Author: Community Enterprise

Despite a strategic commitment nationally towards preventative spend and community led health, and a focus on the benefits of collaboration and partnership working between the third sector and the public sector, the way health and well-being is achieved for our communities has not changed much.  To challenge this, the Accelerating Ideas programme at the UK Big Lottery is considering investing in a method that will create a culture change in health, and fundamentally shift activity, (and potentially budgets), away from the NHS and statutory providers and towards communities.

Social prescribing is a means of enabling GPs and other health professionals to refer people to a range of local, non-clinical services usually in the third, charity or social enterprise sectors.  Social prescribing seeks to address people’s needs in a holistic way. It also aims to support individuals to take greater control of their own health and links “medical” process into a more social model of health and well-being.

Right now a feasibility is underway to scope out the establishment of a Social Prescribing Network across the North of Ireland and Scotland to roll out the idea, extending take up and impact.  A partnership of the Healthy Living Centre Alliance (HLCA) and Scottish Communities for Health and Wellbeing (SCFHWB) in Northern Ireland and Scotland (respectively) have commissioned a consortia of Community Enterprise and Scottish Community Development Centre to investigate this model.   As part of the research, there is a need to consider what the appetite for such a model could look like in Northern Ireland and Scotland.  We would be very grateful if you would help us to promote and distribute this survey in your bulletin  and through your networks as it could really be something of national significance for community organisations.

Here is the link to the Social Prescribing Survey 

Author: Rupert Jones, The Guardian

When the only pub in the Cumbrian village of Crosby Ravensworth closed its doors in 2009, residents decided they were not prepared to simply sit back and accept the loss of a vital community hub. They took matters into their own hands, setting up a financial co-operative to bring their local back to life – which meant putting in their own money.

For a minimum investment of £250, villagers and others sympathetic to the cause could become a “co-owner” of the Butchers Arms. A May 2011 article in the Guardian highlighting the venture contributed to a surge in the number of people signing up, and it was not long before the target was reached, allowing the co-operative to buy the pub, refurbish it and open its doors once again to drinkers and diners (the then-prime minister, David Cameron, even popped along to officially open the bar).

Six years on, the Butchers Arms is thriving and very much “back on the map”, said husband-and-wife landlords Jon and Katie Metcalfe. In 2011, co-operative pubs owned by members were a rarity – there were only about half a dozen others – but it seems the idea of local people taking ownership of a vital amenity has caught on. A report issued this week revealed that the number of co-operative pubs open for business has now reached 50 and there are 90 groups actively exploring setting one up.

The report from Plunkett Foundation, a charity that supports community-owned businesses, said these locally owned and run enterprises “are prospering where private enterprise has failed”.

It’s a relatively rare shaft of good news for an industry that has been buffeted by a range of factors, from people increasingly opting to either stock up on cheap supermarket booze or pricier craft beers they can drink at home, to high pub rents and wholesale beer prices. According to the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), 21 British pubs every week are calling last orders for good, though if the community-owned pub revolution gathers pace, that pace could slow.

The sector may still be relatively small, but it is growing fast. In 1988 there was only one co-operative pub registered, and in 2004 there were just three. But the number had climbed to 46 by the end of 2016, hit 50 last month, and is likely to reach 57 by the end of 2017, said the report. Perhaps remarkably, bearing in mind that in many cases these were previously failing or defunct businesses, not a single co-operative pub has closed, “maintaining an impressive 100% survival rate”, said Plunkett Foundation.

The north-west of England and Wales are home to the largest numbers of co-operative pubs, and while many are located in rural areas, there are a number in towns and cities. The Ivy House in Nunhead, south-east London, is one of two co-operatively owned pubs in the capital – the other is the Antwerp Arms in Tottenham – and was saved by a dedicated group of volunteers who raised £1m to buy the freehold and refurbish the property after it was closed down by Enterprise Inns in 2012 and sold to a property developer.

Now it is a key part of the community and plays host to a dizzying array of events – from lindy hop and children’s ukulele classes to yoga and knitting sessions – as well as live music, comedy nights, and all the things you would expect: pub quizzes, birthday parties/weddings/funeral wakes etc. “We’re doing well, we have a loyal community around us,” said a spokeswoman for the Ivy House, which has 371 member owners (also known as shareholders).

The 50th co-operative pub to open is the Craufurd Arms in Maidenhead, Berkshire, within Theresa May’s constituency. It was described by the Co-operative & Community Finance organisation as “a rare example of an ungentrified local in the affluent Royal Borough of Windsor” that was well known locally for its good beer, darts teams and showing sport on TV. A so-called community benefit society made up of 226 members recently bought the pub, and it is open for business, with a “grand opening weekend” planned for 21-23 July. It is not clear yet whether the prime minister will be cutting the ceremonial ribbon.

Locals sprang into action when the owner, Wellington Pub Company, announced it wished to dispose of the property. A fundraising share issue opened in February 2017 and raised £310,000 from people investing sums between £250 and £25,000.

With a grant from the More Than a Pub programme and a loan from Co-operative & Community Finance, this was enough to proceed with the purchase, and the transfer of ownership was accomplished without any interruption to the business of serving customers.

Back at the Butchers Arms in Cumbria, Jon Metcalfe said the pub was “going from strength to strength – we have people travelling from quite far and wide to visit us”. However, he admitted he was initially a little apprehensive about working for a business that in effect has 330 member owners. Many of the customers and pub employees “own part of the brickwork”, and he had wondered whether he might find himself having to deal with regulars saying: “I own this building, I don’t want to pay that much for a pint.” But his worries proved unfounded: “No one ever pulls rank – we are very much left to run the business.”

Kitty Smith, secretary of the co-operative that bought the Butchers Arms, said the 2011 Guardian piece about the fundraising had made a big difference: “I can remember receiving £21,000 the following Tuesday after the article appeared.” While many of the members live locally, some come from as far afield as Alaska and Australia. So does she visit the pub much herself? “I’m going there tonight – I’m never away,” said Smith. “The food is amazing – Thai prawn curry tonight.”

Some of the schemes to finance the purchase of co-operative pubs offer those participating the bonus of a financial return. In the case of the Butchers Arms, the co-operative is paying 3% interest a year – more than the vast majority of savings accounts offer.

Author: Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent, Guardian

World has three years left to stop dangerous climate change, warn experts

Former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres: “We stand at the doorway of being able to bend the emissions curve downwards by 2020.”

Avoiding dangerous levels of climate change is still just about possible, but will require unprecedented effort and coordination from governments, businesses, citizens and scientists in the next three years, a group of prominent experts has warned.

Warnings over global warming have picked up pace in recent months, even as the political environment has grown chilly with Donald Trump’s formal announcement of the US’s withdrawal from the Paris agreement. This year’s weather has beaten high temperature records in some regions, and 2014, 2015 and 2016 were the hottest years on record.

But while temperatures have risen, global carbon dioxide emissions have stayed broadly flat for the past three years. This gives hope that the worst effects of climate change – devastating droughts, floods, heatwaves and irreversible sea level rises – may be avoided, according to a letter published in the journal Nature this week.

The authors, including former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and Hans Joachim Schellnhuber of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, argue that the next three years will be crucial. They calculate that if emissions can be brought permanently lower by 2020 then the temperature thresholds leading to runaway irreversible climate change will not be breached.

Figueres, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, under whom the Paris agreement was signed, said: “We stand at the doorway of being able to bend the emissions curve downwards by 2020, as science demands, in protection of the UN sustainable development goals, and in particular the eradication of extreme poverty. This monumental challenge coincides with an unprecedented openness to self-challenge on the part of sub-national governments inside the US, governments at all levels outside the US, and of the private sector in general. The opportunity given to us over the next three years is unique in history.”

Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, added: “The maths is brutally clear: while the world can’t be healed within the next few years, it may be fatally wounded by negligence [before] 2020.”

Scientists have been warning that time is fast running out to stave off the worst effects of warming, and some milestones may have slipped out of reach. In the Paris agreement, governments pledged an “aspirational” goal of holding warming to no more than 1.5C, a level which it is hoped will spare most of the world’s lowest-lying islands from inundation. But a growing body of research has suggested this is fast becoming impossible.

Paris’s less stringent, but firmer, goal of preventing warming from exceeding 2C above pre-industrial levels is also in doubt.

The authors point to signs that the trend of upward emissions is being reversed, and to technological progress that promises lower emissions for the future. Renewable energy use has soared, creating a foundation for permanently lowering emissions. Coal use is showing clear signs of decline in key regions, including China and India. Governments, despite Trump’s pronouncements, are forging ahead with plans to reduce greenhouse gases.

The authors called for political and business leaders to continue tackling emissions and meeting the Paris goals without the US. “As before Paris, we must remember that impossible is not a fact, it’s an attitude,” they wrote.

They set out six goals for 2020 which they said could be adopted at the G20 meeting in Hamburg on 7-8 July. These include increasing renewable energy to 30% of electricity use; plans from leading cities and states to decarbonise by 2050; 15% of new vehicles sold to be electric; and reforms to land use, agriculture, heavy industry and the finance sector, to encourage green growth.

Prof Gail Whiteman said the signs from technical innovation and economics were encouraging: “Climate science underlines the unavoidable urgency of our challenge, but equally important is the fact that the economic, technical and social analyses show that we can resoundingly rise to the challenge through collective action.”

While the greenhouse gases poured into the atmosphere over the last two centuries have only gradually taken effect, future changes are likely to be faster, scientists fear. Johan Rockström of the Stockholm Resilience Centre said: “We have been blessed by a remarkably resilient planet over the past 100 years, able to absorb most of our climate abuse. Now we have reached the end of this era, and need to bend the global curve of emissions immediately, to avoid unmanageable outcomes for our modern world.”

Author: SE Code Steering Group

CLICK HERE to view the latest attempt to clarify what is and what isn’t a social enterprise

Author: Scottish Government

Community Empowerment and Common Good Property:

Consultation on Draft Guidance

Overview

This is a consultation on guidance for local authorities on how to fulfil the requirements of Part 8 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 in relation to Common Good property.

Common Good property is owned by local authorities and has been passed down, through local government reorganisation, from former burghs. Those burghs would have received it as a gift or purchased it. It includes land and buildings, moveable items such as furniture and art, and cash funds. There may be restrictions on how certain items of Common Good property are allowed to be used, and whether the local authority can dispose of them. In some cases this has to be decided by the courts. It is also worth noting that, due to the time which has passed, it is sometimes difficult to know whether property forms part of the Common Good.

Why we are consulting

Part 8 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 places new duties on local authorities in relation to Common Good property. This consultation concerns the statutory guidance related to these processes and asks for views on issues such as timescales, information about assets, local consultation and publicising proposals.

• Section 102 places a duty on local authorities to “establish and maintain a register of property which is held by the authority as part of the common good.”

• Section 104 places a duty on local authorities “Before taking any decision to dispose of, or change the use of, such [common good] property the local authority must publish details about the proposed disposal or, as the case may be, the use to which the authority proposes to put the property.”

• Sections 103 and 105 require local authorities “to have regard to any guidance issued by the Scottish Ministers” in relation to these duties.

Part 8 does not define or redefine Common Good or remove or alter any restrictions on the use or disposal of Common Good property.

Responding to this Consultation

We are inviting responses to this consultation by 29 September 2017.

Author: Jon Baldvin Hannibalsson, Social Europe

The neoliberal era started in the eighties as a revolt against the welfare state. It was a reassertion of the fundamentalist belief in market infallibility. It turned out to be a repeat version of history: Essentially it leads to casino capitalism, in the thrall of high finance, just as in the stock exchange crash in 1929. Austerity-like policies to deal with the consequences deepened the crisis, then as now, and ended in a decade-long Great Depression.

The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008 signified the end of that neoliberal era. Once more, this version of unregulated capitalism crashed. It ended in the biggest rescue operation by the state in history. Stimulus packages by the state and quantitative leasing (printing money) by central banks on a massive scale rescued us from a new Great Depression.

Instead, we are now experiencing the Great Recession. What is the difference? A massive bail-out of the financial system by tax-payers. Once again, unregulated capitalism had to be saved from the capitalists – by the state. This has revealed neoliberalism to be what it is: pseudo-science in the service of the super-rich. Just like Soviet communism it is a fundamentalist dogma, which has utterly failed the test of implementation. And in so far as it is in the service of privileged elites and rejects the role of the democratic state in taking care of the public interest it is in essence anti-democratic.

Dying Neoliberalism

Underlying the demise of neoliberalism is a financial system out of control. In the years 1980-2014 the financial system grew six times faster than the real economy. The fundamentalist belief driving it is that the sole duty of corporate CEOs is to maximize short-term profits, share prices and dividends. Those perverse incentives are used to justify executive salaries more than 300 times higher than those of average workers; and obscene bonuses.

This is many times more than in any other sectors, although managing money creates no comparable value. As such, this financial system has turned out to be the main conduit for moving streams of income and wealth from the productive sectors of society to the financial elite: from the 99% to the 1%. The share of labor in global GDP has fallen by hundreds of billions annually, while the share of income/wealth enriching the 1% has increased dramatically.

Small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) account for 67% of job creation in our societies, but receive only a fraction of total bank lending. In their single-minded pursuit of short-term profit the banks concentrate their lending on stock exchange speculation and real estate, increasing the nominal value of existing assets – creating bubbles and busts – and further enriching the rich.

This is why inequality has reached exorbitant levels in our societies. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer by the day. This is why long-term unemployment is built into the system. This is why poverty is increasing amidst plenty. This is why social cohesion is dwindling and polarisation growing. Since our leaders seem to be offering no convincing solutions, feelings of disappointment, resentment, anger and distrust are rising. Our democracy is under siege by the plutocratic elite.

Footloose Finances And Solidarity

This unsustainable financial system is footloose and fickle and prone to panic at the slightest sign of trouble, leaving behind scorched earth: collapsed currencies, bankrupted banks, sovereign defaults and mountains of debt to be paid by others. There is a complete disconnect between freedom and responsibility. After the crash of 2008 the system has been rebuilt on the same model. That means that we are stuck in a prolonged recession, even awaiting a new crisis. The people out there, who are suffering the consequences, are waiting for trustworthy solutions – radical reform.

What is our social democratic response to this existentialist crisis of unregulated capitalism? The basic elements of the Nordic model took shape as a response to the great socio-economic upheavals of the interwar period of the last century. In the West we observed the market failure of unregulated capitalism and the Great Depression. In the East we observed the Soviet experiment with communism: a centralized command economy run by a police state, which enforced the abolition of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

We rejected both. We decided that we would follow the third way. We recognized the usefulness of a competitive market system, where applicable, to allocate resources and create wealth. But we put markets under strict democratic control to avoid market distortions (monopolies, booms and busts and extreme concentration of wealth). We insisted on public provision of education, healthcare and general utilities (energy, water, public transport, etc).

The means are familiar. Social insurance (sickness, accident, old age, and unemployment insurance), free access to quality healthcare and education, paid for by progressive taxation; active labour market policy to get rid of unemployment; and provide affordable housing for all. We emphasize equality of the sexes and strong support for families with children. These are redistributive policies aimed at increasing equality and social mobility – as a matter of human rights not as charity.

The result is a society where equality of income and wealth is greater than elsewhere. This means that individual freedom is not a privilege of the few, but a matter of emancipation for the many. Social mobility – the ability to advance in society, if you work hard and play by the rules – is de facto greater in the Nordic countries than elsewhere. The Nordic model has by now replaced the United States of America as the land of opportunity.

This is the only socio-economic model, emerging in the last century, that has withstood the test of time in the era of globalization in the 21st century.

Why the Nordic Model Works

The neoliberal creed is that the welfare state, with its high progressive taxes and strong public sector, is uncompetitive. State intervention hampers growth and innovation and results in stagnation. The bottom line: owing to its lack of dynamism, the welfare state is said to be unsustainable in the long run. And the proliferation of state bureaucracy is even said to threaten individual freedom and ultimately end in a totalitarian state (Hayek).

Now we know better. The facts speak for themselves. No matter what criteria we apply, the Nordic model is invariably at the top of the league.

This applies no less to economic performance than other criteria: Economic growth, research and development, technological innovation, productivity per hour of work, job creation, participation in the labour market, (especially women), equality of the sexes, level of education, social mobility, absence of poverty, health and longevity, quality of infrastructure, access to unspoilt nature, the overall quality of life. Less inequality than in most places. And a vibrant democracy. What more do you want?

What tasks lie ahead? An all-out effort against the financial elite to restrain the forces of inequality and to reclaim the power of democracy. An unyielding solidarity with Europe’s youth, who have been left to fend for themselves in the queues of the unemployed, bereft of hope. And take up the fight for the preservation of the environment and our common future on this planet.

There are three major challenges that lie ahead in the immediate and near future:

1.            Sanitise the corrupt financial system and put it back firmly under democratic control

2.            Massive investment in clean and renewable energy to replace fossil fuels as the life-blood of our economies. This is an urgent task which calls for social democrats and environmentalists to work together to save our planet

3.            Start planning now how to tackle the consequences of the technological revolution which is ongoing all around us (IT, digitization and automation)

The prospect of massive and systemic unemployment through automation calls for radical thinking about the distribution of income and the responsibilities of the democratic state in such a society. On the agenda should be proposals for a minimum basic income for all. This is a gigantic task that calls for well-designed redistributive policies in the spirit of social democracy, utterly beyond the capacity of unregulated capitalism to solve.

These three major problems, as well as relevant solutions, are inter-related.. A precondition for success in meeting them is a political alliance between social democrats, trade unions, environmentalists and the radical left among Europe´s neglected youth. The road signs are already there.

Remember the motto of Tage Erlander, the long-time leader of Sweden’s social democrats, and arguably the greatest reformer of the last century. He said: “The market is a useful servant, but an intolerable master”. And the spiritual leader of the Catholic faith, Pope Francis, agreed, when he said:

The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of financial markets, which are faceless and lacking any humane goal. Money has to serve, not rule.

Author: Scottish Government

Rural communities will have a stronger voice thanks to funding for the Rural Parliament announced by Environment and Land Reform Secretary Roseanna Cunningham.

The £200,000 funding for Scottish Rural Action (SRA) will support delivery of their 2017–19 Action Plan, which contains five policy areas debated and chosen by rural communities at the 2016 Rural Parliament in Brechin.

Speaking at the Royal Highland Show, Ms Cunningham said:

“The two Scottish Rural Parliament events to date have been successful in giving our rural communities a stronger voice. To help foster this further, I am delighted to be able to demonstrate our continued support by confirming a further £200,000 to Scottish Rural Action.

“This will support the development of an inclusive and sustainable rural movement that is rooted in Scotland’s rural communities and help support the organisation of a third Rural Parliament in 2018.

“It has been encouraging to see the progress that SRA has made since its inception in 2014, and I look forward to hearing about further successes in the future.”

Amanda Burgauer, Chair of Scottish Rural Action, said

“Scottish Rural Action is delighted to receive on-going support from the Scottish Government for our work in empowering rural communities in Scotland.

“It has become clear over the last year that there is a need for SRA to be a proactive influencer in policy and decision-making, with the driving force for this direction coming from both rural communities and wider stakeholders. Our Action Plan for 2017-19 crystalises this shift in focus to being a powerful voice for the people of rural Scotland and focuses on the themes chosen by our members at the Rural Parliament in 2016. These are digital connectivity, local democracy, land, transport and business, enterprise and employment.

“We also see the need to respond positively to the understandable concerns from rural communities about Brexit, and our conference in September this year will be focused on rural development post-2020, and continuing to develop a cohesive vision for rural Scotland.”

Background

The Scottish Government has so far provided a total of £480,000 over the 3 years to support two Rural Parliaments and the delivery of the resultant Action Plans. This does not include today’s announcement.

The funding will help with:

  *   Delivery on the 2017/19 SRA Action Plan

  *   Enabling five priority working groups to take forward targeted actions

  *   The continuation of the Scottish Rural Action voluntary board meetings and continued input to local, national and EC policy

Author: SAGS

To download a copy of Galvanising Grassroots – Grow Your Own Allotment Site

Introduction

“True freedom lies where a man receives his nourishment and preservation, and that is in the use of the earth.” Gerrard Winstanley, 1652

Allotments are in demand. More than ever, people want to be part of the allotment community to  experience the enjoyment of cultivating land, making new friends, sharing ideas, being out in the fresh air and keeping healthy.

Allotments are an integral part of society as relevant today as hundreds of years ago. Back in the 17^th century ‘The Diggers’ challenged land ownership and demanded rights to cultivate. The quest for working the land for ordinary people’s well-being and enjoyment has been an essential component of social history that is as relevant today as it was for Gerrard Winstanley’s Diggers in 1649. With Scotland’s Land Reform and Community Empowerment legislation providing further opportunities for communities to develop allotments, now is the time for people to “enjoy the earth”.

On a typical Scottish allotment you will find energetic people both fulfilling their own capabilities and enjoying collective recreation with their families and friends. Allotments are places of equality and inclusivity without social, cultural or ethnic boundaries.

Allotments are not just about growing things but can include ground for orchards, ponds, community huts and social gathering. They are places where people can choose to socialise or be places that provide therapeutic quiet contemplation.

A grassroots network of allotment action makers are coming together to respond to this growing tide of interest and this guide is intended to help an understanding of the purpose, benefit and operations of allotments as well as collectively galvanising and growing support to deliver more allotments for Scotland.

Author: John Houghton New Start Magazine

Streets running with human excrement. Anything not nailed down being stolen. Stabbings and robberies a regular occurrence. The Liverpool Echo’s recent reports into the state of the city’s Kensington neighbourhood paint an alarming picture.

Yet the most shocking fact, unreported by the Echo, is that the same ‘Kenny’ neighbourhood was the recipient of £62m through the New Deal for Communities programme (NDC).

The NDC programme, as some of you will recall, was one of the last Labour government’s most significant neighbourhood renewal spending commitments. In total, 39 small neighbourhoods across England were awarded £2bn.

Kensington’s allocation was the largest of them all. The body responsible for spending this money on a long term and supposedly sustainable programme of urban turnaround only wrapped up in 2010.

A lot has happened since then, to put it mildly, in terms of politics and public finance. But very few neighbourhoods have declined as significantly and as rapidly as Kensington seems to have done.

The other NDC areas, chosen because they exhibited similar levels of multiple deprivation (i.e. they suffered in terms of poor health, a weak economy, unfit housing, and poor schools results) have not fallen back so hard.

What has happened in and to Kensington to trigger such a decline?

The local residents cited in the Echo point to one primary reason: housing. Specifically, the growth of privately rented and largely unmanaged houses in multiple occupation. Thus Kensington has fallen victim to the same cycle of housing market and social dysfunction as many seaside towns: a boom in low income, often troubled single person households, leading to unstable social conditions and further abandonment as other householders flee.

One can also point to local government cuts. Liverpool has had to make significant reductions, but, again, one comes to a similar point that many other authorities have had to dig deep to deliver efficiencies without excrement running down their streets.

I can’t get away from the fact the NDC programme was given £62m, as well advice and support from civil servants and consultants, over ten years to put the neighbourhood on a stable, prosperous footing for the long term.

The evaluation of the NDC is largely very positive about the achievements over the preceding decade. Tellingly, however, it highlights the ‘semi-detached’ relationship between Liverpool Council and the partnership. The former operated as if Kensington were suddenly ‘self-sufficient’ because it had so much additional funding; the latter, perhaps making the mistake, failed to build relationships with council staff and tended toward ‘insular’ behaviour.

In the polite parlance of the researchers, this lack of alignment and joint effort ‘was to the detriment of both sides in terms of achieving the outcomes both were wanting’.

The situation deteriorated further from this stand-off. The evaluation critiqued the amount of time spent by the partnership on the form and structure of the post-2010 succession vehicle, to the detriment of thinking about its actual function and purpose. Getting succession plans right is absolutely vital to making a lasting difference beyond the lifespan of short-term additional money.

The successor organisation which was eventually created, Kensington Regeneration Community Interest Company, was reported to be ‘on the verge of insolvency’ as early as 2011. In the following years, the CIC was disbanded, and its remaining assets sold off.

You can all have the extra money you could wish for. But if you spend it without an eye on the future or the input of people who will be there for the long haul, you might it as well throw it into the already overflowing gutter.

Author: Kelly Apter

Read the full guide – Profiting from Creativity

Halls, theatres, galleries and the myriad of buildings and spaces across Scotland where people come together are valuable to us all, socially and culturally. Keeping them running, sustainable and engaging is a challenge increasingly taken up by communities themselves rather than relying on cashstrapped public or private institutions.

This publication explores some of the creative activities that are taking place in community venues across Scotland that add to the sustainable income mix. We hope you will be inspired by some of the ideas, and find practical tips and resources that will allow you to develop your own income streams and profit from the arts. More than that, these activities often draw people into rural areas and bring a unique vibrancy, as well as creating a destination in itself. Whether that is in the form of events like The Easdale Island World Stone Skimming Championship, rivalling Glastonbury for ‘cool’, or BonFest in the village of Kirriemuir paying homage to all things Bon Scott and AC/DC; both are brilliant creative responses to their unique heritage of place.

The ‘ordinary village hall’ can become something quite different, attracting quality acts and money from catering, bars and overnight accommodation. The Three Villages Hall, Cove Burgh Hall, Dunlop Village Hall and Letham Nights have built up reputations for quality events and performances. Nairn Community & Arts Centre is a gorgeous space valued by locals for its cakes and craft, and as a lovely venue in itself. It takes determination and dedication to bring in the kind of money needed to transform and rebuild spaces like the Drill Hall in Leith taken on by Out of the Blue, proving that the impossible is sometimes possible. It is rooted in its local community and is at the forefront of Edinburgh’s cultural vibrancy, helping to promote the image of Edinburgh as a culturally rich city.

 We are indebted to the community organisations who have contributed their time and experience so generously to this publication. You are an inspiration to many. Our thanks to Kelly Apter, freelance journalist, for researching and writing this publication and to Voluntary Arts Scotland for its early-stage input and expertise.

The Community Ownership Support Service