Press release -
Bucket loads of success
Dundee’s largest ever mass participation public art event has been hailed as a resounding success ahead of a farewell gathering organised to celebrate the hit summer attraction.
The Oor Wullie’s Bucket Trail, launched in late June, brought the streets of Dundee to life this summer with 70 giant Oor Wullie sculptures displayed across the city while 15 touring Oor Wullies, including VisitScotland’s ‘ScotSpirit Wullie’, spent ten weeks visiting cities across Scotland.
Over 70,000 locals and visitors are estimated to have taken part in the public art event over the summer, either by picking up one of the bucket trail maps or by downloading the Oor Wullie Bucket Trail app.
The trail is also said to have been a contributing factor to a boost in footfall at the Dundee VisitScotland iCentre with visitor numbers up by over 24% compared to the same time last year and retail sales up by 45% between 27 June and 17 August.
Thousands of people are now expected to gather for the Oor Wullie Bucket Trail Farewell Gathering which takes place in Slessor Gardens, Dundee between 9 - 11 September. An incredible 8,000 were tickets sold in the first 24 hour with all proceeds from the event set to go to the ARCHIE Foundation Tayside Appeal.
The statues will then be auctioned off at the Dundee Rep on 13 September to raise money for the ARCHIE Foundation’s Tayside Appeal for a new twin-operating theatre paediatric surgical suite for Tayside Children’s Hospital.
A collaboration between The ARCHIE Foundation, DC Thomson and Wild in Art, The Oor Wullie Bucket Trail featured 55 sculptures, beautifully decorated by local and national artists, displayed across Dundee between 27 June and 27 August.
The project included 15 touring Oor Wullies, which visited Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth, and Stirling. 35 mini-statues were also on display at libraries in the city of discovery.
VisitScotland worked with Scottish artist Vanessa Gibson to create a ‘ScotSpirit Wullie’ as part of the Oor Wullie’s Bucket Trail set. Using a variety of media including acrylic paint and fine nib markers, Vanessa transformed the blank Oor Wullie statue into a fusion of colour and black and white, representing the Spirit of Scotland and the 2016 Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design.
Jim Clarkson, Regional Director, VisitScotland, said:
“We were absolutely delighted to be involved in this innovative project, with our #ScotSpirit Wullie proving a great draw as one of the touring sculptures which took over cities across Scotland. The Oor Wullie Bucket Trail has been a phenomenal success, capturing the imagination of locals and visitors in Dundee while also proving to be a huge success across Scotland too.
“The event at Slessor Gardens provides a great opportunity for everyone to catch a final glimpse of the popular sculptures before they are auctioned off for a truly fantastic cause - The ARCHIE Foundation’s Tayside Appeal.
“From textiles to technology, architecture to fashion and design, the Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design is shining the spotlight on our greatest assets and icons, as well as our hidden gems and we would encourage everyone to discover more about Scotland throughout the rest of the year.”
The ‘ScotSpirit Wullie’ is part of the national tourism organisation’s Spirit of Scotland campaign, launched in February 2016. The global campaign is built on extensive research which shows that people think Scotland has a unique spirit– whether it’s the magic of the landscapes or the warmth of the people. Everyone who has shared their #ScotSpirit will become part of a special social movement. The campaign has already been hugely successful, with more than 160,000 shares of #ScotSpirit since launch.
To find our more, visit: www.visitscotland.com/scotspirit
To book your tickets for the Oor Wullie Bucket Trail Farewell Gathering, visit http://www.oorwulliebuckettrail.com/goodbye-event/Tickets can also be bought from the Dundee City Box Office online, or by calling 01382 434940.
Caption: Artist Vanessa Gibson is pictured with‘ScotSpirit Wullie’ atAuchmuty High School in Glenrothes
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
- year of innovation architecture and design
- scotspirit
- dundee
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors
- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
- This will be supported by seven overarching strategies:
- Marketing: we will market Scotland and its outstanding assets to visitors from all parts of the world, including the promotion of Scotland to people living in Scotland to visit different parts of the country
- Events: we will support the national events strategy and its delivery, and sustain, develop and promote Scotland’s international profile as one of the world’s foremost events destinations
- Internationalisation and International Engagement: we will utilise all our platforms to enable Scottish-based tourism businesses to better understand international opportunities and market to a global audience and we will work within One Scotland Partnerships to optimise the potential of Scotland’s Diaspora and our strategic partners at regional, European and global levels
- Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
- Quality and Sustainability: we will provide support and advice to businesses, with the goal of improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism sector in Scotland. We will provide quality assurance to visitors through our Quality Schemes
- Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
- Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- Spending by tourists in Scotland generates around £12 billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and contributes around £6 billion to Scottish GDP (in basic prices). This represents about 5% of total Scottish GDP.
- The Scottish Government is the Managing Authority for the European Structural Funds 2014-20 Programme. For further information visit www.gov.scot or follow @scotgovESIF
- For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh)
- For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
- For information about business events in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
2016 Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design - 2016 will shine a spotlight on Scotland’s achievements in innovation, architecture and design through a wide-ranging, variety of new and existing activity.
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design started on 1 January 2016 and will end on 31 December 2016.It will build on the momentum generated by the 2015 Year of Food and Drink as well as previous years including Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
- Through a series of exciting events and activity, the year will showcase Scotland’s position as an “innovation nation”, its outstanding built heritage, and its thriving, internationally acclaimed creative industries sector.
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Creative Scotland, Architecture + Design Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS).
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design is supported by £570,000 of Scottish Government funding.
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
- Join the conversation at #IAD2016
