Creative Carbon Scotland

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New carbon budgeting tool

Creative Carbon Scotland is happy to launch a new carbon budgeting tool. This marks the end of over six months of collaboration with organisations across the cultural and creative sectors, who have been taking part in an action learning set to try out carbon budgeting (the planning of how and where we ‘spend’ our carbon) across their own operations.

Beginning of the project

The tool was first developed by Imaginate as a way to identify planned travel up to three years in advance, estimating the carbon emissions and strategically planning ways to limit these emissions through pre-emptive actions. With the initial tool, they could set reduction targets for different departments, allowing these areas of the organisation to take ownership of their emissions. Creative Carbon Scotland has developed the tool further by integrating net-zero trajectories and expanding the emission sources beyond travel, so that emissions totals can be aligned to a given net-zero target.

We understood that a lot of organisations were looking for ways to plan carbon and we wanted to try out this new tool before launching it. Therefore, we invited green champions to participate in a carbon budgeting action learning set where they could try out the tool, see how the processes would work in their organisations and discuss improvements collectively.

Action learning set

Thirty organisations signed up to be part of the carbon budgeting action learning set. They represented a range of sizes, art forms and activities, giving the sessions a real insight into different ways organisations and individuals in the cultural and creative sectors will interact with carbon budgeting.

The sessions began with an introduction to the tool, then the green champions were given a month to explore it. At this stage, as they had been shown how to use it, the participants found that the tool was much easier to understand. To help new users understand the tool, we have provided a walk-through video of the tool.

A month later, we reconvened and discussed how we found the tool and talked about how it could be improved. This feedback completely changed the look, usability and functions of the tool. Some features that came from this included having cumulative totals of budgets, space to plan materials and a page to add additional locations for travel.

Once Creative Carbon Scotland made improvements to the tool, the participants were given three months to integrate the tool into their organisations’ operations. We came back for a final session where we discussed the potential issues of carbon budgeting as a concept and how we can avoid them.

A discussion point that came up was that of the climate justice aspects of planning travel emissions – for example, how can you ensure equitable participation as you try to move to slower forms of travel or less travel? On the Move, which supports artists to operate internationally while working to reimagine mobility as fairer, greener and more inclusive has produced some valuable resources around this. We recommend reading their 2023 Cultural Mobility Yearbook.

The involvement of a wide range of organisations was a valuable part of this process. Their collaboration has led to what we believe is a versatile tool that can be used by any organisation or individual to reduce their operational emissions through planning.

The tool

You can access the tool on our website. The main use of the tool is to allow you to plan carbon in the same way you plan your financial budgets. It will allow you to do the following:

  • See how your emissions should reduce each year to reach net-zero emissions by any given year.
  • Plan emissions for the coming year in line with your net-zero trajectory.
  • Split up your planning by department or project.
  • Explore how changing what you do can impact your emissions.

It has been built to be as adaptable as possible. You have the option to budget for up to 10 departments/projects, but you can equally plan all your emissions as one. It can be used in either Excel or Google Sheets, though Excel will be slightly more user friendly.

When using the tool, you should be aware of the following:

  • It is a planning tool where all calculated emission values are estimates only. You should not use these methods for reporting or actual measurements.
  • This is our most advanced tool. You should have calculated your/your organisation’s carbon footprint, understood all your sources of emissions and set a net-zero target year before using the tool.
  • If your/your organisation’s emissions are less than five tonnes, please explore the tool and use it if you would like, but the benefits might be outweighed by the time it takes to fill out the tool. We encourage you to instead explore how you can use your influence to effect change beyond your core emissions.

We hope you find the tool useful and if you have any questions or suggestions for improvements, please do get in touch at matthew.belsey@creativecarbonscotland.com.

(Top image ID: Carbon management logo.)

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Join the SHIFT Culture eco-certificate

We invite other European cultural networks and platforms to join the SHIFT Culture eco-certificate pilot project, supported by Creative Carbon Scotland with auditing partner Green Leisure Group.

Participants receive
  • Participation in and support from a community of European cultural networks acting to minimise their environmental impact.
  • An annual workshop with other participants including training, surgery with the auditing organisation, opportunities to share progress among participants and a way to contribute to the ongoing development of the community.
  • Access to tailored tools explicitly developed for this certification scheme and customised to the needs of European cultural networks.
  • Tailored individual support from supporting expert arts and sustainability organisation Creative Carbon Scotland.
  • A ‘buddy’ participant from within the group for peer-to-peer exchange and learning.
  • An external audit from auditing organisation Green Leisure Group.
  • On successful completion of the audit: a certificate demonstrating to partners, members, funders your organisation’s efforts to address climate change.
The work required

In order to get the most out of the SHIFT Culture eco-certificate and community, time and effort is required to participate. Participants to date are enthusiastic about the impacts they’ve experienced from taking part. Before applying, we encourage you to review the publicly shared SHIFT eco-guidelines on which the certificate is based and consider the capacity required to implement all the mandatory norms within your organisation. Along with the time required to implement the guidelines, you will need to build a relationship with your buddy organisation, prepare for and attend the workshop, carry out a self review and a peer review for your buddy and have an external audit. We estimate this to take approximately one to two days per month. We ask for a minimum of two years’ commitment to the scheme.

Cost

In order to cover the costs of running the eco-certificate we ask for a contribution of 2500 Euros (including VAT) per year (subject if necessary to an inflationary increase for 2025) and a minimum commitment of two years. However, in order to reflect different types and sizes of networks, as well as geographical and economic contexts, we propose a minimum contribution of 2000 Euros, with larger and more established networks which can afford it contributing the higher rate.

Application process

Please complete the application form by Friday 19 January 2024. Within the application form we ask about the nature of your organisation and your motivation for joining, as well as asking you to confirm your organisation’s capacity to implement  the mandatory norms included within the SHIFT Culture eco-guidelines during the first year, and some optional norms in the second year.

In this round of recruitment, we are seeking 9 participant organisations to join the existing SHIFT Culture eco-certificate community of 16 participating organisations. If we are oversubscribed with eligible applications, a working group consisting of representatives from Creative Carbon Scotland, Green Leisure Group and current eco-certificate participant organisations will select those we feel the scheme is best fitted to support in achieving their climate ambition. We will recruit further for increased participation beginning in 2025.

Applicants will be notified of their selection at the start of February 2024 with a public announcement in the middle of the month.

Link to application form

Enquiries

If you have any questions relating to the scheme and the process used, please contact Caro.Overy@creativecarbonscotland.com. Caro is also able to connect you with a range of organisations who are already participating in the eco-certificate who are happy to share their experience directly.

(Top image ID: SHIFT culture logo on a peach-coloured background.)

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Watch: Interview with artist in residence Yambe Tam

Yambe Tam speaks with CAD about her residency experience in North Yorkshire and the impact it’s had.

In February 2023, Chrysalis Arts Development welcomed emerging artist Yambe Tam as the first artist in residence at the Art Depot.

In this interview, she speaks with two of the Chrysalis Arts Development non-executive directors about her residency experience and the impact it’s had on her artist practice.

Thank you to Yambe Tam, Sara Trentham-Black and Helen Turner. A special thank you to the project funders Arts Council England.

Watch the interview here.

Yambe talks about the importance of connections to the natural environment in her work, her experience of the residency and the landscape, geological history, ecological links and unique biodiversity of the place and gives advice to people who are interested in undertaking a residency.

About Yambe Tam

Yambe is an artist and ordained Zen Buddhist creating contemplative experiences through sculpture, video games and immersive installations.

These works meditate on the void and how conceptions of reality are constructed in humans and non-humans, from microscopic to planetary scales. Often collaborating with creative technologists, sound designers and scientific researchers, she builds interactive, immersive worlds that engage the senses in their primal instinct to explore and play.

About the interviewers

Sara Trentham-Black has worked in arts development and project management, for Arts Council England (2002-10) and in consultancy. She also lectures in cultural policy and management at Sheffield Hallam University.

Helen Turner is the Associate Head of Art at York St John University, with a background in public art, specialising in textiles, and experienced in project management, including community engagement.

(Top image ID: Artist Yambe Tam sits at desk with laptop, books and natural materials. [supplied])

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Sustainability charter for cultural organisations launched

It is with great pleasure that we launch the Green Arts Charter, a collaborative sustainability agreement designed for and by member organisations of the Green Arts Initiative (GAI).

The charter aims to inspire, support and provide a framework to deliver the climate action needed to achieve transformational change in Scotland’s cultural sector and beyond. Sign the charter today!

Since SPRINGBOARD 2023 in February, a cohort of cultural organisations including the BarnBothy ProjectCrypticFèisean nan Gàidheal, the Edinburgh International Festival and Starcatchers has been working with us to develop a Green Arts Charter.

Through a series of meetings, workshops and ongoing feedback, cohort members have agreed four core pledges focused around mitigation & adaptationcollaborationcommunity and advocating for change. They are pledges that all GAI members can work towards and provide a way to bring about collective climate action as a network.

Alongside the pledges we have developed a framework of actions to guide an organisation’s environmental action planning. Each pledge has different goals, and each goal has different actions an organisation can take to achieve it. We also have a list of resources that organisations can use to understand each goal. As new ideas, collaborations and ways of working are introduced, new goals and actions will be added.

Find out more about why we’ve created the charter.

We encourage organisations to read and sign the charter. Any organisation that is not already part of the GAI, a network of 400+ cultural organisations across Scotland working on sustainability, is encouraged to sign up first.

Join the Green Arts Initiative.

(Top image ID: A bright green background with CCS logo and text reading ‘Green Arts Charter’. Across the middle is a strip with text reading ‘Sign today!’. Below are four illustrations in icon style: a graph, three talking heads in a huddle, two hands in a handshake and weighing scales. Illustration credit: Phoebe Jones.)

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Guest blog: Transforming Scotland’s school grounds for climate adaptation

How can school grounds make an impact on climate adaptation?

In Scotland, school grounds make up 14% of local authority-owned land. However, 84% of that area is either grassland or hard surfaces, offering little mitigation to the effects of climate change. Because of their scale, school grounds hold great potential to help our climate resilience.

In this blog Architecture and Design Scotland and Learning through Landscapesshare news about the process of developing a toolkit to support Climate Ready School Grounds, including the ways in which they tapped into children’s creativity and imagination with playful activities.

The Climate Ready Schools Grounds project is a pioneering initiative to empower schools to embrace nature-based solutions. The initiative explores using school grounds to address the impacts of climate change whilst creating outdoor environments that support learning and play.

About Climate Ready School Grounds

Throughout 2023 Learning through Landscapes, the leading UK charity dedicated to outdoor learning and play, and Architecture and Design Scotland – Scotland’s design agency – facilitated workshops with three schools across Scotland to help identify the impacts of climate change on the school grounds, along with practical ways to mitigate them. Through listening and involving pupils, we were also able to learn more about their knowledge and views on climate change.

The pupils explored the five different types of climate around the world, and then focused on the UK’s temperate climate. Each school took part in an initial workshop to audit their grounds. The School Grounds Climate Survey is designed to stimulate discussion and awareness around developing climate-ready school grounds and is based on six themes:

  • Heat, cold and wind stress
  • Biodiversity and ecosystems
  • Water management
  • Carbon management
  • Air quality
  • Learning, play and community

Subsequent workshops allowed the pupils to explore these themes further and get hands-on experience of adapting their own school grounds to mitigate climate change. Here are snapshots from the work across the three schools.

Adapting existing resources – St Mary’s Primary School, Dunblane

The children at St Mary’s in Dunblane planted an amazing willow archway in a seating area outside to help reduce the temperature on the tarmac, capture carbon, provide shade for pupils and support biodiversity.

Two existing, but unused, planters at the end of each bench were refreshed and planted to create this green space, making best use of the existing resources available.

St Mary’s already has an orchard with six fruit trees. However, the trees needed some maintenance, so the school contacted a local community group, Dunblane in Bloom, which helped to provide additional soil. The pupils weeded the containers and pruned the trees. This creative activity helped them make the link between the importance of existing adaptations in their grounds and climate change globally.

Building shelter – Newmilns Primary School, East Ayrshire

Newmilns Primary school in East Ayrshire has a huge green grass space and is surrounded by community woodland. It is a relatively green school space, but also close to a very busy main road.

The school is considering fundraising to create a shelter in the playground. As part of the workshops, the pupils created temporary shade structures using loose materials. This allowed them to test the idea of a shelter, for example, identifying the best location and size. They used sticks, pallets, tarpaulins and a range of other resources. This was a valuable way to support the children to think creatively about developing a new shelter as, through the audit, they had already identified where the hottest, coldest and windiest spaces were in their school grounds.

Building community – St Michael’s, Glasgow

The pupils at St Michael’s in Glasgow participated in a film that was created for the project. They showed their playground designs and shared their concerns, creating visual plans and a basic model.

Although St Michael’s already had large planters available, they were too high for the children to use and, as a result of the audit and workshops, have now been made more accessible. The pupils involved with the workshops are keen to promote the growth of fruit and vegetables, harvesting their crops and providing food to the local community food bank.

Practical, local focus

Stephen Moizer from Learning through Landscapes, who led the workshops said:

‘As part of the process we played a lot of related games, including a recycling game and a game focusing on the needs of pollinating insects. We’re focusing on climate change mitigation, but it’s less doom and gloom and more about proactivity and identifying what pupils can do to make positive changes in their local environment.

It is important to know about polar bears and penguins, but identifying the impact of climate change in their local area is vital in supporting children’s understanding and, therefore, the need to take action.’

Climate Ready School Grounds resources

During the year we collated related resources, connected with similar projects around the world and learned about the role that landscape can play in mitigating changing climate. This has helped inspire the learning resources that are now available to anyone involved in creating Climate Ready School Grounds.

How to use Climate Ready School Grounds for schools in your local authority area

Climate adaptation and mitigation require us all to work together, and our school grounds can be one of the many ways we adapt our places to meet the needs of tackling the climate emergency.

If you are a parent, pupil, teacher or designer there is a whole suite of resources – including case studies, practical resources and guides – available on both Architecture and Design Scotland’s and Learning through Landscapes website.

Use the Architecture and Design Scotland website to find appropriate resources to support you in creating and adapting school grounds to be more climate ready.

Use the Learning through Landscapes website to download resources to support you in planning and implementing changes to your school grounds.

The resource also includes a video by Yellow Balloon Film that sets out the opportunities for adapting our school grounds to tackle the climate emergency and create more inspiring learning spaces across the country. You can watch the short film here.

(Top image ID: A grid collage with three photos of children playing with willow, planting trees and sorting seeds. Images by Malcolm Cochrane Photography)

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Job: General Manager at Scottish Music Industry Association

Originally posted on Creative Carbon Scotland

We’re looking for a dedicated General Manager to join the SMIA Executive Team.

Location: Glasgow/hybrid
Reports to: CEO and Creative Director
Salary: £26,000 p.a. (£32,500 pro-rata)
Term: Permanent (subject to ongoing funding)
Working hours: 32 hours per week (based on a four day working week)

The General Manager will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the SMIA’s business operations, including overseeing the successful delivery of our annual programme of services, projects and events and supporting the work of the wider executive team.

Projects and events include the Scottish Album of the Year Award, the SMIA Summit, Scottish Music Industry Futures Roadmap, ongoing membership support and industry development, academic/education partnerships, careers advice and skills development.

Under guidance from the CEO and Creative Director, the General Manager will devise and implement an effective and efficient operational plan that meets business requirements, drives growth and supports the SMIA in achieving its vision and mission.

As a senior position within the company, the role requires someone with strong interpersonal skills and a proven track record in operational, people and financial management. The role is key to the SMIA delivering on its strategic objectives, as well as generating value for its membership, building deeper relationships, raising its profile externally and enhancing its impact.

The role has direct people management responsibility for the Projects Coordinator and the Marketing and Communications Executive, as well as some freelance project staff. A key aspect of the role includes managing partnerships across SMIA projects and programmes, and therefore, the role is central in allowing the company to generate revenue, deliver value and unlock new opportunities.

The General Manager will think strategically, act tactically and have exemplary attention to detail.

Key Responsibilities

  • Devising, developing and delivering the SMIA’s operational plan, on time and to budget, and under guidance from the CEO and Creative Director.
  • Supporting the CEO and Creative Director in financial management, with delegated authority in areas including formulating budgets, processing, issuing and paying invoices, credit control (ensuring timely payments for SMIA sales and services), processing staff payroll and pension contributions and liaising with the SMIA’s accountants to ensure accurate and timely preparation of quarterly management accounts and other financial reports as requested.
  • Overseeing business administrative and compliance duties and delegating where necessary, including HR support, writing, issuing and evaluating tenders, business insurance, reporting (particularly to Creative Scotland), HMRC and Companies House.
  • Supporting the CEO and Creative Director in writing reports for the company and its stakeholders on key issues and activities, including in areas such as fair work, sustainability and equalities, diversity, inclusion and accessibility.
  • Supporting the CEO and Creative Director in identifying, writing and submitting funding applications, as well as providing wider administrative support.
  • Managing, coaching and supporting the SMIA’s Projects Coordinator, Marketing and Communications Executive and freelance project staff; delegating tasks appropriately, setting realistic goals and targets and ensuring an efficient and effective output through conducting reviews to measure performance against objectives set.
  • Managing and building SMIA partnerships across projects and programmes; ensuring deliverables are met, driving revenue, making recommendations for future development and nurturing positive relationships.
  • Supporting the CEO and Creative Director in effectively communicating the vision and mission of the organisation to staff, members and external stakeholders.
  • Developing and maintaining relationships with current and potential members; responding to members’ needs by helping devise and implement new initiatives.
  • Representing the organisation at a wide range of industry events and sector meetings.

Required Experience

  • Passionate about music and developing Scotland’s music industry.
  • Demonstrable experience (at least three years) in a comparable management role, and preferably in the creative or arts and cultural sector.
  • A proven track record of successful operational delivery, including development, delivery and evaluation of projects and/or programmes.
  • Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to engage with individuals from all levels of the music industry, including being able to adapt style to suit the audience.
  • A confident communicator across various formats, with excellent attention to detail and experience of report writing.
  • Strong numerical skills, with experience in budgeting.
  • Experience of people management (preferably including freelance project staff).
  • Experience of managing projects and programmes.
  • Proficient in using cloud-based software including Google Suite, Zoom and Slack.
  • Able to deal with changing priorities or obstacles and to provide alternative solutions.

Desired Experience

  • Experience in business development (particularly for arts/creative organisations), including applying for public funding and securing private/commercial revenue.
  • A network of key contacts in, and an understanding of, the music industry and wider creative industries.
  • Experience of using financial software such as Xero Accounts (further training will be provided).
  • Experience of managing/working for a membership organisation or trade association.
  • Experience of working on major events and/or projects in a senior operational role.
  • Experience of engaging and working collaboratively with stakeholders.
  • Experience in creating reports for senior management/company boards and a demonstrable ability to summarise complex information clearly and concisely.

How To Apply

If you meet the majority of the criteria we require for this role then we want to hear from you. The SMIA is committed to ensuring equal opportunities in employment. No discrimination will be made throughout the recruitment process based on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, gender or socio-economic background. The SMIA values the understanding that lived experience brings.

To apply for the role of General Manager, please email a CV and accompanying cover letter detailing how you meet the requirements of the role to jobs@smia.org.uk.

Once you have completed your application, please fill in the SMIA equality and diversity monitoring form. If you have any questions about the form, including requests for reasonable adjustments, or if you would prefer to complete an offline version using Microsoft Word, please contact jobs@smia.org.uk. Please note, all questions are optional and filling in this form is voluntary.

If you require any reasonable adjustments to be made to the application process, for example, submitting your responses via audio or video, please contact jobs@smia.org.uk.

Application deadline: 5pm, Monday 8 January 2024

Following the application deadline, we will then arrange interviews with the most suitable candidates. Interviews will take place w/c 15 January, with the role commencing shortly afterwards.

(Top image ID: A red poster with the text: ‘We’re hiring: General Manager’ with the SMIA Scottish Music Industry Association logo.)

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Opportunity: Jorum Craft Award – Round 8

The Jorum Craft Award is a materials-focused grant supported by Jorum Studio and Craft Scotland.

The Jorum Craft Award provides funding to support makers’ exploration of materials, including but not limited to research and development of a new piece of work, project or collection.  Each Craft Award centres around a theme, exploring the intersection between technical skill and material innovation.

The theme for Round 8 (winter 2023) is childhood. Your work explores a sense of personal history and nostalgia, or maybe work with a younger audience in mind.

We are looking for proposals for new bodies of work that explore the theme of childhood and which investigate different approaches to materiality. Applicants must be able to demonstrate a clear view of their future development (and/or that of a particular project), and how receiving the Jorum Craft Award would help them to achieve their goals.

Award details: One award available per round, between £500 and £1,000, to assist with the development of your creative practice .

Deadline: 9 January 2024

Learn more about this opportunity and how to enter on the Craft Scotland website.

Jorum Studio is a Scottish perfumer established 2010 – creating perfumes conceived of the head, nurtured with heart, crafted by hand.

(Top image ID: Photograph of two ceramic vessels. Photography by artist Eleanor White. [supplied])

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Reflecting on: Reimagining Retrofit

7 October 2023: At our first Green Tease exploring architecture and retrofit, we spent the afternoon discussing just transition and the role of art in future possibilities for housing.

This Green Tease was made possible by collaborating with Scott McAulay, who is a Glaswegian climate and spatial justice activist, Part 2 architectural assistant and sustainability specialist, whose work with the Anthropocene Architecture School creates spaces for people to learn about climate solutions and opportunities for a just transition in our built environments.

The team at Civic House in Glasgow provided their spacious venue for us to hold workshops and discussions, exhibitions and a film screening for Reimagining Retrofit.

The afternoon began with culture/SHIFT officer, Maja Rimer, introducing Creative Carbon Scotland’s work and highlighting that the climate crisis is a cultural issue. Andrew Williams, Project Manager at the sustainability charity Sniffer, spoke about Creative Climate Futures, a project building climate resilience in Glasgow communities. Scott McAulay then introduced the work of the Anthropocene Architecture School, covering the importance and urgency of buildings in the climate crisis. Emphasising that the tools to build sustainable homes and to retrofit existing ones to standards fit for a climate emergency already exist, and such buildings becoming the norm would change and save lives. Scott ended his talk with a radical imagination exercise, asking everyone to close their eyes and imagine what future housing might look like if it allowed humans and non-humans to thrive.

Our aim for this event was to invite attendees to begin imagining retrofit as an action beyond the scale of the individual home, to create space to have thought-provoking discussions and to generate ideas of future possibilities amongst themselves. Scott led a workshop designed to explore retrofitting at different scales – the home, the street andthe neighbourhood, encouraging attendees to sit with people they might not know to foster new connections. Facilitators from environmental, sustainability and architecture backgrounds – ACAN Scotland, the Architecture Fringe and Imagine If CIC – supported the flow of discussions.

Some of the themes that emerged from the day’s discussions were:

  • community
  • scale
  • long-term security
  • job creation
  • governance
  • ownership
  • shared responsibility
  • collaboration
  • the role of culture
  • the power of imagination

‘The scale of just transition opportunities that could be unlocked by resourcing communities to co-design and govern the retrofit of their homes, streets, and neighbourhoods is dreamlike. Barriers standing between where we are today, and a Scotland where such programmes are underway – changing and saving lives, are not technical ones: they are cultural and political and must be collectively, and imaginatively, tackled as such.’
Scott McAulay, Anthropocene Architecture School

The Wyndford Exhibition group introduced ‘Rethinking the architect: The fight to save the Wyndford’ co-created with local residents. They spoke about the frustrations of the wasteful construction industry and that demolition is never the solution. Imagine If CIC introduced their exhibit and game, designed to revolutionise the housing design process. Their aim is to challenge the decision-making process in residential design projects to allow individuals to have a say in how housing is created.

Attendees had the opportunity to explore the housing exhibitions and to watch Dampbusters by Winnie Herbstein, a documentary that explores the past, present and future of community organising in Glasgow. The film centres around the work of Cathy McCormack, a housing and anti-poverty activist from Easthall in Easterhouse.

Artist Martha Orbach led a creative re-visioning workshop on the role of culture and creativity in imagining a radically different housing future. Through experimental making with willow, drawing and diagrams the attendees explored how art can provide a space to rethink how we make a home amidst the climate crisis. There was great enthusiasm for using willow as a material, and an atmosphere of creativity filled the room. People shared their creations and commented on the meditative process that sparked their imagination.

We ended the day with Scott facilitating a second radical imagination exercise and giving out Reimagining Economic Possibilities postcards from Civic Square so that everyone had something inspiring to take away.

‘Through discussions, exhibitions and crafts we discovered how culture and art can help us imagine how our homes and neighbourhoods could be transformed. Through the event, we created a space and a time to reflect, which can be hard in a society that urges us to keep going. It also allowed participants to meet people who think differently across the arts, climate and architecture sectors, which is so important if we wish to rethink how we build today.’ Maja Rimer, Creative Carbon Scotland culture/SHIFT officer

If you were not able to attend the event, we encourage you to think about the following questions:

Physical changes retrofitting entails and relationships to the home. What has your experience of housing been over the last few years? How would your home being retrofitted to meet your needs change your life?

Cultural and social changes unlocked by retrofitting streets. What if the climate transition and retrofit of streets was designed, owned and governed by the people who live there? What more becomes possible when retrofitting as a street of neighbours?

Physical, cultural and social change necessary to retrofit neighbourhoods. What possibilities can be unlocked by retrofitting entire neighbourhoods? What kind of infrastructure is required to make this a reality? What might the role of arts and culture be in communicating the scale of what is possible?

Further resources and opportunities:


About Green Tease

This event took place as part of the Green Tease events series and network, a project organised by Creative Carbon Scotland, bringing together people from arts and environmental backgrounds to discuss, share expertise, and collaborate. Green Tease forms part of our culture/SHIFT programme. 

(Top image ID: People sitting and standing in a room in Civic House, having conversations. The tables have paper and willow structures on them. Behind them is an exhibition ‘The fight to save the Wyndford’.)

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Opportunity: Climate adaptation and culture training and learning set

Starting in January, Creative Carbon Scotland are developing a series of opportunities around adaptation for cultural organisations in Scotland.

The impacts of climate change are already being felt across the world, including in Scotland, but what does this mean for Scottish cultural organisations? As climate change brings more disruption, we need to be prepared as organisations to manage the risks and become more resilient to a changing climate. Creative Carbon Scotland will be delivering a series of opportunities exploring adaptation and culture, starting in January.

Online Training

The training will align with multi-year funding applications, and help organisations understand adaptation so they can build climate resilience into their workplans and long-term vision.

18 January 2pm-3pm – An introduction to climate adaptation with Sniffer.

The first session in our training series will be delivered by Sniffer. They will give an overview of climate adaptation, build an understanding of climate risk and the actions that can be taken to build resilience.

25 January 2pm-3pm – What does climate adaptation mean for culture?

Following the introduction session, the second session will focus on culture, and ask what adaptation means for cultural organisations in Scotland. We will explore the risks and what organisations need to consider when developing an adaptation plan, show  examples and case studies from creative adaptation projects such as Clyde Rebuilt and share resources that can help organisations answer questions around adaptation on funding applications.

It is recommended that you join both sessions. Sign up on Eventbrite.

Action Learning Set 

In February we will be launching a learning set focused on adaptation and culture.

What is a learning set?

A learning set is a group of people who meet regularly to support each other’s learning around a given topic. It aims to be collaborative, with members learning from each other and sharing approaches and ideas.

What are we proposing? 

Following the training, we are developing a learning set that will take this work further, and work together to consider how we weave adaptation plans into organisational planning. Organisations will review our Cultural Adaptations toolkit by introducing it within their own organisations, and collaborate to identify how it could be improved, and how it works within their own organisation. Organisations will have a reviewed adaptation plan by the end of the learning set.

  • It is expected that organisations who join the learning set will firstly join the training in January. After that the first learning set session will take place on Thursday 29 February 1pm-2pm. During this first session we will lay out expectations and define the key challenges and opportunities for the learning set and adaptation and culture. We will also lay out the key outcomes around resource development, improving our cultural adaptation toolkit and exploring how organisations can develop an adaptation plan.
  • Outside of the session and before the next session, organisations will be asked to read through our existing resources and the cultural adaptation toolkit, note down their impressions and plan how they would deliver it within their organisation.
  • We will then have a session in March (planned for the week beginning 18 March), where we will collectively go through the toolkit in more detail, and establish how you would deliver it in your own organisations.
  • Participants will then have two months to apply the learning within their own organisations and test the toolkit themselves.
  • We will then meet up again in May and June to discuss our findings, experiences and learnings from the process.
  • Creative Carbon Scotland will publish the updated toolkit and case studies of the process on our website for all organisations to use.

This process is voluntary and free. However, joining this learning set will require you to commit to the following:

  1. Attending the first meeting on 29 February.
  2. Attending a further three meetings, with the exact dates to be decided by the group.
  3. Trial the Cultural Adaptations toolkit in your organisation and develop an adaptation plan.

Due to the commitment involved in this learning set, and to encourage communication and participation from all those involved, we are aiming for this group to be made up of 5-10 participants/organisations. However, the outcomes will be shared with everyone. If it is oversubscribed we will have a selection process, to ensure a range of organisations is involved.

If you would like to join this learning set, please fill in the form by Friday 5 January, or email sarah.ohare@creativecarbonscotland.com if you have any questions.

The post Opportunity: Climate adaptation and culture training and learning set appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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Thinking about environmental sustainability #6

This is the sixth in our ‘Thinking about environmental sustainability’ blog series and focuses on collaboration and place-based working.

Although there is no specific question about collaboration and place-based working in Creative Scotland’s Multi-Year Funding or other funding programme application processes, these ways of working are essential to strong action on climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions are the product of complex systems and ways of being that individuals and single organisations cannot fully change on their own – collaborative work is required.

Strong communities are a central plank of climate change adaptation policies around the world, including those of the Scottish Government, and cultural and creative organisations and practitioners can help build and maintain these strong communities through place-based working. This blog will provide some examples of existing work and routes to new areas of work for cultural organisations and practitioners.

Read blog #1 – introduction to the series.

Read blog #2 – on mitigation.

Read blog #3 – on adaptation.

Read blog #4 – on climate change and arts programming.

Read blog #5 – on climate justice.

In this blog:

The strategic background

Creative Scotland’s Climate Emergency & Sustainability Plan recognises the importance of collaborative working. As well as internally focused actions for Creative Scotland itself, the sub-action 16.3 on page 19 reads as follows:

‘16.3 Build a roster of culture and creative organisations working on climate change, EDI or other potentially relevant topics with whom partnership working might be appropriate or beneficial.’

And the broader description of the plan focuses (page 12) on the contribution that culture and creative organisations and practitioners can make:

‘Collaboration is a core skill in many cultural fields. Artists can facilitate difficult conversations and can elicit emotions, which are often squeezed out of more technical debates. Cultural organisations reach enormous and diverse audiences and can provide buildings and spaces for events, conversation and communal, collective thinking and learning. The declaration from the 2021 meeting of Culture Ministers from the G20¹ recognised the importance of culture in addressing climate change, whilst the UN’s Race to Resilience project includes culture as one of its official elements, demonstrating interest from the climate change side.

‘Climate impacts are felt differently across Scotland and strong communities are proven to be more resilient to the challenges that climate change is bringing. This aligns with our own collaborative and partnership work on Place and the community-building effect that strong cultural organisations have in villages, towns, regions and cities.

‘We will strengthen the role of culture and creativity and their role in addressing the climate emergency by actively seeking and supporting partnerships with people and organisations in other sectors who are working on climate change.’

Place-based working

Place-based working is nothing new to many of Scotland’s cultural organisations. Creative Carbon Scotland produced a report describing the thread from David Harding’s work as Town Artist for Glenrothes New Town in the 1970s through to organisations such as The Stove, North Edinburgh Arts, the Beacon in Greenock and others today. Culture Collective provides a raft of examples of community-focused and -led arts work during the pandemic.

Creative Scotland’s Climate Emergency and Sustainability Plan highlights the need for transformational change throughout society in order to meet the net-zero target and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Within the cultural sector, consideration of what place-based working might mean for an organisation may provide a route to successful transformational thinking about not only how it does what it currently does more efficiently, but what it does to achieve its artistic, environmental, financial and social aims. This will clearly mean different things to different organisations: an urban concert hall or large gallery in the central belt will have a different concept of place and relationships with a wider set of communities than a community-focused arts centre in rural Scotland.

There is also an intersection with EDI: Which are the marginalised communities in your area, and how will they be affected by climate change impacts and mitigation efforts – for good or ill? Is there an opportunity to extend your organisation’s relationships with communities that you don’t currently work with, building audiences and your usefulness to your local authority, with the support that goes along with that?

Local assemblies and 20-minute neighbourhoods

Creative Carbon Scotland’s Climate Beacons project and SPRINGBOARD local assemblies for creative climate action are ways in which we facilitate collaboration at a local level, bringing cultural, climate change, community and public organisations together to ensure that culture is included in the local climate discussion. If you want to join an existing group or host an assembly, get in touch.

We believe that culture has a valuable contribution to make to the development of 20-minute neighbourhoods. The Place Standard tool now has a climate lens and may be a useful resource for your organisation to use when collaborating with your community. The Place Standard says: ‘Good place-making is essential for designing a robust local response to the climate emergency, such as taking local action to cut emissions and to increase resilience to local climate change impacts. The climate lens can help you to consider how the impacts and influence of climate change will play out in a local area.’

Collaboration

Collaboration at a different level is at the heart of Creative Carbon Scotland’s culture/SHIFT work. We have worked with agencies and public bodies from the resilience charity Sniffer to NatureScot and Climate Ready Clyde – a consortium of eight local authorities, two universities and others. We embed artists in these climate change projects, usually employing freelancers but sometimes acting ourselves as the embedded artist as well as bringing arts organisations and practitioners into the project. The artists here are not employed to make art – this is not a residency, which organisations other than Creative Carbon Scotland are much better equipped to facilitate – but to bring their skills, knowledge, ways of working, contacts and creativity to the table alongside the engineers, economists, project managers and others who are typically here.

Our organisational plan includes an aim to make this sort of working normal, not just something that we do ourselves – building awareness within the climate change world of culture’s potential contribution, and at the same time building capacity and capabilities within the cultural sector to fulfil a growing demand. No-one really knows how to reach net zero or how to adapt to the impacts of climate change and these projects need culture’s help.

For more examples of this work, see our current projects Transforming Audience Travel Through Art and Creative Climate Futures. Note that this sort of project is nearly always funded not from limited culture funds but from the larger budgets of public bodies and climate change generally. Creative Ireland’s €3m Creative Climate Action fund was joint funded by the Irish government’s climate change and cultural departments (not the Irish Arts Council) and was extended to €5m owing to the success of a first round and the ambition and imagination of the climate/cultural partnerships that applied. Let’s make the case for an equivalent programme in Scotland!

(Top image ID: Wavy lines in varying shades of green with the text ‘BLOG SERIES: Thinking about environmental sustainability #6’.)


  1. See https://en.unesco.org/news/g20-agrees-first-declaration-culture

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