Artists and Peatlands workshop
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What are the roles of artists in landscape research and restoration projects?
The workshop is organised by AALERT 4 DM, the Arts and Artists in Landscape and Environment Research Today for Decision Making project.
It aims to reflect on these examples and develop a clear overview of the benefits of involving artists in peatland research and restoration to inform future programme development.
This will be contextualised with research into the roles of artists in interdisciplinary and climate research as well as in social-environmental contexts.
It is informed by the experiences of 3 key examples: Galloway Glens/Peatland Connections, Flows to the Futures and Re-Peat.
The core aim of Peatland Connections is to provide something practical, usable, relatable and engaging. It creatively shows how a diverse range of stakeholders can be brought together to discuss the synergies and conflicts in land use and management practices and to navigate a way to a better integrated approach to decision making in the area. Peatland Connections project area in the heart of Dumfries and Galloway
Flows to the Future was a major project that took place from 2014 to 2019, funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund and many other supporters. It restored large areas of blanket bog in the heart of the Flow Country that had been damaged by forestry planting. It also worked to involve and connect people everywhere with this precious habitat, delivering real economic benefits for one of the least densely populated areas in Scotland.
The UK Anthology Series is a 10 episode webinar series which connects peatlands to a number of intertwined topics; such as social justice, environmental issues and specific UK or international policies. The series will bring together perspectives from a variety of disciplines and angles and every episode will include some kind of artistic responses. This may take the the form of poetry, dance, music, comedy, puppetry, etc. Throughout the series, the focus is on amplifying voices that are not traditionally given a platform, including young people, people of colour, working class, and other voices that are often marginalised.
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In the Padlet we can see artist’s projects highlighting diverse values of peatlands.