Fire Starter Festival 2019 is here! Building on the success of previous years, we have over 75 events scheduled to take place right across Scotland.
The festival has already started with a bang at the V&A Dundee and will run for two weeks until 8th February. Find out all you need to know below...
Lighting the fire
Our 'Design your own' launch was held at the V&A Dundee on Monday (28th January) to kick off the festival.
In true Fire Starter style, it gave everyone the opportunity to come together to participate in some magic; sparking creativity and curiousity and igniting everyone's imagination.
To open the event, we were delighted to be joined by Director of the V&A Dundee Philip Long, who emphasised that design and creativity are a part of everyone's lives. Director General of the Scottish Government Sarah Davidson asked how we can design our public services with love, kindness, compassion and dignity. While Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, Sophie Howe (pictured above), asked the audience "What if we measured our success as public bodies by the happiness of our people?"
Love was a significant theme, stemming from the refreshed National Performance Framework which includes growing up loved, safe and respected as one of its National Outcomes. We explored what being ‘loved’ means in practice, what a Scotland where all young people grow up loved would look like and what it means for how we design public services. We even illustrated our ideas!
Our human exhibits used the space creatively at the V&A to talk to, and get interactive with, participants and the public. This included WAVEparticle exploring 'Freespace - Where? When? With Whom? How?', Ostero discussing how children can use Circular Economy design to create a better future for Scotland and YoungScot asking 'How old do you have to be to make an impact?'
Minister for Children and Young People, Maree Todd, provided her thoughts on the day and the exhibits as keynote listener. She highlighted the tremendous work of the third sector, the importance of play for children, as well as the significance of wellbeing for us all.
Don't miss our events!
With the festival running over the next two weeks, there's still time to sign up to attend the events taking place right across the country and even Ireland! No matter what topic you are most passionate about, the festival is sure to spark your interest, creativity and imagination. Take a look at some of our picks below or view our latest events schedule.
Young People
Young People Co-designing - Dunoon 6th February
This practical event will be centred around the ‘Young Scot’ Co-design approach.
Kindness
Kindness – The Human Aspect of Procurement - Edinburgh, 8th February As part of the ongoing work of the Kindness in Procurement and Commissioning Group, members will be hosting an interactive facilitated session on how we can achieve better social, economic and environmental impact through a kinder more human approach to procurement and commissioning.
Mental Health
Mental Health & Wellbeing in the community - Aberdeenshire, 30th January An event open to the public and health and social care partners to discuss mental wellbeing and ways to support mental health and wellbeing in Aberdeenshire.
The annual Fire Starter Festival takes place for two weeks.
It offers a national platform to public services, including communities and charities, to highlight and celebrate innovation and creativity across Scottish public services.
With a particular focus on transformational change, it is co-produced and provides a creative space for people to showcase, share and explore the ways they are making a difference to Scotland.
