Creating climate resilience in communities
Creative Climate Futures is a three-year project led by sustainability charity Verture, supporting local climate action in Glasgow through work with embedded artists and community organisations. Artist Rebecca Fraser has been working with local youth organisation The Pavillion and communities in Easterhouse, while Elena Mary Harris has been embedded in the Gorbals in collaboration with Crossroads Youth & Community Association.
The artists have been working to involve people in thinking about how to make these locations resilient to the impacts of climate change. The project has helped establish the community organisations as local centres of expertise on climate action and provided ways for them to engage with city-wide decisionmakers to take a more leading role in planning for their areas. In this Q&A we speak to both artists about community participation, their creative practice and the project’s long-term impact.
What methods have been most effective in widening community participation in climate action?
Rebecca Fraser (RF): I think a lot of people who have engaged with the project in Easterhouse have probably not even realised that they have been part of climate action! And I think that’s a real strength of the project. People think climate action isn’t for them, especially when life is busy, stressful and they’re in survival mode. What people do have an eagerness for is the health and wellbeing of themselves, their families and their neighbours. We’ve tried to meet people in a space where wellbeing needs intersect with environmental needs. ‘Make Do’ is a perfect example of this – an intergenerational skillsharing afternoon, where people’s everyday requirements are being met while simultaneously modelling a climate-resilient culture. Because, ultimately, basic everyday needs are climate needs too.
Elena Mary Harris (EMH): In the Gorbals, people often have many different worries and concerns that affect their day-to-day lives: food access, energy bills, housing quality. Climate change can easily sink down this list when there are so many barriers to living comfortably and people don’t always have the space to participate. I think one of the most effective methods of widening community participation in this project has been the flexibility to fit into existing spaces and schedules of the Gorbals community. We have hosted activities in spaces people already engage with and are comfortable in, including schools, youth clubs and day centres, and we’ve facilitated light-touch creative engagements that promote conversations. This has helped people to realise that climate action isn’t a separate issue but something intrinsically linked to their everyday needs.
What’s the value of long-term engagement with a community?
RF: Longer-term engagement means the community grows to trust the project. Relationships can develop between the artist and individuals they are working with and, ultimately, that means better work is made. People who need longer to feel safe with new faces or venues have the opportunity to engage at their own pace. As a community artist I feel more comfortable working on longer-term projects, it feels like a more responsible and ethical way to work. It is always hard ending a project when you know it is still valued and needed by the community, but the benefit of being an embedded artist is that I can usually connect participants to other groups in our local area.
EMH: Having a longer period to engage with a project helps build genuine relationships with individuals, groups and organisations within a community. It means as an artist, I can find out people’s interests and ideas, and shape project activity to reflect this. Adaptivity is key for people having trust that a project is really for them and then, hopefully, take ownership so that it keeps momentum past the end of the project.
In what ways has your creative practice benefitted from working on this project?
RF: I set myself the challenge to create the ‘Future Spa’ installation at the beginning of the first year of the project, as a focus for both myself and the groups I was working with. It was helpful to explain that their voices and creations were all coming together as a final artwork – the end result was a community consultation merged into an installation. It was really satisfying knowing that each object or sound had a clear link to the community and their wishes for the future. It felt quite ambitious at times but my creative practice definitely benefitted from having that little push out of my comfort zone.
EMH: This project has helped me to realise the breadth of roles artists can take in community projects, which has really inspired my practice. Artists are not just workshop facilitators and creators, they also have transferable creative skills that sit within community development, project management and so much more. I feel more confident to step into these spaces with a better understanding of what a creative practitioner can bring to the table.
What changes have you observed in the communities, and what do you hope the project’s legacy to be?
RF: People’s imaginations have been captured by the project – our monthly ‘Make Do’ event in particular. People who started off as curious participants have become regular faces and some have now even started volunteering. A sense of community ownership is growing and the project activities are increasingly being delivered by local people for local people – celebrating the wisdom, knowledge and skills we have on our doorstep. It gives me hope that the concept of circular economy and skill sharing is here to stay in Easterhouse!
EMH: There were already pockets of incredible work around climate action happening in the Gorbals, but often working independently from each other. This project has created links between these groups and organisations, both physically through our creative walking route, and socially through the sharing of resources and knowledge. I hope that this continues to strengthen in the future, increasing capacity across the community.
Culture for Climate Scotland is working on Creative Climate Futures with project lead Verture and partners Community Land Scotland, Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector, the Scottish Communities Climate Action Network and Glasgow City Council.
To find out more about the project activity you can explore the project location websites – Easterhouse and Gorbals.
Rebecca Fraser is a freelance community artist based in Glasgow’s East End. She collaborates on partnership projects working holistically to celebrate and advocate for the local culture.
Elena Mary Harris is a participatory artist based in Glasgow, working across arts, education, health and social care settings, with advocacy at the core of all creative projects.
