Argyll Beacon

In Argyll, Cove Park and ACT have announced a whole series of events and activitiestaking place across the coming months, including creative workshops, climate cafes, school events, a new film commission, and the community planting of a ‘micro-rainforest’ on the Cove Park site.

They currently have a callout for artists to apply for an Artists in Schools Residency and for their Saturday Studios/Argyll Beacon workshops. Follow the links for more information about both of these opportunities.

For more updates on the Argyll Beacon, join the Cove Park mailing list.

Caithness and East Sutherland Beacon

The Caithness and East Sutherland Beacon have announced their Beacon plans under the heading ‘The Land For Those Who Work It’. 

They are excited to be hosting The People’s Palace of Possibility with The Bare Projectand Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity. The People’s Palace of Possibility will recruit Palace Citizens, made up of young people and local groups, to challenge the prevailing consensus on land and climate justice through radical acts of imagination. They will also be launching a podcast of discussions and artist radio broadcasts and a travelling community cinema across Caithness and Sutherland.

For more updates on the Caithness and East Sutherland Beacon, visit the Timespan or Lyth Arts Centre websites or social media.

Fife Beacon

The Leven programme, ONFife and Levenmouth Academy have been pleased to welcome two visitors to the Fife Beacon in recent months.

First, from ‘human swan’ Sacha Dench, who is flying an electric paramotor all around Britain to raise awareness about the impacts of climate change and potential of fossil fuel free transport. 

Second, representatives from the Fife Beacon met with Scottish culture minister Jenny Gilruth for a walk along a disused former industrial site by the river Leven, which they are hoping to regenerate into an outdoor community space. 

Inverclyde Beacon

The Inverclyde Beacon have been working together on a wide range of plans. They held a workshop with artist Eve Mosher, crafting dissolvable paper boats loaded with marine seeds, which were floated out into the Clyde to support the replenishment of the ecosystem.

A range of future events and activities are due to be announced very soon, visit the Beacon Arts Centre website and social media for updates.

Midlothian Beacon

In Midlothian, the National Mining Museum and British Geological Survey have launched a brand new STEM climate change workshop for primary schools, which combines science with art for a free and interactive event. Future plans include an exhibition ‘Climate Change: The Carbon Cycle’ and the participatory creation of a clay sculpture.

There will also be events, including ‘Witness Reports’, a three-day event organised with Scottish Communities Climate Action Network and the Environmental Justice Foundation held from 5th-7th November, and an online conference taking place on 12th November, the last day of COP26. The current programme for the Beacon is available on the National Mining Museum website.

Outer Hebrides Beacon

The Outer Hebrides Climate Beacon hit the ground running with creative community mapping workshops held in Uist. The mapping project uses maps of localities to obtain information about climate change impacts as experienced by community residents. It has been piloted at the Hebrides International Film Festival and in remote communities in Uist by utilising the Western Isles Libraries Mobile Library.

The Message In a Bottle project, headed by Taigh Chearsabhagh museum and arts centre, is also being launched. This is a participatory multi-media art project inviting people across the world, especially those in island and coastal communities, and especially young people and families, to create messages in bottles to be delivered to COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, November 2021. You can find out more about how to get involved on their website.

Western Isles Libraries have been setting up ‘Climate Corners’ in each of their branches and are running a ‘Design for the Future’ competition for P4 to P7 and S1 to S4 pupils. You can find out more about their plans on their website and read a blog here.

For more information about the Outer Hebrides Beacon, please contact Alicia.

Tayside Beacon

In Tayside, representatives of arts organisations, museums, universities, climate activists, local organisers, council employees across the Tayside region came together as part of a series of design thinking workshops. They used the process to share ideas and take the first steps in putting together an ambitious plan for climate crisis focused activity over the next year. More on these plans will be announced very soon.

To get involved in the Tayside Climate Beacon contact Anna Hodgart.

For more information about the Climate Beacons for COP26 project, visit www.climatebeacons.com.

The post Climate Beacons for COP26: update for Climate Week 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

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WWF joins forces with Artwise Curators to launch Art For Your World and combat the climate crisis.

The art world has the power to influence, galvanise and make a real difference. Through Art For Your World we want to harness this power and bring together the creativity and generosity of the cultural sector to stand in solidarity and help take hold of the future of our planet.

Art For Your World is a series of actions taking place this autumn in the context of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) taking place 1-12 November in Glasgow. A wide call to artists, collectors, galleries, museums and arts organisations to make a meaningful connection between art and the environment, in order to support the ground-breaking work being carried out by WWF, one of the world’s largest conservation organisations. The activities include a charitable auction at Sotheby’s of several outstanding works of art, the sale of exclusive new prints by three leading contemporary artists and arts organisations all over the world speaking out for action against climate change.

The funds raised by Art For Your World will be used to support key areas of WWF’s work that contribute to combatting dangerous climate change, such as:

• halting deforestation
• supporting communities
• conserving and restoring trees and forests
• replanting seagrass meadows
• protecting endangered species
• promoting sustainable lifestyles.

If you are an artist or arts organisation and want to align with the campaign, please visit the project website www.artforyourworld.com.

Art For Your world is an Artwise Curators initiative.

(Top photo: Abstract painting featuring a tiger called ‘Fierceness in scarcity’, limited edition print by Chila Kumari Singh Burman for Art For Your World)

The post Opportunity: The art world goes green to support WWF action on the climate crisis 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

Regen Art Lab offers a residency opportunity for an artist to collaborate with clean energy experts.

Regen is a not-for-profit centre of energy expertise and market insight whose mission is to transform our energy system for a zero-carbon future.

The Regen Art Lab (RAL) is a new programme for interdisciplinary collaborations to take place between our clean energy experts and artists from underrepresented backgrounds in the energy sector (ie. BIPOC, ethnic minorities, people from low-income backgrounds, and the LGBTQ+ community), to create innovative visions of our low carbon future.

The RAL Residency 1 will take place online from October 11th until December 17th 2021 for an artist to produce new work(s) that engagingly relate to the issue of decarbonising how we heat our homes and businesses. There is no centralised or like-for-like solution, making this the greatest challenge the UK faces to become a net zero carbon economy.

The artist will be an early career practitioner or recent arts graduate (up to three years out of education), with an interest in and/or some familiarity with issues exploring our climate emergency and wider societal transformation.

We are open to consider various preferred mediums, and particularly keen to hear from:
• Visual artists, digital artists and graphic designers
• Renewable energy artists, or more general installation artists
• Computer programming coders and creative media technologists with an interest in immersive technologies

Visual artists who are interested in working with data are especially encouraged to apply.

The resulting work will be exhibited on our digital platform, in the University of Plymouth’s Sustainability Centre, and shared with our extensive networks of cultural and industry partners.

Regen will provide:
• An artist fee of £1500 (15h a week commitment)
• Budget for materials of £300
• A digital residency site
• Technical support in achieving the aims of the online residency
• Support and promotion of the artist and their work through our networks

For more information on the residency, and details on how to apply please visit our website here: https://www.regen.co.uk/regen-art-lab-residency/

Deadline: 19th September 2021

The post Opportunity: Regen artist in residence 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

GLASGOW: Nov. 1-12, 2021
Open your home to a visiting activist, scientist, or policymaker.

Help support the movement by hosting a climate justice guest with the COP26 Homestay Network.

Why should I become a host?
Support climate action by housing activists and scientists overnight. Not only will you be supporting the international climate movement’s remarkable efforts, but housing a guest can reduce accommodation emissions by more than 80% and energy usage by more than 70%* compared to a hotel stay.

Fair and affordable pricing for all.
People from countries least responsible for, and most affected by, the climate crisis are often unable to attend important conferences due to lack of resources.

Make sure that everyone has the best chance of being there to make their voices heard by providing free or low-cost accommodation for those who really need it.

Be human, not a hotel.
We expect our hosts to be natural, respectful and authentic to themselves and to their guests. There’s absolutely no pressure for you to act like a hotel. Basic comfort and basic kindness. A sofa or mattress on the floor is great.

Meet remarkable people from around the world and connect with this truly international movement.

Go to https://www.humanhotel.com/cop26/be-a-host/ to learn everything there is to know about hosting.

The post Hosting a climate justice guest 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

Film Access Scotland has launched a climate Film Challenge in Scotland to draw focus on climate crisis.

We are calling out to people based anywhere in Scotland to submit 90-second films to express reactions and reflections on how climate change is affecting us as individuals, our surroundings, families and communities.

Regardless of background, age or filmmaking experience, anyone can submit a film to the challenge, with resources available online to help people get started.

The first deadline for film submissions is midnight on 24th October 2021.

The final deadline is midnight on 24th November 2021.

A selection of filmmakers based in Scotland that meet the first submissions deadline will be invited to screen their work at the New York Times Climate Hub Open House on 7th November 2021.

As part of the project Film Access Scotland is running free online workshops, which is a great opportunity for professional development and training of staff members or volunteers. These are delivered in collaboration with organisations across Scotland.

Read more about the project here: https://filmaccess.scot/climate-challenge-1-5-degrees-films/

The post Opportunity: 1.5° Films – 90-second climate film challenge 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

The Circle is offering 25 subsidised spaces on their accredited social entrepreneurship training

The Circle, a multi-award-winning social enterprise, has received Scottish Government funding to provide 25 subsidised places, aimed at giving business and social entrepreneurship training to young people under-30, people in rural communities, and those working in the environmental space.

The training, given by The Circle Academy, is a 12-week online programme for individuals, start-ups and organisations, who want their business to have a social impact, while operating in a commercially sustainable way.

The Circle Academy is an accredited programme focused on developing skills in business planning, governance, finance, marketing, funding and pitching – with social impact.

Participants will graduate with a business plan and a marketing strategy. They will also have the chance to receive an SCQF level 7 qualification in social entrepreneurship, and the opportunity to pitch for investment for their business.

The groups targeted by the funding, are in line with key areas identified in Scotland’s Social Enterprise Action Plan.

The Circle’s Academy Manager, Jenny McCarthy said: “We’re delighted to be able to offer these free spaces thanks to the support of The Scottish Government. This is a great opportunity for us to help people build organisations that can make a long-lasting impact and to support with the recovery and rebuilding of the third sector.”

Academy graduate and Dundee gallery owner, Kathryn Rattray (of Kathryn Rattray Gallery) said: “The Circle Academy changed my thinking, in fact, I would go so far as to say it changed my life”.

Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison said: “The Circle Academy has a reputation for developing the skills and experiences of our social entrepreneurs and we look forward to seeing them progress as their businesses and enterprises launch and grow”.

The Circle are now accepting applications online: https://freeonlinesurveys.com/s/xvaIzlBO#/0

You can find out more about the programme by contacting The Circle’s Academy Manager at academy@thecircledundee.org.uk

The post Opportunity: Subsidised places on The Circle’s social entrepreneurship programme 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

Our survey – monitoring audience engagement with climate change is now open. Available to complete in English or Gaelic.

Please take eight minutes to help us by completing the survey here (English version). Or, the Gaelic version here.

Climate Beacons for COP26 is a pioneering project that aims to inspire deep-rooted public engagement with climate change. Seven hubs, or ‘Climate Beacons’, have been established, in Argyll, Caithness & East Sutherland, Fife, Inverclyde, Midlothian, the Outer Hebrides, and Tayside.   

As part of the project, Creative Carbon Scotland and the seven Climate Beacons are conducting research to monitor audience engagement with climate change. We intend to survey in the lead-up to, during and after COP26 to understand the success of the Beacons project in delivering lasting public engagement.

We ask questions about your knowledge of climate change, emotions and day-to-day behaviours, as well as about your level of familiarity with the Beacons project.

Take the survey in English.

If you prefer, please complete the survey in Gaelic: Gabh 8 mionaidean gus an t-suirbhidh seo a lìonadh.

For the opportunity to win a Â£50 M&S gift card, please leave your email address in response to the final survey question. 

The post Chance to win a £50 M&S voucher – complete our survey 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

Scott Crawford Morrison delivered this talk at ‘Scotland’s Climate Assembly and the Cultural Sector’ on 29th June 2021.

It concludes with three key recommendations for how the cultural sector can reframe how we measure success, in order to align with climate change targets, and how we can contribute to a wider societal shift.

My name is Scott Crawford Morrison, and I work in the classical music sector. I come from an arts management background rather than a climate or policy background, but, for the past five years, as you’ve heard, I’ve been working hard at the forefront of making change in the organisations I’ve worked for, and in Scottish classical music sector as a whole.

As an introductory caveat, I would like to note that in my experience, short talks like this one are most effective at generating discussion when they’re a bit provocative. So, I’m going to offer some intentionally bold ideas and questions to get you thinking.

The goal that I’ve been brought here today to discuss is Scotland’s Climate Assembly’s 16th: reframing the national focus and vision for Scotland’s future away from economic growth and GDP in order to reflect climate change goals. The subsequent recommendation to the Scottish Government is: business and government to adopt a measurement framework for success that incorporates sustainability, wellbeing and happiness alongside profit.

So, as I see it, how to reframe how we measure success is a two-part question, with two sides.

The two parts of the question are a ‘how’, and a ‘what’:

• Number 1: a practical discussion of how we measure success.
• Number 2: a more conceptual discussion about what we define as success.

There are also two sides to this two-part question.

• A: how do we reframe and measure success internally for creative works and industries?
• B: how do the arts as a sector help with the wider national effort of reframing how society measures success?

I’m going to look over the next five minutes at the two parts of the question and the two sides.

Part 1: the ‘how’. How we measure success and what we define as success are intrinsically linked. To illustrate the potential malleability of this relationship, I want to refer to an essay called “What Data Can’t Do” from the New Yorker, which I read one lockdown day in March of this year. Writer Hannah Fry notes some historical examples of this relationship:

• Soviet textile factories, she writes, were required to produce quantities of fabric that were specified by length, so looms were adjusted to make long, narrow strips.
• Uzbek cotton pickers, judged on the weight of their harvest, would soak their cotton in water to make it heavier.
• Similarly, when America’s first transcontinental railroad was built in the 1860s, companies were paid per mile of track. So, a section outside Omaha, Nebraska was laid down in a wide arc rather than a straight line, adding several unnecessary yet profitable miles to the rails.

She goes on to quote this interesting snippet from James Gustave Speth:

“We tend to get what we measure, so we should measure what we want.”

Part 2: the ‘what’. So what is it that we want? And what do the arts currently measure as success? Well, in my experience, many of the current primary metrics of success are quantitative. That is, things like numbers of tickets sold, number of participants reached, number of international performances, number of reviews, number of online views, retweets, engagements, and ultimately, they’re judged on deviation from budget: how much above or below the projected costs they’ve come in. It’s true that the arts sector recently has been getting to grips with the quantitative side of sustainability, calculating emissions and measuring waste. And though most of us are now tracking these things, I believe that they’re not key in the decision-making process yet.

For example, if a show sold the highest number of tickets, racked up the most international performances, reviews and social media engagements, but was also the highest emitting show of an organisation’s season, at this point, would that organisation consider the show a success or failure? I think it’s likely they’ll consider a success. And I want to ask whether we need to adjust that, or nuance that. I’d also like to suggest that, as a sector, if we continue to prioritise the ease of collecting numbers, and have the expectation that they will go up each year, we will continue to be stuck in an endless growth mindset.

Though for seemingly well-intentioned ends, the expectation of endless growth in the arts is exactly the same mindset that led to the climate crisis, leading to patterns of overwork and overconsumption. I think we should be aware of this similarity, and have deeper discussions about the potential complicity of our own expectations of endless growth, and the endless growth mindset that has led the planet to the point of environmental collapse.

In the interest of time, just now, I’ll highlight just one current measure of success that I think requires rethinking, which is international touring. International touring, particularly in the classical music sector, is certainly one of the key measures of success among peers, yet it is also often the biggest source of an organization’s emissions.

I posit that one-off international performances need to be a thing of the past. We need to work to override the current connotations of glamour with a sober acceptance of the terrible damage international touring is doing to the planet. And we need to adjust our ideas of success, our business models and our ways of decision-making accordingly.

So just to close, I’ll return to the two sides of the question. First of all, in terms of how we reframe success as a sector internally, my brief recommendations are:

1. We shouldn’t just track carbon emissions after the fact, we should project for them in the same way that we would financially for upcoming activity.
2. I think we need to interrogate our own values, honestly, asking what we think is successful and giving deep thought to why we think that.
3. Lastly, I think we need to make emissions a key part of our decision-making process.

In terms of how we contribute to a national shift in reframing success: I believe the arts are leading the way in transforming as individuals, organisations and as a sector. By talking openly, honestly, in a compelling way about how we’re making change, I believe that we’re uniquely well placed to help with a wider societal shift.

I think the arts need to be experimental and bold, not just in the rehearsal room and on stage, but in the office and boardroom, when strategic decisions are being made. I think we need to talk more to our audiences about the changes we’re making and why. And lastly, I think we need to be honest and transparent about the whole process.

Thank you very much.

Scott Crawford Morrison works in the UK classical music sector, and is a founding member of the Green Arts Initiative Steering Group. From 2016 to 2021 he was Projects and Development Manager with Scottish Ensemble in Glasgow. He is now Senior Development Manager at Sage Newcastle.

A recording of Scott’s talk, with slides, is available here: https://vimeo.com/showcase/8642829

You can find more talks and outputs from the event with Scotland’s Climate Assembly on this page.

(Top image: Illustration by Jenny Capon)

The post Reframing how we measure success – Scott Crawford Morrison 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