Clyde Bioregion* Residency Programme

arrantheatreandart
May 30
8 min read

Place & Community Engaged Opportunity 2025

Isle of Arran | Àrainn, Drumadoon Estate

Artists Brief

A bioregion is a geographical area, on land or at sea, defined not by administrative boundaries, but by distinct characteristics such as plant and animal species, ecological systems, soils and landforms, human settlements and cultural traditions, and topographic features such as watersheds.

The area in and around the Firth of Clyde estuary, including its human culture past and present, is the curatorial theme and focus for this residency Programme.

What is interesting to consider is not only the definition of a bioregion but what it is to practice bioregionalism/bioregioning. Can we think about it as Sense of Place combined with Care for Place, inviting life and acknowledging ephemerality.

Partnership and background

This residency opportunity on Arran marks the launch of the Clyde Bioregion Residency Programme. A further residency on the Isle of Cumbrae as part of this project will be launched in late summer 2025. The Clyde Bioregion residency steering group is a collective of Artists, Creative Practitioners, Landowners, and Gallerists, supported by North Ayrshire Council, Creative Scotland and Archaeology Scotland, who have come together through the work of the North Ayrshire Place Partnership, funded by Creative Scotland and coordinated by the Islands Arts Coordinator.

One of the main outcomes from the Place Partnership work identified a desire to create Artist Residency opportunities on the Islands of Arran and Cumbrae, now, through further funding from Creative Scotland’s Culture Collective Programme, the partnership has been enabled to fulfil this ambition. Culture Collective focuses on community engaged activity, supporting participatory approaches and projects where creative practitioners and communities work collaboratively.

Through a process of co-curation, the partnership has designed these residency opportunities and has also devised a ‘project compass’ which outlines the aspirations, expectations, values, and principles of the partnership. It is the intention to use the ‘project compass’ continuously throughout the project to evaluate and navigate what is important and what can improve as the programme proceeds.

Key themes identified by the partnership on the project compass are:

Stories

We want to encourage artists to explore archaeology, deep time, histories and life experiences, and share insights creatively.

This might look like, drawing on unique histories of landscape, sense of place and environment, engaging with island community narratives of seafaring and international connections, cross- sectoral working and drawing on support from the partnership to explore themes of Art and Archeology, for example.

Celebration

We want to use the residency programme to connect and create an emotional celebratory response for others that resonates and lives on.

This might look like: building on and connecting to existing Island culture, projects and events and finding elebratory ways to bring the community together.

Brave Spaces

We want to embrace flexibility, and to support and encourage artists in residence to take risks, feel inspired and experiment with ambitious new ideas and ways of doing things.

This might look like: process-driven creative approaches, encouraging multidisciplinary and or transdisciplinary work and allowing projects to evolve through new connections and community engagement.

Community Led

Appreciating communities are multi-faceted, we want to design activities and outcomes with, and for the community, to create a sense of community ownership.

This might look like: Engaging with the community throughout the residency period, hosting exploratory sessions so artists can build collaborative partnerships and identify a range of community groups to work with and engaging with schools on the Island.

Safe Spaces

We want to create a culture of welcome, inclusion and diversity. Temporal spaces within deep time. Social innovation, co-design and equity.

This might look like: ensuring spaces are accessible wherever possible, asking about access needs for artists and participants, and the Islands Arts coordinator and partnership working collaboratively to support artists in residence to connect to community groups.

It is the intention that the project compass is also a resource and a guide for Artists in residence.

Multi-Disciplinary Artists Opportunity

We are inviting artists and creative practitioners to submit proposals from across all art forms, visual, literary and performing arts. Artists and practitioners are invited to submit proposals that would enable artists to develop their practice or give time to test new ideas and ways of working.

Archaeology is already a strong theme of the project, and Arran is home to some significant archaeology sites, creative responses to the archaeology of the island is a theme the partnership is well placed to support and which we would welcome proposals around.

Environmental sustainability and respect for nature are important principles of the project. The partnership is also well placed to provide support to artists to creatively respond to place and environment, and to help develop an understanding of nature and the island’s environment and ecology.

Residency Support

The project partnership is a resource from which artists in residence can draw on for support in a range of ways throughout their residency, and particularly when engaging with the local Island Community, offering advice and support for any necessary Risk Assessments or relevant legislation, safeguarding and best practice when work with young people and communities The partnership and specifically the Islands Arts Coordinator will work collaboratively with the artist in residence to support their practice and maximise engagement.

Archaeology Scotland will provide support to ensure artists are confident to explore the potential of art and archaeology during their residency and future practice. This will be through:

Art & Archaeology Intro Pack
Support Sessions with Archaeology Scotland Team including orientation on the ground.
Potential for participation in an archaeological activity.

Community Engaged Practice

We are specifically looking for artists and creative practitioners with a participatory aspect to their practice. There is a strong emphasis on supporting the community to participate and to create spaces to connect, gather together and celebrate. Through the residency programme, we wish to enhance and contribute to the island's cultural and social offer.

There is an ongoing programme of Creative Conversations, and it is envisioned that this would be one way in which the artist in residence could begin to engage with the islands' creative and artistic communities. Building on existing conversations, a place to share skills, and encouraging new dialogues.

There is a network of small halls, plus other potential spaces and venues which can be utilised for events and gatherings.

Youth Opportunity

Engaging with the island’s schools and youth groups is also a key aspiration for the engagement of the project. The intention is to offer a shadow residency opportunity for a young island creative to practice in parallel with successful applicants, this will be supported by the coordinator and the Project Partnership.

This has its own budget, and the scope and activity of this would be mutually agreed upon once successful residency applicants are in place.

Terms and conditions

Rates of pay will be in accordance with the Scottish Artists' Union Relevant Rates
We are offering this residency opportunity for up to a maximum of 3 months and a minimum of 20 days.
We do recommend longer residency times to enable meaningful engagement with the place and community, however, it is appreciated that other commitments might not enable longer residency times, so shorter residency times will also be considered.
From 4 – 10th August there will be a series of Art and Archaeology activities and community engagement events happening and we would ideally like the successful artist to be in residence on island during this week.
Therefore, we are flexible in how artists choose to organise their residency time within this time frame, for example, a series of weeks or 2-week blocks spread out over the 3-month duration.
A current Disclosure Scotland is required.

Materials and production budget.

A materials and production budget of £1,000 per residency is available.

Residency Location and Accommodation - Drumadoon Estate (By Blackwaterfoot) Isle of

Arran

Drumadoon Estate is a partner on the Clyde Bioregion residency programme and is the host for the Arran Residency.

Drumadoon is located in the south west of the Isle of Arran, the environment offers exciting open spaces with histories going back into time. People have gathered and been inspired at Drumadoon for thousands of years and Drumadoon is rich in archaeological sites. The estate is four years into long-term archaeological research, working alongside numerous Universities, locally and internationally.

Drumadoon is one of Scotland's most significant re-wilding sites. Started in 2000, this is a long-term journey to restore valuable biodiversity to the bioregion, including the restoration of temperate Scottish rainforest.

Accommodation

Accommodation is provided as part of the residency offer.

Unique Vintage movable accommodation

Artists should be able to experience the raw nature and solitude at Drumadoon
Fully mobile 1956 Bedford Vintage truck has been converted into an off grid‘ home from home’, self-contained, and can be moved around the landscape, accessing the most remote and spectacular areas of the estate.
The internal accommodation comprises of a kitchen, with a wood burning range, dining table and benches, living area, as well as two bunk style queen size beds
There is an outdoor hot water shower, and of course a composting 'outhouse' toilet with spectacular views

Access

It is appreciated that given the remoteness of some parts of the island and the type of accommodation, which is offered as part of this residency, there will be some restrictions to the range of access requirements that can be accommodated.

However, the project has an access budget, and we are keen to enable access for as wide a range of artist participants as possible. Please refer to Creative Scotland's access support page which outlines a range of eligible access costs. Applicants are encouraged to get in touch with the Islands Arts Coordinator in advance of application submission if they have any queries relating to access to enable us to be open and realistic about the access we can practically and safely accommodate. Successful applicants will be asked to submit an Access Rider.

We are hoping to attract a diverse range of artists to this opportunity and specifically want to enable artist participants who would not usually have access to the natural environment and this type of opportunity to apply.

Submission

Please prepare a proposal outlining your practice, current focus using the Project Compass and the Key Themes identified in this brief to frame your proposal and outline how you would creatively respond to the opportunity.

Your proposal should be a maximum of 4 sides of A4, and should include;

A description of the particular areas of interest you would like to explore, while on Arran, relating to the Bioregion.
An outline of how this opportunity would develop your practice and be a significant opportunity in relation to your current practice.
A draft timeline illustrating how you intent to work over the duration of your proposed residency period, which should include time for relationship building, community engagement and evaluation.

Please also submit.

A copy of your CV
2-3 examples of your practice, such as videos or images.

The focus of the creative opportunity is for it to be community-engaged, participatory and process-driven; therefore, applications are not required to outline or define intended outcomes as part of their proposal, but we do expect to see a realistic time allocated to relationship building and connecting with the local community.

Please email your submission to the Island Arts Coordinator, Eòghann MacColl. naplacepartnership@north-ayrshire.gov.uk

If large in scale, sent via WeTransfer.

If applicants have any queries about this opportunity, we encourage them to contact the Islands Arts Coordinator in advance of submission. We are also open to accommodating other formats such as video or audio recording of proposals, if you would like to submit your proposal in either of these formats, please contact the Islands Arts Coordinator in advance of the application deadline to allow for time to accommodate and arrange for submissions in different formats.

Deadline for Submissions: 19th June 2025

Supported by North Ayrshire Council, Creative Scotland, through the Culture Collective Fund Coordinated by Island Arts Coordinator Eòghann MacColl, partnering Drumadoon Estate and Archaeology Scotland.