STEVENSON ENCOURAGES BANFF & BUCHAN TO BE WELL REPRESENTED ON PLACEBOOK SCOTLAND

Banff & Buchan MSP Stewart Stevenson has called on the residents of Banff & Buchan to submit images, words and music, representing their experiences of the distinct landscape of Banff & Buchan to a new web-based resource.

Placebook Scotland is a web-based resource, developed by the Scottish Landscape Forum, which will draw upon people's experiences of Scotland expressed through the arts. The aim of Placebook Scotland is to capture the distinct nature of Scotland town by town area by area either in music, song, words or through photography.

PlaceBook Scotland aims to become an important record about how we see and perceive our places today. In the future you will be able to search the site to see what others have contributed about their place, and learn more about Scotland's diverse and distinct landscapes. There are plans to create an archive of these contributions and exhibit them throughout Scotland during the Homecoming Scotland 2009 celebrations.

Encouraging the essence of Banff & Buchan to be reflected Mr Stevenson said:

"This is an exciting project that brings the arts and landscape together. It will encourage all of us to think more about how important Scotland's diverse and distinctive landscapes are."

"I congratulate the Forum for initiating this idea which will help us celebrate, raise awareness of and promote understanding of the diversity of Scotland's landscapes, their condition and evolution."

”The project intends to generate interest in, and celebrate local people's sense of place through the arts and understanding of Scotland's distinct and diverse landscapes.

"The Scottish Landscape Forum wants to hear from the people of Scotland over the coming year on how they perceive Scotland, evoking the identity and essence of those places they have a strong relationship with.

“Banff & Buchan has its own unique characteristics and our own local landscape gives a significant contribution to Scottish identity and its rich natural and cultural heritage. I would therefore encourage as many people as possible to get involved and communicate the essence of Banff & Buchan using one of the many mediums from photography and video to prose, poetry, music and song.”