Location of the Leven Unexpected Garden announced
Leven Community Centre car park has been announced as the location of the Leven Unexpected Garden, a partnership project between The Leven Programme and creative arts programme, Dandelion.
Commissioned by EventScotland and funded via the Scottish Government, Dandelion is Scotland’s contribution to UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK, a nationwide programme of creative events and engagement. Driven by the concept of ‘Sow, Grow, Share’ – not just food but ideas, music, scientific knowledge, and community - Dandelion takes a unique approach to growing. Bringing together artists, scientists, performers, and technologists to present events and programmes throughout Scotland, including the Unexpected Gardens, Dandelion will culminate in hundreds of harvest celebrations later this year.
The Leven Community Centre will be the central point of activity for Leven’s striking Unexpected Garden. Currently running the People’s Pantry, a food donation with dignity programme that serves over 130 members, The centre has already built up a remarkable community spirit. The garden will be located at the back of the centre in a large concrete plot and focus on yield and sustainability.
The garden is an invitation to residents and wider communities to come together to learn and grow. It presents an opportunity to put food growing and creative production into the heart of the community and get people excited.
Pauline Silverman, Programme Manager for The Leven Programme said: "The Unexpected Garden at Leven Community Centre car park provides a great opportunity for local people in Levenmouth to participate in the creation, maintenance and enjoyment of a truly unexpected green space in their area. The garden will be accessible to all, and we hope to get some great weather over the summer months to enable people to enjoy it to its fullest."
Other sites across the country include one stunning ‘Floating Garden’ which will tour the Forth and Clyde Canal, and the Union Canal from June. In the centre of Forres, Findhorn Bay Arts’ unique garden will respond to the town’s main square and multiple alleys, promoting the growing of mushrooms which will thrive in the dark shadowy entryways.
In the Highlands, arriving to sites across Caithness, Lyth Arts Centre’s Garden will roll off a trailer and become home to a performance and workshop space.
Elsewhere in Scotland, Edinburgh Agroecology Group will develop a garden site at Lauriston Farm, RIG Arts will take over a site behind South West Library in Greenock, Taigh Chearsabhagh in Uist, Fèis Rois in Alness, The Stove Network and Stranraer Development Trust, Alchemy Film & Arts in the Borders and a partnership of organisations in Dundee are also dusting off their green fingers to get involved!
Neil Butler, Festival and Events Director said: “We’re excited to announce today the locations of our Unexpected Gardens. We look forward to watching each of the gardens come to life as they grow and hope that their programme of events succeeds in bringing people together. Sustainability lies at the heart of our programme, and we can’t wait to see people from all over Scotland sowing, growing and sharing food, music, ideas.”
Each Unexpected Garden will host a programme of events unique to each location throughout the summer, programmed by a creative producer. A local Musician in Residence will also be appointed to each site, with applications now open, to create a new piece of work to be presented at the culminating Harvest event in September.
Additionally, the gardens will be visited by Dandelion’s specially designed Cubes of Perpetual Light, part-artwork, part-miniature vertical farms, the cubes will grow hundreds of seedlings under LED light, showcasing the latest technological innovation in horticulture.