Solway Firth Partnership -Creativity for Action

The Solway Firth Partnership works with partners on a wide variety of projects on both the English and Scottish side of the Solway Firth. Solway Firth Partnership is a charity that supports a vibrant and sustainable local economy while respecting, protecting and celebrating the distinctive character, heritage and natural features of the Solway Firth. Community engagement is at the heart of our work and the arts are one of the many ways we encourage people to be curious about the coast and raise awareness of issues facing the marine environment.

Solway Firth Partnership commissioned Alice Francis to create a sea monster on the shore near Auchencairn that was inspired by the issues of unsightly marine litter, particularly durable plastic. Constructed from a frame or skeleton of driftwood bound together with discarded rope, it was covered by plastic of all shapes and sizes collected by volunteers. Drilled, knotted, netted and fastened, the plastic took on monstrous proportions with a gaping mouth large enough to stand inside, and symbolised consumerism consumed. The power of the winter storms returned the creature from the depths back into a tangled strandline of debris. A beach clean by volunteers removed and sorted the plastic before it was sent to a recycling facility in Dumfries.

The Walking the Tide event was developed by Coleman & Hodges for Solway Firth Partnership and took place at Kippford when over 140 people joined the procession across the tidal causeway to Rough Island. The work aimed to explore the relationship between people, tides and the dynamic seascape. The procession with ‘wind catchers’ across the tidal causeway together with the voice piece on the island encouraged people to engage with their natural environment in an innovative way. The Drama group at Catstrand took part in a workshop to create a set piece of choreography for the event which provided an opportunity for people of all ages to work collectively towards a goal of creating a visually exciting experience.

Between 22nd August – 2nd September the Gracefield Arts Centre will host the Solway Hoard exhibition which portrays the possible future of plastic by displaying beach finds as if they are treasures in a museum set in the year 3023. Inspired by the Galloway Hoard exhibition, and teaming up with Waste Stories project led by Anna Wilson of the University of Glasgow, the Solway Hoard exhibition and accompanying booklet offers a fresh perspective on the future of synthetic plastics. The exhibition was curated by Museums of the FutureNow, a collaboration of Jo Hodges, Robbie Coleman and

Mike Bonaventura, who ran a series of community engaged participatory writing to create the stories behind each object on display. The speculative future conceived by Museums of the FutureNow explains the history of the Plastic Age that blossomed between 1950 and 2050. The exhibition and accompanying booklet reveals the story of plastic for 1,000 years in the future and is both entertaining and thought provoking.

The Solway Hoard from the Plastic Age exhibition is part of a wider Solway Firth Partnership project called More Positive Action for a https://museumsofthefuturenow. org/the-solway-hoard/ https://wastestories.org.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/ solwayfirthpartnership

Cleaner Solway, which focusses on beach cleans and health & wellbeing. It is supported by the Scottish Government, through Marine Fund Scotland.