTY: A monthly meetup for people who make things.

A new community for artists, writers, crafters, designers, and anyone in-between to:
🫧 Spend time with other creatives on a consistent basis
🫧 Showcase and discuss what we are working on
🫧 Explore and discuss issues relating to being a practitioner
🫧 Access and offer feedback
🫧 Exchange ideas and skills, learn from one another
🫧 Hold ourselves accountable to make changes and report back

We want to be a support system, a sounding board, a network.

Peer-led - non-hierarchical - intersectional - all identities, skill levels and disciplines welcome - no art school or crit experience required.

Hosted by Rachel Stanley, Jemima Jenkins & Maddie Lennon (curators of Arranging a Window, 92 Degrees, Edinburgh, 2 Feb - 28 April 2024). Please follow for updates.

Commencing from Tuesday 30 April 2024, 7.30-9pm at Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, EH1 3LY (off Broughton Street). We will anticipate following on at the pub afterwards.

We want the sessions to evolve through time based on the needs of our community, but we expect to incorporate: group crits / peer reviews; informal lectures from and about artists / makers; workshops and activities; skill-sharing; previews of work (screenings / readings / show-and-tell). There is a possibility of expanding outwards into studio visits and trips to museums and galleries together.

Accessibility: the gallery has twelve steps and a stairlift available for use. There is one gender-neutral toilet. We aim to be as neurodivergent-friendly as possible, with low lighting and regular breaks. If we can do anything to make your visit more accessible to you, please let us know.

We would love to see you there!

WHAT’S (been) HAPPENING IN APRIL? 🤔

a lot of writing and brainstorming 🥴✍️ we are currently writing a big long funding application which has been taking up a lot of our time !! but we will emerge to dilly dally soon

HOWEVER

This Tuesday 16th April! We have another round of and
EXPERIMENTAL WRITING WORKSHOP

Additionally will be hosting
LIFE DRAWING
on thurs 25th

Keep an eye out for more posts soon 👀 🐌

What have we been doing in march???

ran a wonderful ‘drawing practice’ class focusing on clothed life drawing 🖌🖍🕺

and hosted their first experimental writing workshop ✏️📒📓

both of these events are set to run again this month (more posts coming soon 👀)

if YOU 🫵 would like to use our space (and our nice orange mood lighting) for a community takeover event give us an email !! (link in bio) we rlly want to hear about the cool stuff you wanna do xoxoxo

🥁REMINDER🥁 EMBASSY AGM this Friday join us from 6:30 to discuss what’s been happening at embo over 2023, what we plan to do in 2024 and to vote on our board of trustees!

We will be discussing:

🛑why we have been closed the last 3 months and why we are at the pub

💸 how much money we have and how it’s all being used

📆 what we did in 2023

🐌 plans for 2024

🗳️ voting on trustees

🤷‍♀️ your feedback - what do you want from us!

First of all,

We want to take this time to express our solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle for life, freedom and dignity. We condemn the atrocities, violence and genocide being committed by the Israeli state and endorsed by Western Governments. It is essential that we use our platform responsibly, silence is not an option, decolonisation is not a metaphor.

Please join the BDS movement. Within the artworld specifically, we urge you to boycott The Zabludowicz art fund. Find out more here https://boycottzabludowicz.wordpress.com/boycott-zabludowicz/ and https://thewhitepube.co.uk/art-thoughts/bdz/ ,

Join The Mosaic Room’s call for solidarity https://mosaicrooms.org/call-to-cultural-organisations-artists-writers-for-solidarity-with-palestine/

Get involved in organising with Art Workers For Palestine Scotland , The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign! , and Palestine Action

Secondly,

EMBASSY is temporarily closing, however we expect to re-open in January!

Due to reduced capacities on the committee, combined with funding uncertainties we have decided to pause our programming for the rest of the year and get ourselves in order so we can deliver our 2024 programme! This means there will be no Biscuit Tin (artist moving-image festival) this year ;(

If you are booked in for a community takeover between now and Jan and we have not been in touch then please drop us an email/DM. If you are booked in for a community takeover in Jan & Feb we will be in touch by the end of December to confirm if we can host you. We understand that this uncertainty is not great so if you need to cancel just let us know!

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
Lucas, Lauren, Alice

Posters are out for MS+FT performance weekend! TICKETS IN BIO 🎟️illustration by design developed in collaboration with the EMBASSY Committee. Huge thanks to the folks for getting these prints into the world! You can find them at and many more! If you spot one tag us on the stories!

Performance weekend 22&23/09 TICKETS IN BIO

Performance nights have always been core to EMBASSY’s programming since its early beginnings in 2003. Before EMBASSY had a permeant location the committee would organise performance nights in the Sculpture Court at Edinburgh Collage of Art and in more recent EMBASSY history events like Citric Acid and Sour Sop have had performance at their core. To kick off our series of archival re-programming we have commissioned four artists to develop new works responding to the title ‘Move Slow and Fix Things’, Honouring EMBASSY’s performance driven roots while imagining and responding to calls for more sustainable futures, both within the Artist-run and beyond.

We have a limited capacity so please book a ticket, both days are the same show so just book what works for you. Saturday will include BSL interpretation.

Our amazing performers for this weekend are:

Alliyah Enyo /

Fibi Cowley /

Wyld & Green /

Poster Illustration and graphic design by Celeste John-Wood / in collaboration with the EMBASSY Committee.

A Huge thanks to Embo Trustee Colum Clark for assisting with tech support & Jiayi Chen / for taking photos!

See ya there!

💃💃💃

On Wednesday we where blessed with the presence of the wonderful folks working on the archive team in to record an episode of with embo member Many laughs where had! 🤣📦📡📻

A reminder to folks that you can book our space for any non-permanent art making, meetings or workshops for free. Just get in touch via link in bio.

Bonus Post! What do the embassy committee even do all evening? 🤔Last night the committee and the board got together to began thinking about embassy’s feasibility with long and short term goals alongside some ‘blue sky thinking’ 🌞. Bringing together the idealistic alongside the practical to begin thinking about how we could use future funding! 💸 what we can offer members 🧜‍♂️ ! And how we could run things differently 🏃‍♂️

Reminder that EMBASSY are looking for new committee members!!! 😎

Join EMBASSY as part of our operational committee and this could be you! Open call deadline is Monday 29th of May at midnight ✨🐛🧚💕

Link in bio for full information on how to apply!x

(Trying to think of how to promote our committee open call, I had a look through my camera roll and the miles long EMBASSY group chats to try and find a way to express my time on the committee and as part of this funny little gallery: here are the very serious highlights😔- Maria x EMBO # # #)

Image descriptions in alt text. 🪲✨

Call out for Operational Committee Members! 🪩

Deadline to apply: 29th May 2023, midnight.

EMBASSY Gallery is looking for two new freelance operational committee members to join us from the 10th July 2023. For full details of the role & information of how to apply please visit the link in our bio.

The operational committee takes responsibility for curatorial projects and all aspects of running the gallery. Being on the committee is an opportunity to work with a range of people, commission the production of work and host dynamic events. We work collaboratively to support one another to develop new skills and take the lead on projects. Previously EMBASSY has hosted exhibitions, residencies, workshops, international exchange, projects and performances.

EMBASSY is a non-hierarchical working environment, and as such, the operational committee must seek a shared responsibility in all areas of work to ensure a collective involvement in decision making. We describe EMBASSY as a ‘learning environment’ in which together we give and receive support to one another and the practitioners we work with. Future projects can be led from personal curatorial interests & the direction of the gallery is collectively shaped by the committee.

This position is currently funded until December 2023 with a weekly fee of £162 (£13.50 per hour for 12 hours per week).

Applications will be reviewed by EMBASSY’S current operational committee, with external support provided by artist and member of Neuk Collective, Tzipporah Johnston.

All applicants will be contacted by the 5th of June with a shortlist of candidates invited to interview. Interviews will take place via zoom on the 9th of June, with final decisions communicated by the 13th of June. EMBASSY will be taking on two new committee members, who will begin the role on the 10th July 2023.

Any questions, please contact us via email at [email protected]

We look forward to hearing from you.

Warmly,
Lucas, Elspeth, Lauren, Georgia, and Maria x EMBASSY 💜💜💜

Zine making from the archive! ✂️📚🎨

Last night we held a beautiful evening of collective zine making alongside a community meal catered by the wonderful 💚 Together we created collages from past flyers, catalogs & posters into reimagined compositions, detangling the questions of the role of the artist-led archive; what do we keep? What do we want to leave behind?

Zine making materials will remain out in the gallery space across this weekend & we welcome visitors to stay and create their own collages in response to the show ‘The Rich Compost of Before’. The gallery will be open 12-5pm this Friday- Sunday 🖼️

Images of the workshop & some of the wonderful zines made, that will feed back into the archive with past works imagined anew.

Thanks all for coming!

‘The Rich Compost of Before’ an archival exhibition of the past 20 years of EMBASSY- show open this weekend!

The gallery is open 12-5pm, Friday- Sunday, come visit & take a look through the archives 🌱

�� Calling all emerging creative practitioners, recent graduates and final year students! ��
Find out more about Satellites Programme 2023 at an in-person advice session at EMBASSY Gallery.

Thursday 20 April
6-8pm
EMBASSY Gallery
Address: 10b Broughton Street Lane,
Edinburgh, EH1 3LY

This is an informal opportunity to learn more about Collective’s development programme for emerging creative practitioners based in Scotland. The session will include; an introduction
to the Satellites Programme; informal group discussion with Producer Rachael Simpson and
a screening of Enigma Body Tech 2019 by Satellites artist Kimberly O’Neil.

No booking required.

More advice sessions will take place in Edinburgh and online.

The deadline for applications to Satellites 2023 is Monday 8 May, 5pm.

As part of EMBASSY’s new membership, we would like to announce an Occasional Crit Club!

These member-led sessions are a space to share and discuss work in progress, finished pieces or a project proposal; anything that would be useful for you to have feedback on. We will also provide biscuits and a nice hot beverage to dunk them in on the night!

⭐️ Our first Crit Club date is Wednesday the 8th March 3pm-5pm. ⭐️
To register, please visit our sign up genius link in our bio.

Upcoming dates in which a crit will take place will be decided in relation to the monthly availability of our Members and EMBASSY’s calendar. So keep your eyes peeled 👀

To attend, you must be an EMBASSY member. If you haven’t yet signed up to our new membership, please visit the link in our bio or our website: https://www.embassygallery.org

A Hint of Salón
EMBASSY Gallery Members show opening night

Join us for the opening on Friday the 24th of Febuary 18:00 - 21:00, for performances, music, drinks, and a whole lot of Salón whimsy!! 🤠

The performances will be interpreted by a BSL interpreter, who will be available for the duration of the opening night. Print outs of spoken word performed on the night will be available.

The annual EMBASSY members show is a non-selective, salón style exhibition showcasing the exciting work of EMBASSY's members base in an open and welcoming environment.

A Hint of Salón - EMBASSY members show DROP-OFF reminder!!!💅🏼💅🏼💅🏼

Members-show drop-off is open today 10:00 - 13:00 💕💕🤠

Drop off dates next week:
- Monday 20th February. 14:00 – 17:30. 
- Wednesday 22nd February. 11:00 – 15:00

Find us at EMBASSY Gallery, 10b Broughton Street Lane (EH1 3LY). 🍒✨

Remember to label your work with Title, Medium, Size, Year, Name, and Contact information (phone number/email address).

Deadline for performances is this Monday 20th February !✨✨

🎞️You can still submit films via the link in our bio and on the EMBASSY website, deadline for the film night is 24th February ! Xx

A Hint of Salón - Film night open call 🤠

We invite members submission of artists’ moving image, film, and video work, for a cosy film night screening at the closing night for A Hint of Salón on the 4th of March. ✨💅🏼🍒🎞️

The show is non-selective and submissions can be films and video works under 15min, on any theme.
Members are welcome to submit work for the film night, whether they have work in the physical show or not. 

All films screened will be closed captioned in English.

If you wish to submit a film for the screening please join as a member on the EMBASSY website and fill out the google form linked in our bio. ✨

Photo 1: Biscuit Tin Artists’ moving image festival 2022 screening Bellsmyre Caledonia by Jack Guariento .

Photo 2: Biscuit Tin Artists’ moving image festival 2022 screening Canton by Ashley Catherine Dick , Ştefania Lupan & Mihaela Grigorean.

A Hint of Salón - Performances open call 🤠

We invite submissions for performances of live sound, music, spoken word and performance to take place at the opening night. 🌞🎭

These could be things that require a dedicated audience or more durational happenings to take place within the exhibition over the course of the evening. We ask that performances that require the full attention of the audience are kept under 15 minutes in length, however durational happenings can run for up to the full three hours of the opening. We welcome performances in English and BSL, for performances in other languages we as for an English translation of the text to allow for the text to be BSL interpreted.

The performances will be interpreted by a BSL interpreter. We ask that a transcript of any speech included in the performance is provided by the 20th of February to allow the BSL interpreter to prepare. If the performance features music or an audio track, please supply this in advance also. The transcript text will be made available as a print out for the audience to read alongside the performances. Performers will be required to come to the Gallery for 5pm on the night of the exhibition opening, to meet with the BSL interpreter and attending this meeting is a compulsory part of performing in the evening. 

If you wish to perform please send outlines of your plans to [email protected]  by Monday 20th February. In the email please include a short description of the work you wish to present live, details of its duration, any audio files, a transcript of any speech and finally any additional technical requirements. 

Photo: James Alexander McKenzie performing at The grass is always greener on the Sa-lawn EMBASSY Members show 2022.

SLIDING SCALE FOR MEMBERSHIP 💚

EMBASSY Membership is open to artists and students based anywhere in the UK. For 2023, we have introduced a sliding scale for membership, with three price points in order to make the opportunity more affordable to our wider community. We have three tiers of £2, £8, or £15 with all levels of payment offering the same membership benefits, we invite you to pay a price point that feels most applicable to you.

Why sign up as a member ❓

EMBASSY members receive many opportunities to showcase in and around EMBASSY Gallery and are regularly updated on current and upcoming events. These opportunities include showing work in the annual members show, member led projects, The new members project space, and membership events, including film screenings, performance nights, crit clubs and much more!

We currently also have our open call live for works to be included in '
A Hint of Salón – EMBASSY our 2023 Members Show. The exhibition will open on the 24th of February and is a non-selective opportunity in which all works submitted will be shown.

SIGN UP VIA THE LINK IN OUR BIO 💚💗

Working with students on the MA CAT earlier this week, talking about how ARIs curate shows in alternative ways, empowering emerging artist with curatorial autonomy! & digging through (some of) our archive documenting the past 20 years of embo! 🎨 thanks for the invite!

- The Rich Compost of Before - Exhibition dates!

We are excited to share that the show ‘The Rich Compost of Before’ an archival exploration of the past 20 years of EMBASSY will open on Friday the 7th of April 2023. Presenting a deep dive into our collective history and development we can’t wait to welcome audiences to explore the last two decades of Artist led organising.

In the process of organising the show, the current committee have interviewed over 30 ex committee members & gathered a vast amount of archival material that we are currently cataloguing and archiving.Pictured here we have an original set of EMBASSY keys created by the founding committee for their series of gallery postcards.

We also wish to issue a public call out for anyone who was once a committee member who we may have been unable to contact. If you haven’t received an email from us, please do be in touch if you wish to be involved!

Happy 20th EMBASSY! 💚💚💚

EMBO A YEAR IN REVIEW!

We want to say a deep thank you to everyone who has been involved with EMBASSY throughout 2022. From the generosity of the artists who trusted us to share their work, to the audiences who came to the shows, it has been such a wonderful and joyful experience to get to facilitate the space for all of this to happen. We are excited for what 2023 will bring for us and to welcome Lucas Priest & Elspeth Wilson to join the operational committee, starting their tenures in January. .priest

From Love 2 Love, changing the constitution, a committee research trip to Reykjavik, the re- birth of Annuale, our members show, Passage - a publication, the MA CAP exhibitions, Biscuit Tin, hosting workshops and tackling the archive, it has been a wonderfully full and reflective year. We hope the EMBASSY community has enjoyed the programme, and we look forward to sharing our upcoming events!

Linked in our bio is a feedback form for the years programme. This can help us gather feedback from our audiences and community, and will help shape the way we work in 2023. We welcome any comments and suggestions, so please complete if you have the time!

Finally, massive thank you’s to Katherine Allan & Frieda Ford, who both completed their tenures on the committee this year and our new board members- Abi Lewis, Colm Clarke, Ben Owens, Emma Sweeny, and Frieda (moving from the committee to board) for providing such consistent support and care.

.am.abi.art

EMBASSY is now out of office until the 9th of January 2023 & we will pick up any enquiries upon our return.

With warmth & well wishes for a restful end to the year
Georgia, Maria & Lauren (EMBO)
🌟🌟🌟

The Rich Compost of Before - reconfigured exhibition dates

Since August 2022, the EMBASSY committee has been working on an exhibition exploring our organisation's archive. Titled ‘The Rich Compost of Before’ the show seeks to reflect upon the 19 years of artistic activity surrounding EMBASSY. Through this project we have had the privilege to hold many insightful and generous conversations with over 30 ex committee members, learning about various challenges throughout the timeline of EMBASSY. As the project has grown in both scale and depth, we have made the decision to push back the opening date of the show, allowing us to handle the material with the attention and consideration it deserves.

Through our interviewing process, many of the conversations we have had, have reflected upon the often unhealthy and damaging speed that committees have felt pressure to deliver a hasty public programme. Wishing to not perpetuate this cycle, we will be allocating as much time as the project requires, working in a flexible manner with all those involved. We believe slowness to be vital to allowing the life of an idea to reach its best outcome, and will be updating the timeline accordingly.

We will release new public facing dates for the show, when we have these confirmed.

Images from the exhibition/ performance Night 'Bless your heart' 2019 (Performances by Elina Bry, Kamile Ofoeme, HIJACK (JING XIE & QIONG ZHANG) , and Sinéad Hargan, Yasmin Mawer & Anya Bowcott with installation work by Sandy Harris.

and 'Feast of Silenus' Video at Performance evening at ECA, 2004. Artists: Apollo Murciano, Daria Martin, Michael Cousin, Katy Dove, Ronnie Heeps, Samantha Clark, Tessa Welsh, Sean O'Keefe, Anne Seagrave, Simon Clark, Sue Tompkins, Mike Windle, Digby Maas, Jordan Baseman, John Farrugia, Annette Knowles, Paul Grimmer, Duncan Campbell.

With warmth,
EMBASSY # #

Biscuit Tin Artists’ Moving Image Festival is coming up soon and we are very excited to present our first cluster of films, screening in the gallery and online at 19:30 this Thursday the 8th of December!

The full programme catalogue is now available to view on the EMBASSY website, link in bio Xx 💎💙💙

Thursday 8th December
Section 1:

You didn’t come from the egg but also not made from soil and water by Alkmini Gkousiari (8min)

carb-UR-etor by Alex Baggaley (5min)

Now that im a cow by Esme Haddrill Selman (8min)

An index finger tracing a thought by Siri Black (9min)

[Image ID:
1. Black and white square tiled floor exposed beneath dusty rocks and rubble.

2. Black silhouette on a yellow glowing background of two robot arms surrounded by square pillars, reaching down for something on a table below.

3. Bright abstract flowing colors and particles within a blurry round lens.

4. Formation of boulders in a grassy green field, superimposed with a white circle and dotted line diagram. ]