Community arts and culture

Artist Mahri Prince working on a piece of textile art in her studio

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Arts and culture provide alternative ways of thinking about and seeing the world. Connecting people with their traditional culture helps deepen their sense of belonging and is essential in encouraging the positive and sustainable behaviour required to support net zero, biodiversity and wellbeing ambitions.

The project is bringing together the National Park’s creative community to identify and develop activities that create a greater connection to our landscapes and foster a sense of place. Together, the creatives are building capacity and visibility and collaborating to deliver a programme of community arts projects.

Art and culture play a huge part in how we understand the world. Creativity can make feelings and experiences visible, and help us understand and talk about issues, prompting collective action in response to the climate and nature crises. Through co-design and collaboration with creatives in the National Park this project is supporting a vibrant and visible creative sector, and a working group that is leading on finding opportunities for creatives across the National Park to connect, share their work, engage with communities and build a legacy beyond Cairngorms 2030. This project includes developing work and activities that respond to Dùthchas, a Gaelic word which encompasses ideas of kinship, heritage and connections between nature, people and place. It is a word that has inspired the Park Authority’s five-year Cairngorms 2030 programme, which will put the power to tackle the nature and climate crisis in the hands of the people who live, visit and work in the National Park.

Later in the programme, a National Park-wide event or festival will be created, as well as an annual residency opportunity for local creative practice, expanding the opportunities available for creatives in the Cairngorms.