Creative Circles: Inspiring Climate Action [ September ]

Hosted by Creative Edinburgh, Creative Circles runs on the first Tuesday of every month. For September, we’re coming to granton:hub.

Creative Circles is for members of Creative Edinburgh. Not a member yet? It’s free to join click here. This event is a casual monthly meetup for creatives, techies, makers and freelance folk interested in discovering more about what’s happening in Edinburgh. Join us after work, share ideas and advice, make new connections and find your next collaborator.

September’s Conversation: Inspiring Climate Action

A third of the population in Scotland lives within 500 metres of derelict land. Scotland has almost 600 sites that have been registered vacant or derelict since the 2000s or earlier – and likely many more that are unregistered. Such sites are an untapped part of the local economy. A piece of the 20-minute neighbourhood puzzle. A missed opportunity to address climate, housing and health challenges.

How can we harness the power of our arts and culture to make derelict and underused land accessible, culturally valuable, and biodiverse to benefit local communities?

The National Galleries of Scotland will be starting off the event with a tour of their site – The Art Works.

This session will invite National Galleries of Scotland and Lauriston Farm to talk about projects which seek to take a creative and climate-conscious approach to the rejuvenation of underused land.

National Galleries of Scotland

At the National Galleries of Scotland we are passionate about art and its power to move, to inspire, and to connect with people of all ages and backgrounds. The collection that we look after is extraordinary in its quality and breadth, ranging in date from the Middle Ages to the present day. This amazing national collection is available for everyone to enjoy.

Site Tour

The Art Works is our project to deliver a sustainable new facility to care for, research and share Scotland’s renowned art collection. We will build a dynamic new facility at Granton that will sit right at the heart of the local community and be the largest building in Scotland designed to the Passivhaus environmental standard.

We are designing the building to be accessible and open to all, rooms for education and community programmes, and new outdoor public spaces – all designed to meet the needs and help realise the huge potential of the local community.

We would like to invite you to join us on a tour of the site where we will discuss the plans for developing this exciting new project.

About The Art Works

The Art Works proposal by the National Galleries of Scotland is for:

The development of a sector-leading national centre for the care, conservation, research, storage and distribution of Scotland’s collection of artworks, designed to place-based and sustainability principles. Proposed visitor and community-led spaces will maximise public access and facilitate a programme of education and outreach programmes which make full use of benefits including active public realm spaces (including potential pop-up café use) and bio-diverse landscaping, new/improved access, parking and all other associated works.

About Lauriston Farm

Lauriston Farm sits on a 100acres of land in northwest Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Agroecology Co-operative (EAC) is transforming this land into an urban agroecology farm – they have an integrated land use plan that will result in a beautiful, rich landscape made up of a mosaic of habitats for local residents and visitors to enjoy. The farm is a place where people can learn first-hand how food is grown in a nature rich environment with multiple points of access for community engagement, events and learning in creative ways.

EAC is providing a local response to the growing challenges of climate change, biodiversity collapse and lack of access for all to healthy, fresh, affordable food. Toni is a director and founder of the Edinburgh Agroecology Co-operative and Lauriston Farm.

granton:hub is a friendly arts and community hub in North Edinburgh where people can meet, participate, learn, create and enjoy a range of great activities. Their base is the beautiful and historic Madelvic House, a space closely linked with Granton’s rich industrial heritage. We have a growing archive of materials and objects connected to the history of the local area and are home to a community garden that’s open for all to visit and enjoy.

Find them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Madelvic House is not fully accessible. We do have a portable ramp to allow wheelchair and powerchair users to get into the building, which you will have access to, and once in the building there is level access but there is no wheelchair-accessible toilet.

granton:hub is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCO46708), and is managed by a small team of volunteers.

Running Order

16:00 – 16:30: Tour of the Art Works site led by the National Galleries

16:30 – 17:00: Arrive, get comfortable, and welcome

17:00 – 17:15: Introduction from Creative Edinburgh

17:15 – 17:45: Speaker

17:45 – 18:20: Tea, coffee and networking

18:20 – 18:30: Community announcements, Creative Edinburgh news, thank you and farewell

Can’t make the whole event? Just join us for what you can.

Got something to shout about during our community announcements? Get in touch with us at programme@creative-edinburgh.com.

We look forward to seeing you there!