Tag: Festival of Politics 2026

Scotland 2026 – who gets to belong?

FESTIVAL OF POLITICS – SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT

MONDAY 17th AUGUST 5.30 – 6.30pm

With growing polarisation, mistrust, and a sense of being left behind for many communities, how can Scotland bring diverse voices together, move from division to empathy, and ensure community voices are at the heart of decision-making?

Come along and take part in this free panel discussion at the Scottish Parliament on 17 August: https://ow.ly/zmb450Zx3oS

(featuring The artwork of Gerard M Burns)

Chair: 

Katie Hagmann MSP, Convener, Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee

Panellists:

Dr Hayley Bennett is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on the design and delivery of social security, labour market programmes, and anti-poverty initiatives for the working-age population in the UK.

Gerard M Burns is an artist and studied drawing and painting at the Glasgow School of Art, graduating in 1983. Burns has had a successful teaching career, leaving his post as Principle of Art at Glasgow’s St Aloysius College to focus full time on painting. He has completed commissions for a number of private and commercial collections, notably his painting The Rowan which hangs in the Scottish Parliament.

Professor Dr Nasar Meer FRSE is Professor of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow and Academic Chair of the Stuart Hall Foundation. He has been a Commissioner on the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Post-COVID-19 Futures Inquiry, a Member of the Scottish Government COVID-19 and Ethnicity Expert Reference Group. He has previously held a Minda de Gunzburg Fellowship at Harvard University, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the UK Academy of Social Sciences, and a past recipient of the RSE Thomas Reid Medal.

Yuliia Hryshchenko is the founder of SCIO Music & Art Centre Nightingale. After fleeing Ukraine with her three children in 2022, she rebuilt her life in Scotland and turned her family’s journey into a mission to make arts accessible to every child.

She believes creativity can heal, build confidence and strengthen communities.

Festival of Politics: Scotland’s economy, why can’t we own more?

COMMUNITY WEALTH BUILDING

The new Community Wealth Building Act aims to give more control to local communities, redirecting wealth back to the same neighbourhoods.

At Festival of Politics event ‘Scotland’s economy, why can’t we own more?’ panellists will be examining how economic models can uplift communities and individuals.

Panellists include experts from @DemocracyCollab, @FutureEconScot, and Prosper.

Friday 28 Aug – 2:45pm

https://ow.ly/o4ZT50ZqIH8

In partnership with Social Enterprise Scotland

There is now a new Community Wealth Building Act, with the goals of placing more control in the hands of local communities and redirecting wealth back into those same neighbourhoods.

By prioritising local enterprises and the natural environment and preventing wealth extraction by big business, is it also time to re-think how the larger Scottish economy operates for everyday working people?

Rapid changes across technology and energy are taking place, from doughnut economics to foundational and well-being economies. How could new economic models uplift communities as well as individuals?

Panellists:

Neil McInroy is Global Lead for Community Wealth Building at the Democracy Collaborative, an American-based think/do tank. Neil is chair of the the Economic Development Association Scotland (EDAS). At the heart of his work is a belief in the need for deep democratic shifts in how we organise our economies and communities.

Laurie Macfarlane is a Co-Director of Future Economy Scotland and a Fellow at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose.

Eleonora Vanello is at the helm of the Peer Works programme at Prosper, where she supports small and medium-sized enterprises across the private and third sectors to work smarter. She facilitates networking and peer-to-peer learning opportunities across Scotland. Previously, Eleonora worked at the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the UK, where she actively facilitated projects, businesses and services between Italy and Scotland.

Festival of Politics: Civil Disobedience

Scottish Parliament

@ScotParl

Civil disobedience in Scotland has long been a method of achieving social change – from poll-tax sit-ins to the Glasgow Girls.

At Festival of Politics event ‘Civil disobedience – from rent strikes to Kenmure Street’ find out why so many of these events generate cultural expression like film and theatre.

Panellists include Katherine Mackinnon of Radical Glasgow Tours and @UofGlasgow , Tabassum Niamat of Bowling Green Together, journalist and broadcaster Paul English, and Glasgow Girl Cllr Roza Salih.

Friday 28th August – 1:15pm

Tickets: https://ow.ly/JqPr50ZqHZs