Impact Arts
319 Craigpark DriveGlasgow
G31 2TB
The blue on white sign was initially adopted by Nicola Burgess, Programme Manager at Impact Arts to be displayed outside their building for the whole of 2020. However, as a result of the disruption caused by the global pandemic, in November 2020 it was agreed to extend the adoption until autumn 2021, when as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations for Early Warning Signs, the blue on white sign was joined in Glasgow by the three other signs which were installed at various community venues across the city in the run-up to COP26.
For Glasgow Open House Arts Festival on Saturday 25 September 2021, Harrison led a special Bike & Talk event around Glasgow to visit the four signs - from Woodlands Community Garden in the West End to Impact Arts in the East End and then to The Bowling Green and The Hidden Gardens in the Southside. At the end of October 2021, the 10th anniversary celebrations concluded when all four signs were re-united for first time since the project began at Artsadmin in 2011 as part of a special exhibition at The Mitchell Library in Glasgow during COP26.
End of Year Report
By Amanda Munro, Programme Manager, Impact ArtsImpact Arts adopted the blue on white sign in Autumn of 2019 at our previous premises in Dennistoun, East End. The sign was used as a reference point for our Glasgow Creative Pathways group - young people aged 16-19 from across Glasgow who weren't currently in school, further education or employment. The project was part-funded by Our Bright Futures, a national funding scheme from National Lottery Community Fund, focussed on introducing and encouraging young people's interest in the climate crisis, sustainability and the environment as a scope for future employment.
By hosting the Early Warning Sign at the venue, the young people were reminded every day of their responsibility to protect our planet and educate others to respect their local environment. Ellie visited the Creative Pathways group on 28 February 2020 to discuss greener transport possibilities across Glasgow City, which the young people really took on board and used to influence their creative outputs towards the end of their time with Impact Arts, examples of which can be found on their Instagram page.
Due to disruption from the pandemic, Impact Arts remained custodians of the blue on white sign until Autumn 2021. Due to the nature of our building and the majority of our provision shifting online over 2020, we were unable to host the sign beyond our office boundary, limiting possibilities for interaction with the local community as originally planned when taking on the venture with Ellie. Staff commented on the sign acting as milestone for life at work prior to Covid, seeing it age over time as the gaps between our visits to the premises lengthened. Ellie was invited to meet with groups online over this period (on 16 November 2020 and 24 June 2021) and we kept up with an embedded eco sustainability and environmental theme across our online young people’s projects due to the success and keen interest from our initial Creative Pathways group.
We were pleased to able to look after the sign until it was collected by Ellie as part of the COP26 events across Glasgow in Autumn 2021.