Youth arts bursaries funding: Costume, Learning and Engagement and Scenic Artist (Theatre Design).

Are you enthusiastic about the arts and theatre? Do you want to expand your skills and learn new things? Then we want to hear from you!

With support from the Scottish Government’s Youth Arts Fund: Bursary Programme, through Creative Scotland, we’re delighted to announce that we have three paid bursary placements available: Costume, Learning and Engagement, and Scenic Artist (Theatre Design).

They are open to:

• young people living in Scotland aged between 18 and 24 (or over 24 if disabled and/or care experienced).

We particularly welcome applicants from low socio-economic backgrounds and rural locations, as well as applicants who are disabled, care-experienced, young parents, Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic, and LGBTQI+.

The bursary placements will each run for 24 weeks between April 2022 and February 2023, with the exact timeframe to be agreed in consultation with successful applicants.

We will be holding a webinar on Monday 14th February, 1-2pm to help you find out a little bit more about the project, the kind of people we’re looking for, and to give you some great insight on how to frame your application. You can sign up for this by emailing engagement@horsecross.co.uk. A recording will be available afterwards for anyone who can’t attend.

In the meantime check out our application pack for more information on each bursary: https://www.horsecross.co.uk/media/5873/hx-youth-arts-bursaries-application-pack.pdf

Your application can take the form of a written document or an audio or video presentation, whatever you feel is the best way to showcase your skills.

We’d like you to tell us what you’re good at and why you’re interested in this opportunity. What craft and talents do you have and what knowledge and skills do you hope to develop? Tell us about any relevant experience you have: education, volunteering, amateur, professional or simply life experience.

The deadline for applications is 5pm on Monday 21st February and applications can be submitted by email to recruitment@horsecross.co.uk.

(Top image: Perth Concert Hall. Image credit Eamonn McGoldrick [supplied])

The post Opportunity: Youth arts bursaries with Horsecross Arts appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

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6th December 2021: This event provided an opportunity to discuss decarbonising travel and what these changes will mean for local and global connections as well as the role of the arts in this process. The event featured speakers from Architecture and Design Scotland, Flight Free UK, and Nevis Ensemble as well as an imagining exercise. 

Speakers

The speakers at this event were Karen Ridgewell, Principal Design Officer at Architecture & Design Scotland, Anna Hughes, Director of Flight Free UK, and Jamie Munn, chief executive of Nevis Ensemble. A video of their presentations is available here with a written summary underneath.

Karen Ridgewell discussed her work with Architecture & Design Scotland on reducing the environmental impact of the built environment and on applying the principle of the ’20-minute neighbourhood’. She highlighted that the current period up to 2030 is crucial for emissions reductions and that 66% of necessary emissions reductions need to come from societal change, making getting public buy-in at this stage essential. She advocates for an approach rooted in the ‘place principle’, looking at the combined impact of complex change on real people and communities and how creating better and more equitable places is interconnected with addressing climate change. She emphasised that successful design requires that everyone who will be impacted by it has a role in shaping it and that climate policy must bear this in mind: ‘Think Global. Act Local’.The 20-minute neighbourhood seeks to improve quality of life while reducing transport emissions by making everyday requirements all reachable within a 20-minute walk. This encourages active travel and makes for more mixed neighbourhoods. She noted that this approach is primarily applicable in urban settings and that rural neighbourhoods require quite different approaches. She closed by advocating for a collective approach based on an agreed vision created through meaningful participation.Karen also shared links to two useful further resources:

• 20 Minute Neighbourhoods in a Scottish Context
• The Power of Nearness

Anna Hughes works at Flight Free UK, an organisation that encourages people and organisations to take a pledge not to fly for a year or more. She began by telling us that the air route between Edinburgh and London is the fourth busiest air route in Europe, despite trains being available for the same route with 74% less carbon emissions. She highlighted a study that found that on this particular route, air travel was actually no cheaper or quicker than train once travel to and from airports was taken into account and suggested that as well as sharing facts and statistics, we also need to share stories that can inspire and empower people to explore alternatives to flying.

She discussed how covid-19 has forced us to spend more time locally and explore how we can have valuable experiences without travelling a great distance, but emphasised that if these decisions are made by choice rather than enforced by circumstance, they are more likely to lead to long term behavioural changes.

Anna, shared a number of examples of artists who had made the decision to avoid flying and how they went about achieving this, giving their personal stories as recorded on the Flight Free UK website. She discussed how musicians and performers taking a public stance on flying and travel can have a powerful influencing role on audiences as well as the organisations that they work with. We can also emphasise the benefits of reduced travel, such as supporting and developing our local arts scenes and talent and avoiding the disruption to our lives that frequent travel can entail.

Jamie Munn discussed Nevis Ensemble, a ‘street orchestra’ who perform in spaces beyond concert halls, and their work on environmental sustainability. He highlighted that this had not been an initial strategy for the group, but came from the interests of the musicians themselves. They co-founded the Scottish Classical Sustainability Group, which brings together classical music organisations, funders, unions and others to help address issues within the sector and have found addressing travel emissions to be particularly difficult. For example, international touring to prestigious venues is one of the main ways that orchestras seek to demonstrate their quality.

He emphasised that international touring has only been the norm for the last 30 years, a very short period within the context of classical music, and is not essential for the form. However, a number of institutions have become dependent on it and changing mindsets is difficult. He advocated for reconsidering why we travel and judging the necessity based on artistic and social value: for example, could a local ensemble perform the same repertoire equally well? Is there scope to visit a larger number of venues and engage with local residents in a more meaningful way?

When Nevis Ensemble tour within Scotland, they design routes to minimise travel time for them and for audiences while reaching as many people as possible. They also try to build up relationships with venues and audiences so that their work remains relevant to people beyond one-off performances. They also have a green guide that they share with venues to indicate some useful practices in an easy and non-judgemental form. You can read more about this touring practice in a case study they wrote for us.

Imagining Exercise

After this we split up into groups to discuss an exercise designed to get us thinking about what decarbonising travel will mean for neighbourhoods in Scotland. A set of slides gave a description of some representative types of neighbourhoods around Scotland, showing their characteristics and what issues they might be currently facing. In groups we discussed what these places should look like in 25 years’ time, considering local and international connections as well as what role the arts might play.

The post Green Tease Reflections: Glocal? appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

We’re excited to announce that Creative Carbon Scotland will be officially supporting the CreaTures team on two new collaborations, as part of the Creative Practices for Transformational Futures EU Horizon2020 project.

CreaTures seeks to explore the role of creative practices in contributing towards sustainable transformation, identifying how creative practices enable social and ecological change and exploring their impact with policy actors, researchers, and creative practitioners. This ability of the arts to bring about transformation to a more environmentally sustainable and socially just society is a foundational area of Creative Carbon Scotland’s own culture/SHIFT programme.

CCS have been contracted to provide consultancy support on investigating and analysing eco-social creative practices in Scotland that address current global unsustainable conditions, during and beyond the COP activities in Glasgow. This work forms part of the CreaTures Observatory and will explore the role of long-term, embedded creative practices and cultural engagement with COP26 in bringing about change. It will seek to complement existing reviews of activities surrounding COP26 and build on our own research into the history of arts and cultural engagements with COP.

In addition, CCS will work alongside Sniffer and the rest of the CreaTures team to support the delivery of the project’s evaluation component. Running until June 2022, this evaluation and policy engagement work will assist the development of an evaluative process and approach; organise gatherings between policy actors and creative practitioners; and contribute to the tools and resources included in the CreaTures’ Open Creative Practices Framework.

Events held and the resources produced will be shared on our news page and social media channels, so, keep a lookout over the coming months!

If you’re interested in finding out more about Creative Carbon Scotland’s involvement in the CreaTures project, then please contact gemma.lawrence@creativecarbonscotland.com.

CreaTures project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870759.

The post CCS is collaborating with CreaTures appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

Highlands & Islands groups can apply for £4.5K by 31st January to explore climate change with researchers.

How could you explore climate change in your community in the Highlands and Islands through connecting with a researcher?

Introducing a new small grant of up to Â£4500 for Highlands and Islands groups to build partnerships with researchers and make a difference in your local community.

This grant is funded by UKRI and delivered by the British Science Association (BSA) with local support from Science Ceilidh and RSE for projects adapting and responding to local climate change issues collaboratively with researchers to be delivered in April 2022 to October 2022.

You do not need to have a connection with a researcher already but will be asked to think of potential ways you could work together and learn from each other through the project. We will then help match you to an appropriate researcher and provide support through the project if you are selected through the independent panel.

Applications from groups who have not worked on climate change and/or with researchers before are welcomed and support will be provided throughout the process. We are also keen to hear from groups who are traditionally underrepresented in science, research and innovation (including through geography, socio-economic background or protected characteristics including disability and ethnicity) and young people.

We held a webinar exploring how you could work with a researcher together, what types of projects are eligible and the application process and questions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH-N-zdWfT4.

The deadline for the grant is 31st January 5pm, and funded projects will be notified in February, matched in March for delivery beginning in April until October 2022.

For more details, FAQs and to express your interest for updates and start your application:  https://www.britishscienceassociation.org/highlands-and-islands-climate-change-community-grant.

Researchers working on climate change are also welcome to register their interest to find out more and potentially be matched with communities later in the process:
https://www.britishscienceassociation.org/highlands-and-islands-climate-change-community-grant-information-for-researchers.

The post Opportunity: HI climate change community grant appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

Aberdeen Performing Arts is seeking a Creative Change Maker.

We are seeking a creative individual, a natural influencer, possibly a grass roots activist or artist, someone who is a champion for enabling the positive change needed to address the critical situation we find ourselves in as a result of the climate emergency. The Creative Change Maker – Climate Action is a new freelance role based within our Creative Engagement Team, and will work with us to identify areas we can improve and develop our commitment to climate action through:

• working with artists, arts and cultural organisations, local communities and regional and national partners to support sustainability and build resilience
• exploring how we can use the arts to continue to be a more environmentally conscious organisation
• minimising our impact on the environment from our buildings to our productions and operations

About you

You’ll be a creative, confident individual, with experience of creating, developing and delivering climate challenge initiatives that support communities to take ownership of issues around the climate emergency. You’ll have experience of working in an organisation, reviewing and implementing climate policies and strategies. You’ll be comfortable communicating with and influencing people from all walks of lives, happy working in settings from board room to youth group and everything in between. You’ll be emotionally intelligent, bringing people on board in a positive way.

About us

Aberdeen Performing Arts is a focal point for the performing arts, community engagement and talent development in the Northeast of Scotland. Our three iconic city centre venues are all on a national and international touring circuit for the performing arts and a vital part of Aberdeen and Scotland’s cultural ecology. We present, produce and commission diverse and distinctive arts and cultural programmes of regional and national reach and impact.

How to apply

​For more information about Aberdeen Performing Arts, download the scope of work and apply online, visit https://www.aberdeenperformingarts.com/work-with-us/.

Alternatively send your CV and covering letter to recruitment@aberdeenperformingarts.com. Please also complete our Equal Opportunities Monitoring form.

You may wish to send us your cover letter in video or audio format. If you do, please ensure it is saved in an easily accessible format and ‘we transfer’ this to us at recruitment@aberdeenperformingarts.com. Video or audio applications should be no longer than five minutes.

Closing date for applications is Sunday, 23 January.

Whilst some of this work can be achieved remotely, it is a requirement that the successful candidate is able to spend the majority of the delivery time in Aberdeen in order to engage and work with our venues and our local communities.

We are an equal opportunities employer, committed to diversity in all our work. In that spirit, applicants with diverse backgrounds, experiences, ability and perspectives, and those from backgrounds under-represented in the arts, are encouraged to apply.

This post does not meet the minimum requirements for visa sponsorship under the Skilled Worker Route. We are therefore unable to consider applicants for this post that require sponsorship to work in the UK.

The post Opportunity: Creative change maker – climate action appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

In this guest blog, Scottish Communities Climate Action Network reports on the European Day of Sustainable Communities.

On 18th September, organisations around Europe celebrated Ecolise’s Annual European Day of Sustainable Communities (EDSC). In the anticipation of COP26, Scottish organisations were eager to celebrate the vital work achieved by communities all over the country. 

Ecolise is a Europe-wide network that focuses on community-led action against climate change on the path towards a more sustainable world. The 2021 EDSC is the fifth to take place and, amid a pandemic, it is more important than ever to celebrate the amazing community work that has taken place.

Here’s a look at how communities around Scotland celebrated EDSC 2021:

The Pyramid at Anderston’s Community Fun Festival

The Pyramid at Anderston is a community-owned space for the people of Anderston, Finnieston, Kelvingrove, Yorkhill and Glasgow. Six hundred and thirty-one people attended The Pyramid at Anderston’s Community Fun Festival, taking part in a wide range of activities and workshops. This included:

• wildflower seed weaving, creating a 10-metre-long woven piece of bee and butterfly friendly seeds to be planted down the side of our building and seed mats to be planted in the area
• making community artwork with Jim Parkyn (Aardman Animations lead modelmaker)
• sharing their wants and wishes for the community
• fairground rides, games, face painting, balloon modelling, smoothie bike, street dance, circus skills and hula hooping
• Glasgow Science Centre climate challenge exhibition models
• zine-making with Glasgow Zine Library
• drawing with Mind and Draw
• Plus magic, children’s author Kjartan Poskitt and more – all accompanied by live music and plant-based snacks!

Glasgow bike ride with Food and Climate Action

Food and Climate Action along with Bike for Good and Glasgow Allotments Forum ran a very successful bike tour to three allotment sites on the Southside of Glasgow.  The group visited Queen’s Park allotments, South West Allotments and New Victoria Gardens. Members at each site gave fascinating tours and participants saw the diversity of allotments and found out more about the history, biodiversity and community engagement of allotment sites.

Sustaining Dunbar film screening

Pix in the Stix – in association with Sustaining Dunbar, Climate Action East Linton and Take One Action – hosted a screening of Not Without Us, a 2016 Cert (12+) documentary that connects the dots between growing economic inequality, fossil fuel-driven economies and government inaction in the face of the greatest crisis engulfing our planet. It conveys the call from campaigners from around the world for deep, far-reaching system change. The film traces seven grassroots activists from around the world as they head to the COP21 UN climate talks in Paris and poses the question: can the will of the people put pressure on world leaders?

Following the screening, the audience engaged in lively discussion and debate focusing on a series of questions provided by Take One Action. These included considering the extent to which perceptions of COP climate negotiations and agreements shifted as a result of seeing the film. A number in the audience were surprised to learn that the Paris Agreement did not mention fossil fuels directly and that, following COP21, nothing relating to fossil fuels was legally binding, having only featured in the preamble. 

The consensus was that, although it was not an uplifting film overall, it did convey the vital importance of people power; the joy and solidarity that working together to combat the climate crisis can bring, along with the assertion that we cannot rely on governments and corporations alone to do the right thing.

Net Zero Action’s documentary screening

Net Zero Action hosted a screening of Not Without Us, followed by facilitated open discussions in four small groups to air ideas on what we can do, and what aiming for Net Zero might mean to us as a community. The event was kindly hosted by Bruntsfield Evangelical Church, with first-rate facilities for accommodation, screening, food, and group facilitation. Free refreshments were provided by local residents in Leamington Terrace and generously by Dig-In Community Greengrocer. 

Net Zero Action hopes to use the information gathered at the event to boost community action and assist them in setting up their own street-level community groups to act on net zero.

GAMIS Community Market

GAMIS hosted the first Govanhill Community Market led by G42 Pop-Ups in partnership with Govanhill Baths Community Trust. The community market project aims to strengthen connections between diverse communities of Govanhill, support the local economy, and activate underused parts of the neighbourhood. The market had a focus on sustainability in its wider sense, focusing on the social, environmental, and economic impact, with this event linking to the Scotland Sustainability Summit, Climate Fringe Week, Glasgow Open Doors Days and Harvest Festival that also took place in September. The target audience was local residents, including families, young people and older generations. In addition to the market, there were many free events and activities such as a family ceramics workshop, Roma dance demonstration and workshop led by Sonia from Romane Cierhenia, choir performance by Govanhill Voices community choir, music performance by local music ensemble FIRKA, and Climate Frisk, which is an interactive workshop to help develop an understanding of the causes and consequences of climate change. 

Communities for Future

This year’s EDSC gave communities the opportunity to celebrate and highlight their achievements in community-led action against climate change. However, it is also an opportunity to kickstart more projects and inspire others to join the journey towards a more sustainable world. The Communities for Future project, led by Ecolise, is an online Europe-wide network designed to help communities take action in their own way. The Communities for Future project encourages communities to pioneer their way towards a more sustainable world and to respond creatively to the climate crisis. Creating a post-carbon future means we must celebrate and indulge in the diversity of local culture.  Communities for Future provides a platform for communities to share their stories and inspire each other. We must all work together to achieve a happy, just and sustainable world.

If you would like to learn more about Communities for Future, please visit www.communitiesforfuture.org

Become a SCCAN member to stay up to date on community-led action in Scotland! www.scottishcommunitiescan.org.uk 

(Top image: A young person enjoys having their face painted. Photo credit Robin Mitchell.)

The post Guest blog: European Day of Sustainable Communities 2021 appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

In this guest blog, Anna  Hodgart of the Tayside Climate Beacon, part of Climate Beacons for COP26,  our Scotland-wide collaborative project connecting arts and sustainability, describes her experiences at what was for many of us in Scotland the biggest event of 2021: COP 26. 

With big thanks to the determined perseverance of Lewis Coenen-Rowe at Creative Carbon Scotland in navigating the complex registration process, I was lucky enough to attend the first week of COP26  on behalf of the Tayside Climate Beacon. I found  COP  -the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties  held in Glasgow on 31 October to 13 November-  an overwhelming, alienating, inspiring and moving experience.

My time at COP started with a lot of queuing to get accredited and issued with my pass. It was a strange transition from the streets of Glasgow, the protestors congregating at the security gates shouting, singing, handing out flyers – to showing lateral flow test, passport, and invitation letter to the security team, with the metropolitan police force monitoring nearby. It was surreal too to see Glasgow transformed into UN territory, the familiar made unfamiliar – like when big blockbuster movies shoot in the city and George Square becomes New York. And to be allowed access – to be ‘on the inside’.

This unreal feeling persisted as I made my way through security and into the Hydro arena. It was a little like navigating an airport – easy to lose sense of time, location in a conference centre with little natural light; thrilling and disorientating to be surrounded by people from all over the world, to hear different languages, see different clothing and customs. I tried to orientate myself by consulting the programme and the map and found myself in the Action Hub – an Instagrammable globe floating suspended from the Hydro ceiling, news reporters dotted around the edges grabbing politicians, activists, and diplomats for interviews and soundbites. I sat down in a corner and watched the World Leaders Summit opening speeches. It was a strange experience to be inside the conference itself but watching from a screen. Inside but still outside. It was also strange to hear people speak powerfully and movingly about the climate, nature, their country, and people, about the ticking clock and growing emergency in this heightened conference centre context – so removed from the natural world and civic society – muttering translators, strip lighting, and air conditioning.

I don’t want to make it seem like a wholly negative experience. At COP I heard some incredible speeches. I had some epiphanies. I was fired up by a panel discussion on just transition led by trade unionists and considered the trade unions’ rich history of organising and struggle and what that could offer if mobilised towards green jobs, just transition, and climate justice. I was inspired by a panel discussion about digital storytelling led by the Climate Storytellers Collective, that the traditions and tools of storytelling could be mobilised towards climate action. I felt privileged to hear the Indigenous People Council speak about the knowledge they hold, their particular relationship to the earth, and was deeply moved by the vision of a future where this type of knowing and relationship could lead our way out of this mess. I found myself returning to the Resilience Lab in the pavilions several times, to hear engaging conversations about stewardship versus ownership, about transforming humanity’s relationship to nature, about the Imaginal cell and the possibility for system change coded inside our DNA.

I took away some key learnings from COP and have been considering since how we might weave some of this learning into the next steps the Tayside Beacon takes. (You can learn more about the Climate Beacons for COP26 initiative  led by Creative Carbon Scotland here. In a nutshell, Climate Beacons brings together shared resources and knowledge from cultural and climate organisations, providing a welcoming physical and virtual space for the public, artists and cultural sector professionals, environmental NGOs, scientists and policymakers to discuss and debate COP26 themes and climate action specific to each local area that constitutes a Beacon hub, of which Tayside is one of seven.)

I’ve been reminded of the crucial importance of asking who is in the room. At an early morning press conference, I slipped into, a young activist woke up the room by pointing out that she was the only young person in the space, it was her first COP, that everyone else had been coming to COP for years – what had they achieved? Our course of action, she implied, is being set by older, white people – mainly men – from the ‘global north’, who are statistically those less affected and less likely to see the worst effects of climate change. We need the voices of those who are already experiencing the reality of climate change, we need indigenous leaders who can offer different ways of thinking about and addressing what has gone wrong, we need young people who are going to be living with the consequences of these decisions.

I learnt about the strength that exists at the intersections. The struggle for the survival of our planet intersects with many other struggles – race and gender equality, the trade union movement, the fight against poverty and socio-economic inequality, disability rights, the land back movement, and many others. Our best chance comes from acting in solidarity, gathering around the places those struggles intersect and learning best practice from each other to inform our respective movements.

It’s not the politicians that create system change, it’s civic society. There are many inspiring politicians doing great work. It was incredible to hear the Prime Minister of Barbados and the President of the Seychelles speak at COP for example. However, the real energy was definitely outside of the official COP26 site. The ideas, solutions and path forward will come from people organising, not the politicians.

We need to reconnect to nature. It’s no coincidence that countries and cultures who hold the majority of economic and political power often live at a disconnect from nature. Our rituals and celebrations no longer centre around it, our lifestyles keep nature at arm’s length – a visit away. The natural world can feel other and abstract. We need to tap into the truth of our interconnectedness and re-remember that we are a part of nature too, that our survival and wellbeing and the earth’s are intimately connected at every level.

My biggest takeaway from COP was that art can do more and be more in this conversation. Art can speak in a way that statistics, presentations, and political rhetoric can’t. Art can create momentum and fun around something – can elevate and transform. Art can be ritual and connection, a place for us to understand ourselves and nature. And art can be a space to really feel something. And from feeling – to act. The arts industry is navigating a lot right now as we deal with the consequences of Covid-19 and the pandemic on our sector; however we can’t lose sight of the crucial role we can and must have in climate action. We need more initiatives like the Climate Beacons project to create the space and means for artists and arts organisations to engage in and shape the discourse and action.

(Top image: A sign surrounded by greenery reads “Welcome to COP26.” Photo Credit Catriona Patterson)

The post Guest blog: COP 26 – overwhelming, alienating, inspiring and moving appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

14th October 2021: This Green Tease event provided an opportunity to explore the intersection of climate, class and culture, thinking about how climate change is exacerbating existing inequalities, the need for climate policies to be socially just, and the importance of cultural organisations addressing their own barriers to participation in order to effectively help address climate change. 

Speakers

Our two speakers for this event were Francis Stuart, Policy Officer at the Scottish Trades Union Congress and Katharine Wheeler, artist and representative from The Stove Network, the first artist-led development trust in Scotland. You can watch a video of their two talks here or read a summary in the text below.

Francis Stuart discussed how the climate crisis intersects with issues of poverty and inequality, highlighting some key examples playing out in Scotland right now. He showed how the wealthiest countries are responsible for most of the world’s emissions but are less heavily impacted by the impacts of climate change. This inequality also plays out in the UK where the emissions of someone in the richest 1% is eleven times that of someone in the poorest half of the population.

In Scotland, transport is the sector responsible for the largest portion of emissions with the majority coming from road transport. 29% of households do not have access to a car while, over recent decades, bus tickets have increased in cost while usage has fallen. This affects quality of life but also limits the availability of lower carbon transport options.

Housing is also a major source of emissions with many of Scotland’s homes being poorly insulated, meaning that energy used to heat homes is wasted while a large portion of the population live in ‘fuel poverty’, speeding more than 10% of their income on heating. Francis highlighted the need for retrofitting of buildings to jointly address both these issues.

Renewable energy generation in Scotland has trebled in the last three years. However there has not been a corresponding increase in jobs in the sector. The offshore wind sector is largely owned by private companies most of which are registered outside of the UK and are able to pay employees significantly less than the UK minimum wage with manufacturing jobs often located in other parts of the world. Francis argued that if renewable developments do not offer high quality jobs they will lose their public support making further development more difficult.

Francis finished by highlighting some key lessons on how environmental and anti-poverty campaigns can work together, giving some examples of past campaigns such as the Lukas Plan, the Green Bans movement, and the Pollock Free State. He argued that the role of culture can be to help form connections, allowing people to work together more effectively and form collectives to more effectively bring about change.

Katharine Wheeler also highlighted the role of collectivism and how the Stove Network uses the arts to connect to social issues and help members of the community to actively shape a future for Dumfries. The town has an ageing population, lower than average employment levels and the town centre is in the top 10% of Scotland’s Index of Multiple Deprivation.

The Stove Network runs events and activities from their building in the town centre working with people who are often not a traditional arts audience. They offer a place for discussion, exploration, and for local groups to come together, using art as a way to develop conversations. For example, a previous event involved bringing together diverse stakeholders to develop a ‘People’s Transport Policy’ for Dumfries.

They also hold events away from their site, such as at the Nithraid River Festival where they tried to develop debates over defences against the flooding of the river. Another event called We Live with Water invited people to imagine what a Dumfries 50 years in the future that had embraced its relationship with the river would look like.

The Stove network aims to bring about real change by allowing local voices to influence policymaking, developing skills and growing culture outside of the main centres. Further information about their approach to ‘Creative Placemaking’ is available in a recent report.

Discussion

This was followed by some discussion time where we split into smaller groups to reflect on the issues raised by our speakers and respond to some prompts – including an interview with artist John Akomfrah, a photograph of an art installation at Taigh Chearsabagh arts centre and museum, and some old political posters from the 1970s – which are available to view here. Here are some of the key ideas that came out of the discussion:

• It’s important to consider who is best placed to create art that engages with the intersection of climate and class. We should consider who need to work and co-create with rather than speaking for people.
• Effective art can cut through the noise by providing simple and evocative ways of representing complex or intangible issues. The Lines installation at Taigh Chearsabagh is a good example of this.
• Artistic engagement with climate change can reach us in more direct ways through allowing us to relate to issues on a more direct human basis by showing the people effected by climate change and not just the science behind it.
• It’s important to learn from the mistakes of the past. For example, the development of the North Sea oil industry didn’t economically benefit everyone in Scotland and there’s a risk that the transition to renewable energy could lead to the same problems.
• Artists can have license to be direct and be clear about who is to blame for climate change in a way that other fields might struggle with. Conversely, art can also be a space to explore complex or ambiguous issues. It’s important to be clear about what role you want  your art to have.

About Green Tease 
The Green Tease events series and network is a project organised by Creative Carbon Scotland, bringing together people from arts and environmental backgrounds to discuss, share expertise, and collaborate.

The post Green Tease Reflections: Climate/Class/Culture appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

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Freelance contract (part time), initially to March 2023 with potential for extension.

This work is being offered as a single package based on 1.5 days per week

We wish to appoint an experienced arts professional with demonstrable experience to co-ordinate, facilitate and help develop our Greening Arts Practice (GAP) programme and other professional development initiatives. This is an exciting opportunity to work across our projects, providing advice and support for artists at different career stages and contributing to the development of new content which supports artists and audiences.

Responsibilities:

• Contributing to the planning and implementation of CAD support programmes for artistic practice development that focus on green arts practice, environmental issues, slow art and social engagement.
• Facilitating our GAP programme of talks, discussions and events. This programme combines online sessions with in-person events, including talks and discussions.
• Management and delivery of other training initiatives, including a range of bespoke learning opportunities for visual artists.
• Research and writing of online CPD information, including toolkits and other support materials.
• Contributing to funding applications and strategic documents.
• Providing information to artists in response to enquiries and contributing relevant content for our website, newsletters and other outlets.
• Data collection, evaluation, follow-up and presentation of project information.
• Attendance at weekly team meetings. These involve a combination of online and in-person sessions.

Experience:

Essential

• Experience of environmental and climate-related issues
• Visual arts background
• Knowledge of artists’ professional development
• Presentation and facilitation skills
• Project development and implementation experience

Desirable

• Experience of Higher Education
• Experience of art and community engagement projects
• Fundraising skills

To apply:

Please view the full job description and application details on our website.

Deadline for applications: Thursday 5 February, 2022.

Any questions or to arrange an informal discussion, please email Christine Keogh.

Chrysalis Arts Development is an arts development agency and national portfolio organisation (NPO) supported by Arts Council England. Current projects include Unfolding Origins, Five Hectares and our Greening Arts Practice Continuing Professional Development programme.

(Top image: A group of people sitting on chairs under the shade of a tree [supplied])

The post Opportunity: Greening Arts Practice CPD Manager appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

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As part of our collaboration with the Seas of the Outer Hebrides project, Creative Carbon Scotland recently worked with project artists Saoirse Higgins and Jonathan Ford and the SEASOH team to host Cùram Cuain (Embrace the Sea), bringing people together in the North-East Lewis Marine Protected Area in a celebration of the ocean and the value of protected species and habitats.

Here we share some reflections on the event from Project Officer Charlie Main, along with Saoirse and Jonathan.

It was a windswept beach in October in the Outer Hebrides, where we held the Cùram cuain (“embrace the sea”) event for the MarPAMM – Seas of the Outer Hebrides project on Saturday. Twenty-seven hardy souls on the beach in the strong winds. Twenty-one in the circle that entered the shallows of the North East Lewis Marine Protected Area.

Why were we doing this? As part of MarPAMM, Seas of the Outer Hebrides project is piloting fresh new ways to engage communities to find out what people want from marine management and Marine Protected Areas in the Outer Hebrides Marine Region. We worked with Saoirse and Jonathan to put a call out for communities with a passion for the sea to help us build a powerful vision for marine protection in the Outer Hebrides.

Saoirse and Jonathan’s reflections from the day

“We gathered at Bayble beach on Saturday at low tide and waited in anticipation for the Hebridean Sea Swimmers and friends to arrive in force. The weather was wild, warm and energetic, as was our embrace of the sea that day.

“Exiting car changing rooms, dry-robed and ready for action, the swimmers were briefed on their mission to embrace the sea. Issued with specially designed ‘Cùram Cuain’ blue and orange swim caps we all headed for the beach.

“The performance began – the swimmers created their own group fathom (from Faedm – to embrace in Old Norse), holding hands to form a human circle on the sand, they edged their way in unison into the breaking waves; moving around in a circle in the water, creating their own sea orbit. This was a special moment in time, connecting in body and mind with this area of protected sea.

“Eventually the fathom dispersed…the embrace was complete.

“The next stage of this two-part performance/event took us to Ionad Stoodie hall. Saoirse and Jonathan had spent the day before transforming the main hall floor into a luminous gridded “map” of the sea. This part was about placing each individual’s fathom onto the gridded map – connecting us as humans directly with the sea around us. Our “fathomeers” were paired up and outstretched arms, fingertip to fingertip, measurements were taken. Everyone’s individual fathom circles were chalk drawn onto the grid using a bespoke DIY fathom rope compass. Once everyone in the group had completed their circle, they lay down in it – think Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. For a couple of relaxing minutes, a soundtrack of the sea drifted around the hall as we thought about our connections with the ocean.

“If you could ask the sea a question what would it be? If you could embrace something from the sea what would it be? Everyone had their own answers to these questions and left them with us as they departed the hall. Before finally leaving we had a parting gift for each person – a lanyard sea portal to capture their favorite sea view and email us the photo. In return we plan to post each individual their own personal fathom of the marine protected sea to adopt and cherish for the future.”

What next? 

Huge thanks to everyone involved in this work – the event participants, coastguard, artists and SEASOH team. All played their part in helping us to deliver a truly fresh format for engagement.

This work will continue – please visit the Cùram Cuain webpage to find out how to be involved. SEASOH will be consulting on management recommendations for MPAs in the spring. We will be asking what people think of a community-led vision for MPAs, who should be involved in their management and more. Look out for our consultation and make your voices heard!

Find out more about Seas of the Outer Hebrides through the project Storymap!

We are collaborating with MarPAMM – Seas of the Outer Hebrides is part of our culture/SHIFT programme, which supports collaborations between arts and sustainability practitioners to address the climate emergency.

MarPAMM is a cross-border environment project, funded by the EU’s INTERREG VA programme, to develop tools for monitoring and managing a number of protected coastal marine environments in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Western Scotland.

Image credits: Saoirse Higgins and Jonathan Ford.

The post A dip in an Marine Protected Area: Reflections from Cùram Cuain (Embrace the Sea) appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

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