Gathering in Galashiels
On 7 March 2023, representatives from across the arts and community sector gathered in Galashiels for the first ever get together looking at the significant contribution of art and culture to placemaking in The Borders.
Organisations and agencies came together with freelancers and microbusinesses, to galvanise a Scottish Borders-wide contribution to regional placemaking, regeneration, and how the sector can better support creative freelancers.
Arts, Communities and Place was organised by Creative Art Business Network (CABN), Connecting Threads, Alchemy Film & Arts, Creative Coathanger, The Stove Network and Outpost Arts. Each group is involved in strategic community and sector development in their area, and this was the first time working collectively.
This was a fantastic opportunity for a cross-sector group of people in Borders arts, culture and community development to get together around shared interests. It was great to see such a range of organisations represented and individuals from a variety of backgrounds. There is some brilliant and foregrounding work using arts practice as a catalyst for community-led change and placemaking but also a shared need for greater support and understanding of this work.
Katharine Wheeler, WWDN Project Manager
Photograph by Hannah Claire
Find out more about the even on the evaluation report below or on the CABN – Creative Arts Business Network blog post.
Arts, Communities, Place Gathering in Galashiels, 7th March 2023
by Jules Horne
Around 50 arts and community workers came to Galashiels’ arts venue MacArts on 7 March for an inaugural gathering on art and culture’s significant contribution to placemaking. The first-of-its-kind event welcomed arts freelancers and microbusinesses, as well as representatives from arts and community organisations and agencies across the Scottish Borders. The wide range of sectors and business scales in the room led to lively and fruitful discussion about the potential of arts and culture in community regeneration…
The presentations from the event are all now available, including Katharine Wheeler from WWDN, Lucy McLeod from Outpost Arts, Jules Horne from Creative Coathanger, and more.