Culture, Climate and the Power of Partnership: Artists in Conversation
Event Description
Join us for a special evening of conversation exploring the Scottish contribution to Turning the Tide, a European cultural collaboration examining climate change, water, place and community through socially engaged artistic practice.
Bringing together artists, researchers and project partners, this event offers an opportunity to reflect on how creative practice can help communities understand and respond to environmental change. Through discussion, film, photography, mapping and participatory approaches, the featured artists have worked alongside residents, environmental practitioners, health professionals, planners and community organisations to explore the lived realities of climate change across Scotland.
While Scotland now sits outside the European Union, Turning the Tide demonstrates the continued importance of international cultural exchange. Supported by Creative Scotland and local partners, the Scottish programme has connected communities in Govan, Renfrewshire and Dumfries with artists and organisations across Europe, creating new opportunities for dialogue around climate justice, river health, environmental memory and collective futures.
The discussion will feature artists whose work has emerged through local and international residencies as part of the project:
Robyn Woolston
Following an international residency in Gdańsk, Robyn Woolston has developed a powerful body of work connecting ecology, health and social justice. Drawing on personal experiences of illness alongside research into industrial landscapes and environmental harm, her practice explores the relationships between extractivism, care and climate breakdown. Through her current project Shifting Shores, Robyn continues to investigate river ecologies, industrial heritage and collective wellbeing across Renfrewshire.
Jamie Wardrop
Jamie Wardrop’s work combines environmental data, community knowledge and creative facilitation to help people experience rivers as complex living systems. Through his residency focusing on the White Cart Water and the wider Clyde bioregion, Jamie developed participatory workshops and interactive mapping tools that bring together scientific research, local experience and environmental observation. His work invites audiences to move beyond abstract climate information and towards shared responsibility for river health.
Philippa Tomlin
Working across drawing, textiles, installation and participatory practice, Philippa Tomlin creates welcoming spaces for reflection, creativity and environmental connection. Her residency explored how communities experience changing landscapes and river environments through observation, conversation and collaborative making. Her work highlights the role of care, wellbeing and collective imagination in responding to climate change.
What to Expect
- Artist presentations and discussion
- Insights from residencies
- Reflections on climate justice, river ecologies and cultural planning
- Audience Q&A
- Opportunities to learn more about the wider Turning the Tide project
About Turning the Tide
Turning the Tide is a European cooperation project exploring how artists, communities and cultural organisations can respond creatively to climate change and environmental transformation. Across Scotland, Poland, Greece, Austria and Sweden, artists have worked with local communities to investigate the social, cultural and ecological impacts of changing waterways and landscapes.
The Scottish programme demonstrates how locally rooted practice can remain internationally connected, fostering new forms of collaboration, learning and action across borders. Through shared methodologies, exchange and dialogue, Turning the Tide offers a model for how culture can contribute to collective responses to the climate crisis.
Whether you are interested in contemporary art, environmental issues, community engagement or the future of our rivers and landscapes, this event offers an opportunity to hear directly from artists working at the intersection of creativity, place and climate action.
