Law, Arts and Islands Resilience Project: Third Workshop

April 2019: On 14 March 2019, SCELG organised the third workshop of the Law, Arts and Island Resilience project. The workshop was organised at the Dark Island Hotel in Benbecula in collaboration with the Glasgow School of Art’s Reading Landscape Research Group and Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre on North Uist. Following a workshop in May 2018 and a second one in September 2018, this third workshop brought together 40 participants. The project, funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, is just one of the many activities SCELG is currently undertaking in the field of Law, Islands and Sustainability (EILEAN).

Island (Scotland) Act and creative platform

The aim of the workshop was two-fold:

To consider the projected impact of the Islands (Scotland) Act for island communities, including highlighting opportunities brought about by the new legislation; and
To consider and discuss whether there is scope (or indeed a need) for developing a creative platform that brings island communities more closely together as a creative community, and if so, what shape might this take, and how it could be instigated?

Participants at the 3rd Law, Arts and Island Resilience Workshop

Workshop participants had the opportunity to hear from Scottish Government, Creative Scotland and the Islands Deal representatives throughout the day. The workshop also allowed participants to engage in group exercises that allowed them to discuss the following questions:

Where is there potential or scope to work in more connected ways, across sectors, to consolidate resilience and sustainability in the Uists?
What models of institutional practice might be useful?
What infrastructure is needed?
How might your work have a positive impact locally, and at the same time help you build strong connections nationally and internationally?
How do you demonstrate the benefits of a creative mind set to potential partners? How do you make a strong case to be supported?
How do you ensure that future projects are relevant to wider communities in the Uists, and what tools may you use for engagement?

SCELG and GSA colleagues visiting Uist Wool

SCELG and the National Island Plan consultation

On the day after the workshop, SCELG carried out a pilot consultation as part of its work with Scottish Government in the context of the implementation of the Islands (Scotland) Act. The pilot was organised at Ceann na h-Airigh in Grimsay and constructive feedback from participants is helping to shape the final consultation, which will focus on the National Islands Plan. The workshop and the pilot were attended by Francesco Sindico and Nicola Crook. Francesco is the programme leader of the LLM Global Environmental Law and Governance and the research and work carried out under the EILEAN initiative features in both post graduate and undergraduate classes taught by SCELG.

Beach clean after the workshop

Participants and legacy

The next step in the project is an event organised in Glasgow on 2 May 2019 in the context of the III SCELG Festival of Environmental Law and Governance during Engage@Strathclyde titled “Law, Arts and Island Resilience: A Journey Starting in Uist”. Please find below the list of participants to the third RSE Law, Arts and Island Resilience workshop: