Community Land Week returns this year as Community Land Festival!
Community Land Festival celebrates community landowners (communities that own land or buildings) and their achievements.
This will be Scotland’s sixth Community Land Festival. The celebration began in 2018 as Community Land Week. In 2023, based on community feedback, the festival was extended from one week to two. This was well-received, and so this year the celebrations returns for two weeks, from 18 October to 3 November 2024, under the new banner of Community Land Festival.
New this year: The Community Land Festival Fringe (for Aspiring Community Landowners
This year, the festival will also include a satellite series for groups who are on their community ownership journey, highlighting and supporting outreach and engagement. In addition to the promotion and press support that all Community Land Festival events receive, communities participating in the Fringe will attend a briefing session on how to programme and run effective community engagement activities, and will receive support in developing their ideas.
The Festival is coordinated by Community Land Scotland and the Scottish Government Community Land Team, but we also work closely with other membership organisations that support community owners of land and buildings.
Community Land Festival celebrates 100 Years of Community Ownership
The 100 Years of Community Ownership project seeks to build a digital archive of community owners’ experience, memories and knowledge, and we want you to join in!
We are asking groups to participate with any (or all!) of the following activities as part of Community Land Festival 2024. You will receive a box by post containing all the materials needed to conduct each activity as well as instructions to you on how to run it as part of your Community Land Festival event.
People attending your Community Land Festival event will be invited to write a love letter to the community asset you own, whether that is a woodland, a pub, a former church or anything else! All they have to do is follow the template and fill in the gaps about what these this place means to them, the difference it’s made to the community, and why they love it!
For those of you who are doing outdoor or decentralised events, this option will allow your community to easily write letters digitally, using this online option.
Invite your community to imagine the future in photos. We’ll send out a sign for your event attendees to hold that says “In 100 years time I hope this place is….” and they fill in the rest. Invite them to hold the sign, or place it somewhere in shot, and then take the picture. Post the photos to your social media, and send them to us, and we’ll start to build a picture of what we want Scotland to look like in a century.
Frequently asked questions:
Community Land Festival is open to geographically-based community organisations that already own land or buildings in Scotland. You will need to demonstrate that you have public liability insurance.
We’d like to hear a little bit about your plans before we approve you to take part, but on the whole, we’d encourage you to be creative with your event planning.
The type of events communities have run in previous years include: walks around community land, celebratory events such as ceilidhs and tea parties, teddy bears’ picnics, fun days for children, reminiscence events, pumpkin festivals, ribbon cutting ceremonies and community meals.
You can also get together with other community landowners to coordinate events on a local or regional basis. Please let us know if you’d like some assistance with the coordination.
If you are hosting an event as part of Community Land Festival, we will expect you to:
* Provide full information about the event you running, including where and when it will take place by mid-September
* Provide Community Land Scotland with text for the Community Land Festival page on its website by mid-September
* Provide a copy of your public liability insurance before claiming your bursary (if applicable)
* Use the Community Land Festival logo in your event publicity
* Participate in one of the 100 Years of Community Ownership activities
* Promote your event locally through your own media contacts, social media and local communities
* Fill out Community Land Festival evaluation form after completion of event
We may offer you the opportunity to be featured in our national or local press releases, but this will be up to you
All participating organisations will also receive the following:
* Inclusion in national Community Land Festival promotion
* Listing on our Community Land Festival web page
* Community Land Festival promotional materials and support
* A press pack to help you get your story into your local papers
We have thirty £300 bursaries for communities, to help contribute towards the cost of running your event. These bursaries will be allocated starting 19 August. Our considerations in allocating support include:
* Community need in delivering Community Land Festival programming; and
* Geographic spread of communities throughout Scotland.
You do not need to be a member of Community Land Scotland to receive bursary support. Decisions on bursary allocation will be made by Community Land Scotland.
Following the initial bursary allocation process on 19 August, bursaries will continue to be distributed weekly until we have reached capacity.
There are still bursaries available.
Please fill in the Community Land Festival Open Call for Events form online.
To be considered for a bursary, please submit your details by 16 August. You can provide full details at this time, or, if you are still fleshing out your idea, simply tell us as much as you can. After submission of the form, your responses will be emailed to you. Please save this email as it will allow you to update details as needed.
Please note that if you put in an expression of interest, you can change your mind, it is not a binding agreement. It is also to give us an idea of which groups are interested and to help us plan.
Event Submission Timeline:
- 23 July 2024: Open Call for Events begins
- 14 October 2024: final deadline to submit your event to be a part of the Festival
Briefing sessions:
If you missed our Zoom briefing sessions, you can watch a quick presentation below about the process and how to get involved. If you have further questions, please email Meg.
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Community Land Festival Starts in
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