Three months after COP26, Glasgow's Young People choose 12 art projects to save the planet

Published: 28th of February, 2022

Create4Glasgow is a participatory art project which provides Glasgow's young people with a voice to raise awareness of their priorities for the environment.

Working with Glasgow's artist-in-residence programme, Create4Glasgow aims to inspire young people to become climate activists through art. The project was launched by the Lord Provost on Youth Empowerment Day at COP26 and started with a survey of more than 1,800 young people in Glasgow, which identified three common environmental concerns: air pollution, water pollution and fears around the Earth becoming uninhabitable.

Following the survey, over 800 people engaged with the project, including 248 works of art submitted by young people from Glasgow and 40 local school classes. In January, 27 shortlisted artworks were shared with local schools to decide on 12 winning projects.

The artworks are divided in three categories :

• Meet the Class: school projects submitted by pupils working in collaboration with their teachers and local artists in residence;
• Do it for Your City: projects with a local impact and focus;
• Artists from all around the world: contributions from individuals outside of Glasgow

Today, we are delighted to announce the selected projects and artworks, as chosen by 550 pupils from schools across Glasgow. Meet the projects selected from an unprecedented participatory art journey, building on the legacy of COP26:

• Clean Drain Campaign

Sunnyside Primary School with artists-in-residence Zoe Walker and Neil Bromwich

• Leaves For Life

St Paul's Youth forum with artists-in-residence Zoe Walker and Neil Bromwich

• Castlemilk Food Pantry

Castlemilk Primary with artist-in-residence Deirdre Nelson

• Almost To The Moon

Thornwood Primary's P6 with Artist in Residence In the Making

• An Air Pollution Solution

Hollybrook Academy S3a and S3b

• Green News Broadcast

St Anne's Primary

• Sensory Antarctic Penguins

Langlands Primary

• The Treesitters

St Albert's P4

• A Children's Book About A Lonely Tree

St Conval's P7

• Carrying The Earth

St Mungo's Arts and Design Academy

• Our Earth Is Burning And Drowning

St Mungo's Arts and Design Academy

• Would You Let Me Die?

Young Glasgow artist, Samwise

You can find all of the above mentioned artworks on the Create4Glasgow website.

These projects will become the focus of a series of workshops led by Glasgow's artists-in-residence across the city, as they continue to raise awareness of local climate issues and use the creativity of young people to seek long lasting solutions.

Councillor David McDonald, Depute Leader of the Council and Chair of Glasgow Life said: "This is a fantastic partnership project which gives our young people the chance to shine on the climate emergency stage and a perfect COP26 legacy for our great city.

"The response has been amazing and this just shows how concerned and committed our young people are to make a difference and tackle the issues highlighted during the success event hosted in Glasgow in November.

"Congratulations to every shortlisted winning entry and I personally can't wait to see the artworks being created and revealed at the end of the process."