Leith Creative, Leith’s dynamic network of creative hubs and practitioners, is to work with citizens and communities in Leith to explore how to enhance the area through creative thinking in the 'People and Places – Make Leith Better' project announced today.
Working in equal partnership with the community and others with a stake in the wellbeing of the vibrant and diverse port of Leith, Leith Creative will draw on its talented and committed network to use design and creative thinking to exchange knowledge, solve problems and jointly arrive at a future vision for Leith.
This innovative programme that combines committed citizen engagement and community knowledge with skills and thinking in culture, creativity, planning, funding and the built environment, is supported by the Scottish Government’s Design Charrettes Fund and Open Project Funding from Creative Scotland, with investment from the CEC’s Cultural Services.
The project will take place between April and September 2017 across a series of community clusters in the Leith area, that will comprise a community wide events programme, engaging individual residents and groups through talks, walks, engagement events and discussions; a series of online and social media engagement strands; research and development meetings and round-table workshops focusing of citizen knowledge to empower local people to fully participate in the design process.
Duncan Bremner of Citizen Curator and Morvern Cunningham of LeithLate who lead the Leith Creative network said today, “We are delighted that the Scottish Government, Creative Scotland and the City of Edinburgh Council have recognized the potential for the creative-led approach that we believe will enable Leith’s communities to achieve their own goals, through an exciting participatory focus that can lead to positive physical change in the area. We look forward to working alongside the people of Leith in order to collectively develop a creative vision for the future of our community and the place in which we live and work.”
As part of the 'People and Places – Make Leith Better' project, Leith Creative will be working with landscape architects, designers and photographers Here + Now, research & design collective Lateral North and architecture & design practice partners Biomorphis is an to engage with local Leith communities over a variety of events and activities taking place throughout April and August 2017, culminating in a 2-day charrette event at the Leith Community Education Centre at the Kirkgate during the Festival. (Charrettes bring together the public, stakeholders and designers over several days to draw up proposals to make their towns and villages better places to live.)
SNP MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Ben Macpherson said, “I welcome “People and Places – Make Leith Better” and its innovative approach to planning and place-making. There is real potential in this collaboration between creative thinkers, the community and city planners in developing successful, sustainable, well-designed places and spaces that can enhance the lives and economic prospects of their
residents”
Leith Creative, that began in 2015 as a cultural mapping research project into the creative communities of Leith, will hold its first engagement event with the people of Leith as part of the ‘Leith Market for Locals’ at Dock Place on Saturday 29th April 10:00-17:00.
For further information, please contact Morvern and Duncan via [email protected]