Methodology
Forgan Arts Centre’s activities and operations are conceptualised as An Arts Centre as a Garden. This is an experiment: imagining an art centre as a garden where a multisensory and sentient ecology of plants, people, and creatures support one another through mutually beneficial relationships and reciprocity. An Arts Centre as a Garden is an example of social permaculture, a concept by which communities look to natural environments to model co-existence and co-creation.
Responding to community consultation and applying the social permaculture concept, we have identified three themes as the focus of our activity for the years 2025-2028:
- Talking Forests
- Ecology of Migration
- Queering Nature
Through these themes we will engage with local community concerns and wider social issues, drawing inspiration from the intelligence and lifecycles of the natural environment.
Annual Themes
In researching local and global issues and community assessments, we identified three protected characteristics that are pertinent to our community: age, race, and sex. Through the practice of social permaculture, we look to nature for inspiration in how to explore these characteristics, observing and replicating the process or lifecycles that exist in flourishing ecosystems. This process has generated three themes.
Talking Forests, 2025-2026
Inspired by the mycorrhizal networks ancient trees use to care for saplings we will nurture mutually beneficial intergenerational relationships.
The world’s ageing population will bring about the most significant social transformation of the 21st century[1]. Older people in our community are experiencing isolation and loneliness, and their exclusion means the loss of experience and knowledge in the community. In looking to nature, we understand that the most resilient and effective forests are intergenerational, where there are mature mycorrhizal networks connecting root systems in the soil. These networks pass messages and nutrients from tree to tree, ensuring vulnerable saplings are supported in their growth. Inspired by these multigenerational forests and rooted in the research of anthropologist Tim Ingold, we will explore how intergenerational relationships build a connected community. We will develop accessible activities that allow older people to participate meaningfully in our communities. We will integrate generations to engender reciprocal learning across ages, combining the wisdom of community elders with the curiosity of the young.
Ecology of Migration, 2026-2027
Replicating the diversity of flourishing ecosystems in our communities to build resilience in a changing climate.
As the climate crisis and multiple volatile geopolitical situations unfold, more people will cross borders, finding themselves as New Scots here in Fife. In 2022 the world hosted 35.3 million refugees and 281 million international migrants.[2] Our community consultation evidenced a curiosity in how our communities are changing because of migration. Sociobiologist, futurist, and ‘expert of adaptation’ Rebecca D. Costa observes that in nature, successful ecosystems rely on diversity to enhance their resilience, adaptability, and productivity, and that these ideas can and should be directly applied to community. A diverse ecosystem is better equipped to withstand climate change, disease outbreaks, or habitat destruction – when one component of the ecosystem is affected, another can step in, reducing negative impact. We will cultivate a resilient community by harnessing the power of the diverse cultures living here.
[2] UN Global Issues: Migration
Queering Nature, 2027-2028
Explore queerness in nature to broaden our understanding of the naturally diverse ways of being in the world.
We have been educated to believe nature is binary. The idea was cemented by Carl Linnaeus in his 1735 taxonomy, Systema Naturae, where all plants were identified as either male or female, in fact, he used the terminology ‘bride and groom’. Our consultation and work with schools evidenced a concern and fear of the erosion of traditional binaries in sex and gender. Through explorations in nature and the work of queer garden-designer Patrick Featherstone, we will unlearn the idea that nature is binary and celebrate nature’s place in queer culture. Seeing queerness in nature is validating, only 5%[3] of plants reproduce in the binary way we were taught in school, it is in fact the fluid non-heteronormative ways of being that are most common. Through explorations in the natural world, we’ll expand our capacity for understanding diverse identities and question our own misconceptions.
