SPRINGBOARD 2025
We are all facing enormous upheaval caused by the climate crisis, the economic and funding environment, the long-tail effects of the pandemic and more. We need to know how to find our way in this new world.
That’s why we chose transformational change as our theme for SPRINGBOARD 2025. We focused on how all of society will need to reimagine itself in the face of the climate change we are experiencing, and how the arts and cultural sector, as well as working on its own transformation, can contribute to the transformation of wider society.
You can read our reflection of the event in our article Transformational change at SPRINGBOARD 2025.
Who was the assembly for?
SPRINGBOARD 2025 had an audience of cultural and climate organisations, freelance creatives and climate champions, funders, local and national government, and private and third sectors.
Programme
Day 1
The first day of SPRINGBOARD 2025 comprised an exciting mix of speakers, with artistic interventions at the beginning and end of the day. There were also 11 watch parties happening in nine locations around Scotland. The day included an opening performance and a closing artistic intervention by Ink Asher Hemp, multidisciplinary artist, facilitator and advocate.
The day started with an introduction by Ben Twist, Director of Culture for Climate Scotland. The morning sessions were:
- Rebecca Ford (Director, International Futures Forum): The Three Horizons Framework
- Dr Andy Kerr (Chief Strategy Officer, EIT Climate KIC) and Kit England (Senior Climate Adaptation Specialist, Paul Watkiss Associates): In conversation – transformational mitigation and adaptation
The afternoon programme included a short film about Culture for Climate Scotland, followed by talks:
- Dr Dania Thomas and Ubuntu Women Shelter (for women with no recourse to public funds): An alternative perspective on climate change and transformation
- Leonie Bell (Director, V&A Dundee): Design Thinking and leadership
- Amina Shah (National Librarian and Chief Executive, National Library of Scotland): The Library Transformed – how to imagine the next chapter in an age of uncertainty
Day 2
The second day of SPRINGBOARD 2025 was a rich and diverse programme of talks, workshops, breakout rooms and panel discussions. The sessions were optional and bookable in advance, with some having limited spaces.
The topics ranged from sustainable transport to creative collaboration and evaluation of arts-climate projects to senior leadership engagement. See ‘SPRINGBOARD 2025: Full programme published’.
Most sessions were recorded.
Watch our Vimeo showcase – session recordings from SPRINGBOARD 2025
Watch parties
To reduce travel emissions for participants, we held the event online, but because we know how useful it is to get together in a room, we also experimented with watch parties around Scotland.
Local hosts in Aberdeen, Ayr, Caithness, Dumfries, Dundee, Edinburgh, Fife (St Andrews), Glasgow and Stirling welcomed people in person on the assembly’s first day to watch together, to discuss what they’ve heard, particularly in relation to their locality, and to network.
Accessibility and freelancer bursaries
Access
To create a fairer, greener Scotland everyone needs to be able to participate. Talks and discussions were automatically captioned where possible. We prompted all attendees to reach out with any access requests in advance and provided other help to attend, and will continue to do so at future events.
Financial support for freelancers
We recognise that many freelancers in the cultural and climate change sectors cannot participate in events like SPRINGBOARD 2025 due to financial pressures. However, freelancers’ contributions are invaluable to creative climate action, so we awarded 11 bursaries of £300 to cover attendance time.
Registration and fees
To help cover the costs of running the assembly we charged a fee to attend. Understanding that financial pressures were significant for everyone at the time, we kept the cost as low as possible.
- Culture / climate change freelancer – £12
- Scottish arts sector employee – £15
- Scottish third sector non-arts – £30
- Funding organisation – £30
- Arts sector beyond Scotland – £35
- Scottish public / academic sectors – £40
- Private sector – £75
Partners and sponsors
We are immensely grateful to Creative Scotland for their support of SPRINGBOARD.
Many thanks to the Dr David Summers Charitable Trust for supporting us to include poetic interventions at SPRINGBOARD 2025 from Ink Asher Hemp, multidisciplinary artist, facilitator and advocate.
