The Pyramid at Anderston is a stunning modernist church that has been reclaimed by the local neighbourhood as a community space through the help of the Scottish Land Fund and National Lottery Community Fund. In May 2024 it played host to Inspiring Scotland’s celebration event for Creative Communities Glasgow, a programme supporting community-led organisations located within Glasgow Local Authority to develop initiatives involving culture and creative arts. The AHRC Creative Communities programme has a symbiotic relationship with Inspiring Scotland, focused on shared learning as we develop and deliver our interventions in a devolved Scottish context.
One of our Community Innovation Practitioners, Gaston Welisch is working with Glasgow School of Art and University of Glasgow on the Arts and Humanities Partnership Catalyst. The Catalyst is a design-led and partner-driven Knowledge Exchange programme, reversing typically academic-focused approaches to partnership and project development by centring partner, audience, and community needs. Meeting with Gaston before the event, he updated us on the progress of the latest catalyst workshops that are themed around place, specifically Govan Old. Seeing the breadth of fantastic artworks and performances and hearing the impact Creative Communities Glasgow has had on the local community as a community-led participatory art programme was truly inspiring.
Helping communities forge connection, build confidence in their abilities, and instill ownership of local assets are just a small number of the benefits of this fantastic Inspiring Scotland programme. We were glad to link our CIP Gaston with the Inspiring Scotland team, and the communities they are working with, helping to create further connections and opportunities for partnership working.
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