About Fablevision & Cultural Planning
Fablevision is Scotland's Centre for Cultural Planning.
We create artist led interventions at a grass roots level through learning and dissemination projects across Scotland. Fablevision believes the cultural planning process has the power to transform communities.
Fablevision has been working in this way for over 24 years and is the national organisation in this field.
What is Cultural Planning?
A broad definition of 'Cultural Planning' starts with the idea of 'culture' as a way of life. It is a way of working that recognises the cultural resources of a place and its people. These resources include the arts, heritage, local assets such as traditions, dialects, festivals and rituals. They also embrace the diversity and quality of leisure and entertainment facilities and the culture of youth, resident, minority, ethnic and other communities of interest.
It values the mix of local products and skills in the crafts, manufacturing and service sectors. Cultural planning approaches can empower communities to use their local cultural resources to contribute to the regeneration of a place at neighbourhood, city and regional levels.
A Brief History
From the beginning, in both the USA and Australia (and now increasingly also in Europe), cultural planning has been used as a way of enabling policy-makers to think strategically about the application of the cultural resources of localities and the delivery of policies capable of responding to local needs.
Cultural resources are understood in a pragmatic way and include not only the arts and heritage of a place, but also the local traditions, dialects, festivals and rituals; the diversity and quality of leisure; drinking and eating and entertainment facilities; the cultures of youth, ethnic minorities, and the communities of interest; and the repertoire of local products and skills in the crafts, manufacturing and service sectors.
By linking culture and other aspects of economic and social life, cultural planning can be instrumental in creating participatory opportunities for a variety of social and cultural constituencies. Moreover, because cultural planning demands in the first instance recognition of the distinctive resources of a place, and then the development of policies rooted in those resources, the result tends to be innovative and creative solutions to problems that previously appeared to be intractable.
Our Approach
Fablevision, Scotland's Centre of Cultural Planning, is an artist led organisation that always has creativity at the heart of its work.
All Fablevision projects folllow the cultural planning methodology we adopt on projects:
- Starts with artists leading a creative mapping process
- The Process engages and empowers people
- It starts with people of the community
- It looks for, and builds on, community assets & resources
- It involves a process of mutual learning
- It is a transformative journey
- There is cross-sectoral involvement
- It is a sustainable approach
- Artists and creatives are centrally involved
- It can demonstrate community achievement
- Mechanisms of measurement are built in from the outset