Thriving Tomorrow

What's going on?

We are currently exploring a creative project highlighting the importance of walking and cycling routes through to Glasgow from the Northern Corridor, which avoid car usage, provide better connection to amenities and give an opportunity to spend time in nature. Please get in touch if you are interested in exploring this theme with us.

In late April, Frank McElhinney ran a series of creative workshops as part of the Easter group at Cardowan Community Meadow, that engaged young people with their natural environment and local heritage.

Throughout March and April, we ran free drop-in sessions at Chryston Community Hub on Sundays at 1pm-3pm . Activities including charcoal drawing, pinhole photography, collage and ‘solargraphy’. This was also a space to discuss experiences of climate change in the area and what needs to be done.

The pictures below show some of the creative work done by participants, including drawings made using sunlight and photographic paper, and long-exposure photographs made using a pinhole camera.

Why ex-mining areas?

Areas with a history of coal mining are found across many areas of Scotland, and across Europe. These communities are an important part of developing action on climate change for a number of reasons:

• Just transitions: Understanding how the transition away from coal was mishandled provides learning that can develop fairer and more effective approaches to energy transitions away from fossil fuels and into renewables.

• Heritage: Coal mining has shaped the location, character and culture of towns across Scotland. Understanding the importance of this heritage is key to seeing how we can effectively communicate about the move away from fossil fuels without alienating people.

• Class and poverty: Ex-mining areas often correlate with higher levels of deprivation as measured by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. They are also associated with working class identities. We know that working class people and people living on a low income need to be better represented in climate change planning and decision making.
• Infrastructure: Ex-mining towns face particular infrastructural challenges and opportunities. As a result of mine locations, they are more likely to be situated away from public transport infrastructure. Old mine workings also present potentially controversial opportunities around geothermal energy.

Ex-mining areas face specific issues related to climate change, but lessons learned from these locations are relevant to climate work across the whole of Scotland.  

Why the arts?

We are interested in how socially engaged community arts approaches can play a role in improving work on climate change in ex-mining areas. This project will work with local organisations and an artist to understand what kind of arts-based methods are useful and relevant for these communities. As a result, we can’t say in advance exactly what the approach will look like, but we are interested in exploring how the arts may be able to help with:

• Making climate action accessible and rewarding: Making art helps bring in people who do not ordinarily participate in climate change discussions, circumventing technical language and offering creative stimulation in return for participation.

• Developing shared visions for positive futures: Arts-based approaches can help develop tangible future scenarios, building consensus about where people want to get to.

• Collective planning: Arts activities provide non-hierarchical spaces where different stakeholders can come together to understand each other’s perspectives and how they can work together to bring about change.

• Sharing stories: Creative work provides an expressive way for people to share past and future stories about their areas, issues they encounter and opportunities to address them. These provide a more engaging way to enter into dialogue with local decision makers and other community members.

What can we learn?

This project is a learning opportunity for Culture for Climate Scotland. We do not currently have much expertise on working in ex-mining contexts and will be looking to learn from others throughout the process. We hope that this project can help develop a blueprint for effective arts-climate work in ex-coal mining areas in the future. We will be sharing our learning with others working in the culture, climate and coalfield regeneration fields.

Alongside the pilot project we will be running various activities, including:

• An online discussion group exploring issues at the intersection of climate, culture, class and coal.
• A series of articles and reflections hosted on the Culture for Climate Scotland website.
• A workshop day at the end of the project sharing creative work and learning.

This pilot project forms part of a fellowship with the Alliance for Socially Engaged Arts being undertaken by Lewis Coenen-Rowe, culture/SHIFT Manager. He is also devoting time to research, study visits and conversations with experts. If you are interested in getting involved or speaking about this topic, please email [email protected].

This page will be updated regularly with more information as the project develops.

Northern Corridor Community Volunteers

Northern Corridor Community Volunteers aim to improve local greenspace and biodiversity, improve community cohesion and opportunities to engage in active travel, preserve local heritage and provide opportunities for community members to be involved in community gardens, orchards, woodland creation and up-cycling and repair projects.