Announcing Caring Scotland lead artists, a call out for stories and In Conversation event during Care Experienced Week.

We are delighted to announce the creative artists who will be working with Nicola McCartney on our three-year Caring Scotland project. Artists Kevin Gilday, Lewis Hetherington, Sara Shaarawi, Jo Mango, Roxana Haines and Mal Fraser will form the team that will drive the project and engage with care experienced people from across Scotland.

Caring Scotland is a far-reaching creative oral history project led and inspired by the practice of playwright and socially engaged theatre-maker, Nicola McCartney and over the next three years it will document the lives and experiences of at least 100 members of the Care Experienced community in Scotland.

Lead artist Nicola McCartney said

"I'm honoured to lead this project which is about actively listening to and recording the stories care experienced people want to share about their lives. The most important story is the one we tell to ourselves about ourselves. And these individual stories are a vital and hitherto often overlooked part of the nation's story, what Scotland was, is now and what we can become."

As part of a special week of events, taking place during Care Experienced Week (19-26 Oct), these artists will be visiting five different venues across Scotland to launch the project, to meet local care experienced people and start to collect stories. All stories will be deposited in the final oral history sound archive, housed in perpetuity at the National Library of Scotland and will inspire the creation of the touring interactive installation as well as the photographic exhibition.

As well as the Caring Scotland team going on the road, the National Theatre of Scotland alongside partners the National Library of Scotland, will be hosting a special in conversation event on Tuesday 22 October with acclaimed artist and author Juano Diaz. Juano will be in conversation with writer, broadcaster and journalist Paul English discussing the themes of Juano’s powerful memoir, Slum Boy, an exploration of his experiences as a young boy navigating the complexities and challenges of life in care.

Juano Diaz, artist, lent his support to the project;

"Every story matters. By sharing our journeys, we turn our experiences into powerful voices of hope, resilience, and change. Projects like Caring Scotland offer us a platform to remind the world that those who have spent time in care have a voice that belongs and a story worth telling. By doing so, we not only transform our own lives through these shared experiences but also touch the hearts of those who care to listen, inspiring understanding, empathy, and a stronger community."

Caring Scotland is presented by partners National Theatre of Scotland, Who Cares? Scotland, National Library of Scotland and funded with an award from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. This event can be booked here.

More information about the project and how to get involved can be found here