Art, craft and climate day: Starting Point training and Green Tease

Join us at MacArts in Galashiels for a day exploring the intersections of art, craft and climate.

• The morning Starting Point training will introduce artists, makers and cultural organisations to environmental action and climate justice, with a focus on rural adaptation.
• At 12pm, we’ll break for a shared lunch of soup and bread rolls.
• The afternoon Green Tease will explore the role of alternative economic practices in socioecological transformation, with some examples from local textiles practitioners.

Please note, you can book a ticket to join for half a day or for the full day. Lunch is only available for all-day attendees.  

Morning Starting Point: Rural adaptation (10am-12pm)

Starting Point is a training to introduce artists, makers and cultural organisations to environmental action and climate justice, exploring diverse approaches from mitigation and adaptation to leadership and influence.

Members of the Culture for Climate Scotland (CCS) team will show you how to take your first steps to tackle your carbon emissions, adapt to the impacts of climate change and use your influence with audiences and communities. We will demonstrate some examples of creative climate action through our case studies, and there will be opportunities to ask us any questions you have about your sustainability journey.

We will also focus on how rural areas can adapt to climate change and the role of culture in this process.

Afternoon Green Tease: Weaving local economies (1pm-3pm)

In a panel discussion with local textiles practitioners, we’ll explore the role of creative-economic practices in socioecological transformation. Panellists include:

• Emma Duncan, Co-Director, Drove Weavers
• Rosie Bristow, Co-Founder, Fantasy Fibre Mill
• Seb O’Connor, Ecological Economist, Scotland’s Rural College

The panel discussion will be co-chaired by Eleanor White (CCS) and Flora Collingwood-Norris (Creative Arts Business Network).

We’ll end the day with a hands-on visible mending workshop and conversation about ecological craft practice led by knitwear designer and mending expert Flora Collingwood-Norris.

This Green Tease event is part of our Green Craft Initiative, a joint project with Craft Scotland. The Green Craft Initiative’s goal is to connect, support and inspire the Scottish craft sector to address their environmental impact – wherever they are on that journey.

About our panellists

• Emma Duncan is the Co-Director of Drove Weavers, the only textile mill in Langholm (a once prosperous textile town in the 19/20th century, with over 15 working textile mills employing thousands of people) and one of very few commission weavers left in the UK.
• Rosie Bristow is the Co-Founder of Fantasy Fibre Mill, and a part-time PhD student in textiles engineering at Heriot-Watt University. At Fantasy Fibre Mill, Rosie and her business partner Nick Evans are developing open-source textiles processing machinery to turn locally farmed flax fibre into yarn and garments.
• Seb O’Connor is an Interdisciplinary Ecological Economist and Deputy Programme Director of MSc Ecological Economics at Scotland’s Rural College. Seb focuses on how social and cultural values associated with human-nature relationships can guide economic decision-making in ways that are more socially and ecologically just.

About our collaborators

• Creative Arts Business Network (CABN) supports the professional creative sector in the Scottish Borders through a diverse programme of work, and seeks to strengthen the sector by working towards longer-term strategic goals.
• Craft Scotland is the national development agency supporting makers and promoting craft.
• Flora Collingwood-Norris is a knitwear designer, maker and visible mender based in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders. She also works for CABN as a Craft Advocate.

About Green Tease

Green Tease is culture/SHIFT's 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 open to people from creative and environmental backgrounds and free to attend.

Accessibility

Getting here

MacArts is well served by public transport.

Galashiels train station is 500m away. Travel assistance is available on the train service, for more information please visit the ScotRail guidance for accessible travel.

Galashiels Transport Interchange is 500m away. There are buses from Edinburgh and Peebles (X62), and Hawick and Selkirk (X95). For more information on services operating to and from Galashiels, please visit Borders Buses.

MacArts does not have a dedicated car park. Limited on-street parking is available on Bridge Street. There are two on-street blue badge parking bays 50m from the entrance.

Internal Access

MacArts has ramped access throughout and has a single accessible toilet. There is a hearing loop in the main auditorium. Assistance dogs are welcome.

Do you need support to attend?

CCS is committed to ensuring that our events are accessible for everyone, regardless of their disability, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, economic status or caring responsibility.

We will make any necessary adjustments to our events so that no one is excluded. These adjustments will, most likely, differ from event-to-event and person-to-person, so we need your help to get it right. In the past, we have provided quiet spaces, British Sign Language interpreters and internet dongles for portable internet access. We now provide access packs including ear defenders, sensory supports and reading overlays at in-person events.

Some adjustments may take more time to arrange than others, so we appreciate you giving us as much notice as possible about what you need so that we can support you to get the most out of this event.

Please inform us of your accessibility requirements for this event during the registration process. If you have any questions or concerns, please send an email to eleanor.white@cultureforclimate.scot or telephone +44 (0)131 243 2760 and speak to a member of CCS staff.