Law, Arts and Island Resilience

Funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, £ 10,000.00 [in collaboration with the Glasgow School of Art] [principal investigator]

Better understanding and consideration of the unique needs of Scotland’s island communities in decision making is central to the recently proposed Islands (Scotland) Bill. In this context, arts offer a powerful means through which the identities, geographies and cultural characteristics of island communities could be communicated. This project will explore how the forthcoming Bill will promote resilience on Scotland’s islands and the role of arts in the implementation of key legislative principles. The project will focus on North Uist and through a series of 3 workshops will engage the island’s artistic and wider community, and develop potential art-led strategies through which arts can play an important role in implementing key principles of the Bill. The overall objective is to develop the networks and working relationships between communities, artists, policy, law, and sustainability experts, and identify potential art-led strategies through which the arts can add value to the anticipated policy and legislative changes.