Totem Pole Project – Seaton Community Project

By Christine McGrath, Principal Community Learning Worker,Seaton Community Project
The Seaton neighbourhood is in the east of Aberdeen City with a population of 5,318 and is one of the city’s regeneration areas.  The majority of the population lives in blocks of flats and has access to communal rather than private garden space. Seaton Community Project is part of Aberdeen City Council’s Community Learning and Development Service and provides learning opportunities to a wide range of groups and individuals.  The Project has an active pre-school programme and offers youth work, adult learning classes, computer drop-in, community café and one-to-one support to individuals on a variety of issues.  It also supports community groups to engage in the community planning process. Back in the autumn of 2005 staff at Seaton Community Project were asked by a member of the Aberdeen City Council Arts Development Team if they were interested in being part of a project to create a totem pole in their area working alongside First Nation Canadian woodcarvers led by Kenny Grieves from Brotus Crafts in Fife. This seemed a really good way to take forward a number of our priorities for the area, including the fostering of a strong community spirit, raising awareness of different cultures and developing a range of skills in the community. We decided to devote the whole of the week of 20th -27th August to the Totem Pole project and related activities.  Staff from Seaton Community Project and the Arts Development Team worked together with Kenny from Brotus Crafts, Xwa Lack –Tun, his wife Jada and son James.  The woodcarvers had already completed similar projects at other locations in Scotland including Prestonpans and Strathdon. The week started on the Sunday with an opening ceremony led by Xwa Lack-Tun to bless the log and give it new life.  Children and parents from Seaton were involved throughout the day in guided drawing sessions and coming up with designs for the totem pole.  Local themes were chosen to include a seagull, salmon, tower blocks, squirrels and the Aberdeen Football Club whose home ground is nearby. Throughout the week local people of all ages had a chance to get involved in the carving. Younger children took part in craft workshops.  The Community Project organised a ceilidh for the Saturday evening which took the form of a Scottish /Canadian cultural exchange.  Young people from Seaton Community Project’s music group performed several songs and tunes and were in turn entertained by their Canadian guests. The raising of the totem pole on the Sunday afternoon was very much the high point of the week.  It was timed to coincide with the end of the Seaton Gala that had been taking place in another part of the neighbourhood throughout the day.  As the totem pole was wheeled through the streets late in the afternoon, the crowds began to gather. The Seaton community – both young and old - rallied round in their numbers to raise the pole. Local residents and agencies literally rolled up their sleeves and worked together to haul up the 20 foot log.  Local police, community wardens and staff from Arts Development and Seaton Community Project were all involved.  As the pole was raised the crowning seagull was dislodged and fell, only to be rescued by a call to the Fire Brigade who arrived with sirens blaring and were able to lift the seagull back on to the top of the totem pole.  All of this added to the general excitement of the day. Seaton now has a notable landmark of which the community feels proud: to date it has survived two bonfire nights!  Members of the community who took part, especially in the pole raising, experienced a great sense of community spirit and cooperation which is talked about by locals to this day.  According to the Chairman of Seaton Community Project Management Committee, “Money couldn’t buy the kind of community spirit I saw that day.” Local people enjoyed a whole new experience and gained an understanding of First Nation culture and history.  Local people of all ages were able to learn about woodcarving, and discovered more about their own culture by taking part in the ceilidh. A group of teenagers who had been involved in vandalising the totem pole tent earlier in the week, began to look again at how they had been behaving, and became active and positive participants in carving the pole. Since August 2006, three hand-made benches have been added to the totem pole garden - the result of a generous donation from a local ASDA supermarket that nominated Seaton Community Project as their special community project for that year.  Local residents made use of these during the summer and several families were seen enjoying picnics there.  The totem pole itself has become a special symbol for Seaton and has been used on posters and leaflets, notably the Health Service’s Fit Like Seaton health check campaign.  A group of local adults from the Community Project Art History Group recently made a visit to Orkney for the raising of a totem pole in the village of Holm, which involved the same carvers from the First Nation and Brotus Crafts. The people of Seaton are proud of their unique landmark and see it as a positive piece of publicity for the area.  And the initiative has had a number of “spin-offs”  - several residents who got involved with the totem pole project had not previously been involved in any community activities, and some of them have since become very active in Seaton Community Project classes and groups.	Watch the Video!