Highland Partnerships

Overview

The Culture Collective is a national pilot programme which will establish a network of creative practitioners, organisations and communities, working together to create a positive difference locally and nationally in response to COVID-19.

In February 2021, Creative Scotland distributed £5.9m to 26 lead organisations across Scotland to collaboratively develop ways of responding to the impacts of the ongoing pandemic.

The Culture Collective focuses on community engaged creative activity, supporting participatory approaches and projects where creative practitioners and communities work collaboratively. A key element of this is proactively responding to the impact of COVID-19, providing employment opportunities for creative practitioners and actively engaging people in shaping the future cultural life of their community.

Working collectively is central to the programme at a local and national level. Each of the supported organisations and creative practitioners were required to collaborate with communities locally but also to work together as a national collective. With the support of a central coordinator (Culture Collective Programme Lead, Kathryn Welch) who oversees the programme, this includes the ongoing sharing of progress; attendance at national meetings and events; and participation in an evaluation of the pilot.

Highland Culture Collective

Fèis Rois was the administrative lead for the Highland Culture Collective. Fèis Rois viewed itself as an equal partner in this collaborative project, which also includes Highland Third Sector Interface, Eden Court, Highland Print Studio, Lyth Arts Centre and North Lands Creative.

Working together, this group of organisations offered 6 new full-time jobs to artists in the Highlands.

Highland Culture Collective responded to the impact of the pandemic on the environment and on the following communities of people:

• People impacted by the pandemic, including, for example, older people, their families and carers.
• Women, children and young people affected by domestic abuse.
• Those affected by the justice system, including offenders, those at risk of offending, and those with a family member in prison.
• Gaelic learners who have struggled with language acquisition over the past year, e.g. children and young people who attend GME but who do not have Gaelic at home.

The Highland Culture Collective now has its own dedicated website which you can visit here – www.highlandculturecollective.com.