Our series of Thematic Overviews draw out a selection of work from across the community-led participatory arts projects that make up the Culture Collective network. They’re intended to give an insight into some of the themes that have been identified as important by communities, and offer a starting point into the ways that creative activity can be used to address wider topics.

Climate and the environment

Concerns about climate and the environment were raised regularly from the early of Culture Collective activity. Artists and communities have worked together to bring a local dimension to what can otherwise be a frightening or intimidating conversation – encouraging one another to consider their relationship to their natural world, to start discussions about how the effects of the changing climate are being felt locally, and to take action to change consumption patterns, take positive action to clean up local ecosystems, or advocate for wider-scale action.

The wider context

In the Scottish Government’s commitment to transition to a net zero emissions Scotland, “supporting communities to tackle climate change” is identified as a key strand of action.

In 2021, Culture for Climate Scotland (a working group made up of individuals and organisations from across the cultural sector in Scotland, led by Creative Carbon Scotland) launched ‘10 Steps for a Just & Green Recovery’. Consisting of five principle and five tactics, the 10 steps centred a commitment to “harness our sector’s ability to contribute artistically to wider conversations around climate change” and “integrate and amplify underrepresented voices and freelance artists at every stage of systemic change”.

A 2023 Scottish Government report into achieving a net-zero Scotland, informed in-part through a visit to CULTIVATE Dundee, found that “most community groups working in the broad area of “net zero” are in practice making a two-for-one contribution: they are delivering carbon savings as an additional benefit of projects about food, money-saving, cycling, community cohesion, mental or physical health, etc. In so doing, they can generate the success stories, inspiration and positivity that can instigate and maintain support for climate action”.

Culture Collective work in action

Food for Thought on Climate Justice Opens in a new window →
In this blog, artists Jeni Reid and Kirsty McKeown from CULTIVATE in Dundee share thoughts about their collaboration with Community First in Forfar. Jeni and Kirsty are working with local group Community First to collaboratively explore shared interests around the intersections of systematic injustice and climate justice, sustainability and found objects.
By Leaves We Live, Street Level Culture Collective Opens in a new window →
In By Leaves we Live, artist Bash Kahn visualises conversations between children and the trees that surround them.
Zoe Swan’s collaboration with PLANT, CULTIVATE, Creative Dundee Opens in a new window →
Creative practitioner Zoe Swan worked with community group PLANT (People Learning About Nature in Tayport) to help open up conversations about climate and environmental change in their local area. Building on a visioning event, where people imagined the future of their local area, Zoe produced an map of Tayport in 2030, with an audio tour of the area in 2050, imagining a bright, joyful, hopeful future filled with open spaces, trees and shared community facilities.
Up the Teviot: On Artists and Residencies in Hawick Opens in a new window →
In this blog, Michael Pattison (Co-Director of Alchemy Film and Arts) reflects on curation, care and community in their Culture Collective project The Teviot, the Flag and the Rich, Rich Soil. This project endeavours to investigate the borders, boundaries and lines of Hawick, reframing the town’s cultural identities as they relate to land, water, industry, territory, place and environment.
The Huntly Youth Climate Warriors: A manifesto Opens in a new window →
As part of Deveron Projects’ Culture Collective activity, artist and educator Hussein Mitha led a project titled ‘the world is ours, in spite of all’, in which they supported the development of a new group of local young activists focussing on the climate crisis and political ecology.
Altyre to Edinkillie – The First Encounter Opens in a new window →
Andrea Turner is a multi-disciplinary artist living in Forres. Her work spans visual art, music and poetry, and in this blog she centres an exploration of the natural environment at the heart of her residency with Culture Collective project Combine to Create.
Starting Points events, ACT: Environment and climate Opens in a new window →
What might a locally-led, place-specific experience of climate change add to the response to the climate emergency, and how might creative projects make a difference in our thinking about the future? For this, the first in our winter 2021 Culture Collective event series which took place on 2 November 2021, people were invited to join us online to connect with people and projects who are curious about a local, creative response to the climate crisis. Speakers - from the Culture Collective and beyond - discussed their experiences, questions, learnings and hopes for the journey ahead.
Future Culture Podcast: Episode 1, ACT Opens in a new window →
In early 2022, the Future Culture podcast set out to explore ‘What does the future hold for creatives and their importance for communities across Scotland?’. The series was based on – and drew its themes from – Culture Collective's 2021 Starting Points event series. Episode one, ACT, explores the theme of the environment and climate. In discussion with Ink Asher-Hemp, this episode explores the resilience of communities and the importance of hope, and discusses the role for storytelling and creative projects in thinking about our future world.

Other Culture Collective thematic overviews

Continue exploring themes that have emerged as important to artists and communities through our other thematic overviews, on: