Green Tease: radical landownership, community and creativity

Join us for a Green Tease on radical landownership, community and creativity on the 10 November 5.30-8pm at The Stove Network in Dumfries. Created in collaboration between Creative Carbon Scotland and The Stove Network.

Together with artist Richard Bracken, Community Energy Scotland, The Stove Network and Nith Life we will consider issues of land and community ownership and explore the benefit of art and storytelling in building community, connection and collective action.

Around Scotland, more people are experiencing the benefit of community ownership, which allows communities to control their own future. With the new Land Reform Bill, which is under development, we have an opportunity to push forward a reform that could make Scotland a fairer nation- a place where the land works for the many and not the few. At this Green Tease you will get have an opportunity to explore issues around community landownership, identity and connection to land through an artistic walk, discussions with experts and local organisations. We will start with a shared meal and a chance to meet like-minded people within the arts and sustainability sector.

Programme:

5:30: Vegetarian stew/soup/scran.

6:00: Welcome and introduction.

6.10: Artistic walk around Dumfries with focus on access, local issues, and connection to land.

6:45: Break with tea/coffee/snack at the Stove.

7.00: Shared reflection, Richard Bracken.

7:15: Panel discussion on community ownership and creativity with Richard Bracken, Linsay Chalmers, Community Land Scotland, Nith Life, Martin O’Neill, the Stove Network.

8:00: Feedback and thank you.

Speakers

Richard Bracken, artist

Richard will share work developed at Abriachan Forest Trust in 2020-21 as part of the Stove and Community Land Scotland’s Artists and Community Landowners project. Richard worked closely with the local community on the design and build of several hand-crafted walking sticks, each bearing a poetic inscription, in which scenery, skies and people intertwine with purpose, responsibility and invitation.

The collection of walking sticks he created are intended to function as tools for exploring the land and for opening up conversation around the ways that people can relate to it and each other. Listen to a podcast about the project here. By translocating the sticks to a new context, Richard will invite participants to use them on a walk around Dumfries and consider issues of access, custodianship and connection.

As an artist, Richard is interested in both the human position and the passage of time in the landscape and aims to explore what it means for people to live in the land. Walking is central to his understanding of the land and is the means by which he collects and forms ideas. Fragments, traces, memories and possibilities all have a place in his research and work. He is especially drawn to places where the will of people – individuals, communities, cultures – is evidenced in the land, and in turn, where the ‘will’ of the land and its larger living systems affects people and structures.

Martin O’Neill, Artistic Director at the, The Stove Network

As artist and producer, Martin works with people to realise new projects, artworks and spaces, employing an eclectic range of styles and disciplines from community events to theatre, music, poetry and installation. As Artistic Director of the Stove, Martin works across all of the Stove’s projects, connecting these values with everything that they do.

The Stove Network actively engages with questions around ownership, art and community. In 2021 they led the collaborative project Artists and Community Landowners, which explores the stories of community landownership across Scotland and the impact it has on communities. The project was created in collaboration with Community Land Scotland. The Stove worked with artists and local communities to explore the themes of how we manage our local environments, who decides, and how we can collectively act.

Linsay Chalmers, Community Land Scotland

Linsay Chalmers is the Development Manager for Community Land Scotland, the membership network for community landowners. Buyouts of land and buildings often lead to a cultural renaissance in communities and, in the last few years, Community Land Scotland has worked with a range of artists to help share its members’ stories.

Nith Life

Nith Life is a newly established community-based group who share a passion for the River Nith catchment. Ran by a community steering group supported by The Stove Network & UNESCO Galloway & Southern Ayrshire Biosphere, Nith Life is a rapidly evolving initiative dedicated to engaging communities through creativity, technology and science to explore our connection to the River Nith, from source to sea.

About the Green Tease

Green Tease is an ongoing informal events programme connecting cultural practices and environmental sustainability across Scotland. Since 2013 Green Tease has provided a platform for those interested in teasing out the links between the arts, climate change and environmental sustainability through the exchange of ideas, knowledge and practices. Green Tease events are equally open to people from creative and environmental backgrounds and free to attend.

Accessibility

We want to remove barriers to participation in these events and are happy to make adjustments to prevent people from being excluded. Please inform us of accessibility requirements during the registration process or get in touch by email if you would like to provide more information or ask any questions. Please see our Safe Working Spaces Statement for more information. If you have any accessibility needs or questions do get in touch at [email protected]