This new platform has been created as an opportunity for the region’s cultural sector to share their thoughts and vision for a stronger and more resilient sector. It is hosted by Live Life Aberdeenshire’s Cultural Services team and will initially be facilitated by newly appointed freelancer, Lindsay Dunbar. We look forward to receiving and sharing your contributions and common interests for the greater good of a creative Aberdeenshire.
For this first Creative Aberdeenshire Network (CAN) blog, we are leading with the header ‘It starts with C...’.
For me, as the Cultural Development Coordinator for Live Life Aberdeenshire, ‘It starts with… Community’.
As part of the Cultural Services team, we recognise and celebrate the immense diversity across our communities and the many opportunities that brings. Strategy for real change is only possible through strong partnerships between the council, key partners, third sector organisations and the dedicated and passionate people in our communities.
Let me give you a quick background to CAN. Several workshops and presentations led by LLA’s Cultural Services team took place across the region over a five-month period in 2019. The sessions aimed to start addressing priority and common needs highlighted through earlier engagement, and to provide options for moving things forward. Plans to progress this were put on hold in March 2020 due to Covid-19. Whilst we don’t want to lose sight of earlier key findings, successfully navigating the impact of the pandemic requires stronger and more meaningful partnerships more than ever. Collaboration can only strengthen cultural infrastructure, and we want to be brave and innovative in what we do.
Our aims are simple and achievable.
We want to hear your voices, individually and collectively, from across Aberdeenshire.
We want to celebrate and share your cultural contributions towards building a stronger and more resilient creative community.
Striving to be honest, open and transparent with our communities, we have designed several platforms for engagement. Parallel to this blog, we have also launched a cultural survey and we welcome your participation here. It has been designed to capture information that will allow us to better understand artform, location, skillset and needs of Aberdeenshire’s creative community. We also will be hosting Listening Circles in the New Year, for people to come together online and discuss the issues they feel are most important to a successful CAN. We are now even on Instagram @CreativeAberdeenshireNetwork .
Once a thorough arts audit has been achieved, the results will be assessed, and common themes will be explored further and initiated.
We anticipate increased partnership working and cross-collaborative practice.
We hope that the cultural sector of Aberdeenshire feels more empowered and connected.
We want to see investment in regional cultural and creative engagement. We are striving to develop and support a cohesive network that brings cultural communities together to give the sector the recognition it deserves and strengthen the cultural infrastructure.
So, we look forward to hearing from you! This is about working together; this is about setting and achieving common goals; this is about supporting each other to achieve strong, creative and ambitious communities. In such presently challenging times, our communities have really needed and valued the arts more than ever. Here’s to a creative 2022!
Jacqueline Bennett, Cultural Development Coordinator, Live Life Aberdeenshire Dec. 2021