Creative Dundee is to launch a new development programme which will focus on Covid-19 recovery and climate change.
CULTIVATE, the new project, will create 12 paid positions, in groups of six, for creative workers, with workers employed for a period of six-months.
Working across six different companies in Dundee, Perth and Kinross, Angus and Fife, successful applicants will get the opportunity to develop and learn new skills, while helping the groups to respond to local challenges within the community.
Creative Dundee has been granted £300,000 from Creative Scotland for the programme, as part of the Scottish Government’s £6 million Covid-19 emergency fund, for this project.
Skill development
Each person will go on placement at one of the community partner organisation, which includes the Maxwell Centre in Dundee and the Crannog Centre in Perthshire.
As well as working with their community, the participants will also regularly meet with each other to share skills, ideas and create new opportunities.
Claire Dufour at Creative Dundee said: “While the climate crisis presents critical and pressing global issues, each and every one of us has a role to play locally.
“The power of creativity and design in that drive is immense, attracting attention and engagement, breaking down barriers and sparking new approaches and practical solutions in the process.”
Opportunities
Claire added: “For the creative practitioners, it’s the chance to bring a community project to life, build their profile, be part of Creative Dundee’s wider network and motivate tangible change.
“For those living and working in that community, it’s the chance to get involved and contribute to a better, fairer and more sustainable society – changes which, however small, could make a lasting impact on their environment and the world we’re passing on to future generations.
“Being part of the Culture Collective network is an opportunity to connect the work happening across the Tay region with other creative and climate projects all across Scotland – helping both to share the exciting work happening in the region and to connect it with the learning from initiatives all over the country.
“As the city watches and waits for the Eden Project, this is an exciting time for our city and its surroundings.
“Communities are really starting to take ownership for their environment, how they live and what they can contribute, and culture and creativity can play a key role in driving that ambition.”
In Dundee, applicants could go on placement at the Gate Church Carbon Saving Project or the Maxwell Centre.
In Perth and Kinross, workers will take on the Scottish Crannog Centre or the Cateran Ecomuseum and Alyth Development Trust.
While in Angus, placements will be at Community First. While in Fife, applicants will spend time with People Learning About Nature in Tayport (PLANT).
You can apply for CULTIVATE here.