A Brief History:

Fun A Day Dundee involves different people each year in a variety of ways. We’re always looking to connect with creatives, organisations and communities in new ways, so get in touch if you’re interested in getting involved in some way!
For the general running of the project we have coordinator; Sam Sherriff and since 2020, a FADD Team to manage mini projects, social media marketing/communication, exhibitions, and FADD’s development. We’ve been supported by The National Lottery through Creative Scotland since 2019.

A Brief History:

2013:
38 people kicked off January 2013 with a Fun-a-Day, that means 1,178 pieces of art were created in Dundee in just one month. It is really pretty amazing that all that fun and art was instigated by just one person – artist Morgan Cahn.

2014:
During 2013 Morgan moved away from sunny Dundee, but Hazel Saunderson, Rebecca Grieg and Theresa Lynn decided to carry on the fun in 2014. It was another great success, with over 50 people taking part and 33 of those bringing work to exhibit.

2015:
In 2015 Hazel and Rebecca returned, opening the project to returning fun makers and to new ones, with a successful exhibition in WASPS artist studios, and a busy Twitter feed.

2016:
Fun A Day 2016 was carried on by Rebecca Greig and previous fun maker; Sam Sherriff, which finished with a beautiful, funny, and a creative exhibition by Dundee fun makers.

2017:
Sam Sherriff continued the project for 2017, with a brilliant turn out & variety, producing a final 58 participants, with 41 exhibiting!

2018:
In 2018, Sam Sherriff continued to run the event, tweaking the look of FADD in creative ways as the numbers of fun participants continued to increase. We saw 70+ people join in with the project, and a record breaking 52 exhibiting. This year many participants created large quantities of work, in a huge variety of mediums which was truly impressive.

2019:
In 2019, Sam still behind the scenes, Fun A Day was funded for the first time! Supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland, we began branding and brought in a lovely team of volunteers (participants) over the exhibition. There was a new record no. of people taking part: Over 100 people joining in, with 90 participants in our publication of projects, and 61 exhibiting, as well as 368 visitors over the weekend exhibition.

2020:
In 2020, Fun A Day has its first Team to run the project as it continued to grow! Sam had an amazing team to assist her: Linda Barclay Isles, Kristina Aburrow, Hannah Wingfield, and Leah Gurr. Leah and Hannah are also previous participants to Fun A Day! The project was a success, and once again we got a new record for number of people taking part: Over 100 people joining in, and 112 exhibiting their projects online. This was the year of our first online exhibition, re-scheduled from our planned in person showcase due to covid restrictions. We all manged to have a fun, busy and creative exhibition over 3 days, despite socially distancing!
FADDCreatives was born in 2020 out of the covid lock down, with the team keen to reach out and support the community during difficult times.

2021 & 2022:
Back with another fantastic team! Coordinator Sam Sherriff, Assistant coordinators Hannah Wingfield, and Leah Gurr, Design Specialist Jilly Noble, and Creative Facilitator Kirsty Baxter! Sam, Hannah and Leah are back, alongside two previous participants and volunteers to FADD. We’ve enjoyed creating mini projects, developing FADDCreatives, and working on the project. It’s always inspiring to work with creatives of all ages and backgrounds, but more so when we’re all going through a difficult time, especially in 2020 and 2021. We’ve been reminded of the strengths and place for creativity, and were inspired to connect, share and support our community even more so. We had a successful online exhibition in 2021 following another busy January with over 100 people taking part again. Our favourite elements to the online exhibition was being able to involve participants over the weekend with competitions, giveaways, blogs, art workshops and artist showcases. In 2022, we were reminded of the eclectic, fun and admiring ability participants have to surprise us with their creative minds and skills in January. Despite the team’s personal commitments affecting the completion of a in-person exhibition following January, the team were still able to focus efforts to support the community as fadd creatives, and as FADD, hosting a social meet in person (hurrah!) and in the form of mini projects, bringing people together and encouraging creativity once more.