Getting involved - event inspiration!
Communities from Shetland to Skye are encouraged to hold events during the period of 1st – 30th September celebrating the work they’re carrying out to combat the climate emergency and/or celebrating the theme of the festival - Think Local, Be Local.
There are many ways you can get involved with the Highlands and Islands Climate festival, but this blog looks particularly at hosting a community-led climate action event or launching a project to celebrate the festival.
Events are welcome from groups who are hosting their ‘usual’ calendar of events and from those who are hosting a specific or new event specifically for the festival. We’re excited to promote all events, not just those who have been festival financed.
If your community would like to get involved but could benefit from financial support, see our Funding page for all you need to know about applying for one of two grant funds, the Event Fund and the Big Local Picnic Fund.
Within 2022 it was impossible not to be inspired by the electic mix of events that communities brought forward. Events from 2022 fell into various categories, some of which we’ve listed below;
Active Travel
Repair Cafes
Growing Open Days
Film Screenings
Talks
Swapping events – think clothes, tools, seeds, anything
The fetival offers the ideal opportunity to host an event which allows you to progress with your organisations climate action goals while having fun and raising awareness of your organisation.
Let’s break down the mentioned categories a little further:
Active Travel:
Active Travel events are those that promote walking, wheeling and cycling. It could be a that you host an afternoon which looks at bicycle repairs and maintenance or a group cycle to build people’s confidence to use their bike as a mode of transport. Offer information on bike hire opportunities within your community and promote the health and wellbeing benefits of walking/cycling instead of immediately jumping in the car. You could even arrange a weeding session of a popular local walking spot and tidy it up for the benefit of all who use it.
Repair Cafes:
Anything that you can support your community to repair and reuse can make the ideal event. Depending on your organisations capacity, you might have someone in house who’s a dab hand with electricals or a sewing machine. Encourage people to bring along items they’d like repaired and do the fixes with them so that they’re equipped to carry out the skill another time. Why not take the opportunity to offer some baked goodies using local ingredients too and get a good blether going about similar events your community would like to see going forward. Get inspiration from the Share & Repair Network from Circular Communities Scotland.
Growing Open Days:
Growing open days can take many forms. If your community is lucky enough to have a community growing space, the festival is the ideal time to welcome new people to pay a visit, learn what your project is all about and get involved. To accommodate lots of interests, you could welcome growers to harvest while another group then cooks a community snack with the produce while the kids get creative making masterpieces with recycled materials. Think outside the box and have fun with potential ideas!
Film Screenings:
There are lots of films which make the ideal community event, we’ve even heard whisper that one of our communities is planning a mini film festival of their own within the Highlands and Islands Climate Festival! Our Event Fund can support the costs of licence fees for suitable films and if you’d like some inspiration as to specific films you could host, reach out to us as we’d love to help! Previous popular titles have included; The Dreaming bog, Fashion Reimagined, Just Eat It and FernGully:The Last Rainforest for the kids (and big kids) Don’t forget to add a climate engagement element to your event, host a discussion after the screening and see if there’s a local demand to take action based on what you’ve just learnt.
Talks:
Whether it’s an academic you’ve dreamed of visiting your community hall to talk about efficiently heating community buildings and the ways of facilitating a project or if you’ve seen a fellow community run a really interesteing project or launch a Social Enterprise focussed on food waste and would like to invite them to tell your community how they achieved it and those all important do’s and don’ts, we can support you to provide these types of events. The festival’s Event Fund can support professional fees as well as travel costs to make things easier.
Swapping Events:
Swapping events have grown in populrity recently and it’s no surprise. We can swap and share anything! The Highland Community Waste Partnership can help with ideas but think big. Swap clothing, gardening tools, Seeds, household goods, equipment between community groups - anything and everything!
This list is by no means exhaustive so please think big and about what could give a lasting legacy within your community. If you’d like to discuss an idea, please just reach out to us.
