The Highlands and Islands Climate Festival working group
In 2022, our celebration took two forms. The Highland Climate Festival and the Orkney Climate Festival. There were a few reasons for this; it allowed us to work in partnership with Highland Adapts in Highland and with the Orkney International Science Festival in Orkney. It made sense at the time and allowed us to break down the work into two, manageble week long events. Between the two events, over 150 online and in person events took place all celebrating community-led climate action and we’re super proud with what was achieved and the brilliant relationships we formed, not just with Highland Adapts and the Orkney International Science Festival but with all the communities who took part. Events included active travel, repair cafes, growing open days, film screenings and even a tree hugging competition!
Feedback from the independent events highlighted that the communities who took part would like more ownership and decision making powers of the event - great! It was time to set up a working group.
Funded groups from the Highland & Orkney festivals were invited to an initial meeting to discuss the potential progress of the festival and from there, a strong partnership was formed with everyone working together, representing their own communities while contributing to the decisions being made around festival planning and logistics.
It was quickly agreed that the festival could easily cover a period of a month and September was selected to co-incide with Scottish Climate Week which takes place from 25th September - 1st October.
The working group is made up of 11 organisations and communities, meaning that the festival can be more inclusive from the outset and be sure to factor in the things most important and relevant to your place.
The 2023 Climate Festival is set to be a significant celebration of community-led climate action from Shetland to Skye and we can’t wait!
The Highlands and Islands Climate Hub has offered overarching support in creating and managing the website and social media channels. However, the beauty of the festival is that the decision-making powers lie with the communities who take part.
If you’re interested in being involved at working group level going forward, please reach out to us and we’ll arrange a chat after the 2023 celebration.