Society & Culture
Meet James Dean of Platform Glasgow. This interview is for those, even in Glasgow, whose muscle memory associates the east end of the City with nowt but crime & poverty. It's for those who've been to the Barrowlands for a gig but stepped no further into the perceived darkness beyond. It's for those who feel there's no point exploring the empty, forgotten, barren land east of Glasgow Green when there's the delights of the city centre & west end on offer.Before this interview I knew a little about what's going on in the east end. After it I realised that I just knew little. My eyes were well and truly opened during this conversation at the Bridge, a breathtaking space in Easterhouse that for the last 9 years has been pulling together all the good things in the community and showing it off in style. James talks quietly with passion about the art, music and culture being tapped by Platform every day with a myriad of events, festivals, concerts, installations and arts projects in the area. He tells us about the Calton Action Barras Plan, PEEK Project, Pulse, the Barras Art and Design Centre, the Pipe Factory, the soon to be opened east end's answer to Oran Mor in the centre of a regenerated music quarter at the Barras, and the heart-warming projects changing lives at the Bridge.Listening to James talk effortlessly about what's going on makes me pretty embarrassed about how much I've been missing for so long right on my doorstep. Not any longer!