We Are Here Scotland

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This week’s Directory Spotlight features Malath Abbas, game designer and artist creating experimental and meaningful wor...
09/10/2026

This week’s Directory Spotlight features Malath Abbas, game designer and artist creating experimental and meaningful work exploring identity, memory and the human spirit.

Co-founder of Biome Collective, a creative studio and community dedicated to demystifying games and digital art, Malath’s practice spans BAFTA Scotland nominated work like Killbox on drone warfare to interactive mental health tools like Shpeel. His current project, The Game, is an immersive walking experience exploring memories centred around football as a collective experience.

With over 10 years working in games and arts in Scotland, Malath creates across disciplines through close collaboration, bringing meaningful work to diverse groups and settings. Discover more of Malath and hundreds of other creatives in the WAHS Directory.

08/10/2026

Ica’s back to explain why donations are so important for our Christmas Day Dinner for care-experienced young people in Aberdeen, which we’re bringing together with support from Lemn Sissay’s charity The Gold From The Stone Foundation and Aberdeen City Council.

Something like £20 can pay for the wrapping paper for our gift hampers, and if you share the link with your colleagues, small amounts soon add up to gift cards and vouchers for our guests.

Local businesses with food or other in-kind support to offer can get in touch too, and if you’re not able to give this year, saving and sharing this reel really does help.

Donate through the link in bio or email [email protected]

From Pitch to Publish: Music, Arts and Culture Journalism in Practice
A two-hour online workshop with writer, editor and...
06/10/2026

From Pitch to Publish: Music, Arts and Culture Journalism in Practice

A two-hour online workshop with writer, editor and music programmer Arusa Qureshi.

Learn how to pitch for coverage and understand what editors really want. Get practical lessons on finding stories, developing contacts, approaching interviews, and building your voice as a journalist.

For prospective and early-career journalists, and creatives interested in pitching for coverage.

Open to Black and Global Majority creatives aged 18+ based in Scotland.

Tuesday 27 October 2026, 6–8pm UK time
Online via Zoom

Register via the link in bio.

Last year we shared that we were working towards bringing a Christmas Day Dinner for care-experienced young people to Ab...
28/09/2026

Last year we shared that we were working towards bringing a Christmas Day Dinner for care-experienced young people to Aberdeen. Delighted to say we now have a venue confirmed for Christmas Day 2026, with support from Lemn Sissay, his charity The Gold from the Stone Foundation and Aberdeen City Council.

Now we need the people who can help us make it a warm and memorable day, whether that's joining our Steering Group, volunteering in the lead-up with things like food, gifts, decorations, transport or fundraising, or being a host on the day itself.

You don't need previous experience, and whether you're employed, self-employed, a creative, a student, a local business or simply someone who wants to help, there's a place for you.

You'll find the registration forms through the link in our bio, and once they're filled in you can email them to [email protected], or send your answers as audio or video by WeTransfer or Dropbox if that's easier.

If you can't get involved this year, you can still support the dinner through our donation link, and please share this with anyone you think might want to be part of it.

Full info via link in bio

This week’s Directory Spotlight shines on Muminah Koleoso, Yoruba-Nigerian British creative and advocate using storytell...
18/09/2026

This week’s Directory Spotlight shines on Muminah Koleoso, Yoruba-Nigerian British creative and advocate using storytelling to amplify Black and Muslim women’s voices.

From hosting Sister Station podcast (reaching 48+ countries) to performing poetry across the UK and leading creative writing workshops, Muminah’s practice spans literary arts, media and advocacy. 

She’s recently completed the Black British Book Festival’s creative nonfiction fellowship and is heading to University of Exeter for an MA in Creative Writing this autumn.

Her work makes space for authentic representation. Discover more of Muminah and hundreds of other creatives in the WAHS Directory.

Full interview via link in bio

Photo by Ranim | Portrait & Family Photographer | UK 📸

The Creative Balance Phase 1 report launched this week. 'Finding The Radiance In Between: Reimagining Scotland's Creativ...
11/09/2026

The Creative Balance Phase 1 report launched this week.

'Finding The Radiance In Between: Reimagining Scotland's Creative Spaces' is research into the wellbeing of racialised people working in Scotland's creative industries, from Creative Balance, the research and advocacy arm of We Are Here Scotland. People told us they feel like outsiders, not only in the industry but in the country itself. They told us about being hired into admin while leadership stays white, and about financial insecurity running underneath all of it. They also told us exactly what should exist instead. Not a scheme or programme building. Somewhere you can make music, cook, DJ or simply sit without buying anything, where knowledge gets passed around rather than gate-kept, and where the place belongs to the people using it.

A lot of you will not be surprised by any of this. What the report does is put it on the record. Read the full report and the summary, link in bio. Available as a designed PDF, standard and large text Word, and audio.

The findings are being shared publicly at the Creative Balance Back up now val on Sunday 13 September via Civic House in Glasgow 11am to 6pm. Workshops, performances, flash talks, new commissions and food, closed by a keynote from Dr Manivannan MSP. Pay what you can, transport fund available, BSL and live captioning throughout. Tickets in bio. Thank you to everyone who sat in those rooms and spaces with us this is yours. Phase 2 will explore the intersections of race and class.

The report was co-authored by Loa Pour Mirza and Halina Rifai

Thank you Hanieh Khosroshahi, who wrote the summary, and to Kumi McKenna whose selected illustrations including the report cover run through the report and this post. Thanks also to Dr Cheryl MCGeachan from University of Glasgow for her academic guidance from the beginning Creative Balance is funded by the Baring Foundation, Creative Scotland Engender (Scotland) via Equal Media & Culture Centre for Scotland, and Culture Counts.

You can access the summary and full Phase 1 report here: https://www.creativebalance.scot/finding-the-radiance

🗣️Capital Theatres - Festival Theatre, Studio & King's Theatre are looking for their next Head of Electrics! ⚡️🎭With the...
08/09/2026

🗣️Capital Theatres - Festival Theatre, Studio & King's Theatre are looking for their next Head of Electrics! ⚡️🎭

With the King's Theatre being reopened and, transformed for the modern age and sitting alongside the Festival and Studio Theatres, it’s a truly pivotal time to join the Capital Theatres Technical crew.

As their new Head of Electrics, you’ll join the senior management team to lead the day-to-day electrical and A/V operations for visiting productions and helping them maintain top-tier technical standards across all of their venues.

What they're looking for:

💡 Extensive experience in theatre lighting & AV

📶 Strong team leadership & cross-department collaboration

📋 Up-to-date Health & Safety knowledge

📅 A proactive, flexible approach to making events happen (regular evening & weekend work required)

Head to the link in the bio via Capital Theatres - Festival Theatre, Studio & King's Theatre
for full details and to apply!

17/08/2026

🎄 ABERDEEN, WE NEED YOU!

So last year we announced that we were working towards bringing a Christmas Day Dinner for care-experienced young people aged 18–25 to Aberdeen. Since then, we’ve been working behind the scenes to help make that ambition a reality and we’re delighted to share that we now have a venue confirmed for Christmas Day 2026. ❤️

This is a huge step forward, but a venue alone doesn’t make a Christmas Dinner happen community does.

With support from The Gold from The Stone Foundation and Aberdeen City Council, we’re now bringing together the people who can help us create a warm, joyful and memorable Christmas Day for care-experienced young people in Aberdeen.

We’re looking for people to:

✨ Join our Steering Group Committee and help plan the dinner.

✨ Volunteer in the lead-up to Christmas Day, supporting with practical tasks, fundraising, gifts, decorations, food, transport, communications and more.

✨ Become a Christmas Day Host and help create a welcoming, relaxed and joyful atmosphere for our guests.

✨ Offer skills, services, resources, donations or connections that could help make the day possible.

You don’t need previous experience or to work in a particular sector. Whether you’re employed, self-employed, a creative, student, community worker, local business, organisation, retiree, or simply someone who wants to do something positive there is a place for you to get involved.

Community has always been at the heart of our work, and community is needed more than ever right now.

Our aim is to create a Christmas Day where care-experienced young people feel welcomed, celebrated and surrounded by people who genuinely care.

But we can’t do it alone.

👉 Head to the link in our bio to register your interest in joining the Steering Group, volunteering, or becoming a Christmas Day Host.

If you or your organisation would like to offer support in another way, please email:

📧 [email protected]

Please share this Reel and help us reach people across Aberdeen who can help make Christmas Day 2026 truly special. 🎄❤️

Take One Action & We Are Here Scotland are delighted to present an evening of film, music, poetry and conversation on th...
03/08/2026

Take One Action & We Are Here Scotland are delighted to present an evening of film, music, poetry and conversation on the Isle of Skye, guest curated by Sky-based filmmaker Kal Elhajaoui. The Spaces In Between explores the relationship between Scotland’s Black and Global Majority communities and the land, and who gets to feel like they belong in it. 

Conversations about land rights, community, and anti-fascism converge, in the fitting context of an island that has its own deeply entrenched history of oppressive and unequal land ownership. This is a hybrid event, and will also be accessible online.

📅Friday 4 Sep
⏱️6.30pm-9pm
📍 S U M M E R PortreeIV51 9DB

Three short films move through a shared arc, from the isolation that division creates, to the choice between looking away or taking a stand, to the solidarity and care that point to another way forward:

‘Blackwool’ (2023, dir. Eubha Akilade )
Naomi, a young Black girl, faces racist bullying and institutional negligence on her first day at a high school in rural Scotland. 

‘The Big Lie’ (2006, dir. Peter Everett)
One of the last surviving members of the Scottish International Brigades considers the legacy of the Scots who fought fascism alongside the Spanish Republic.

‘The Seeds We Carry’ (2026, dir. Gabrielle Patterson)
Intimate portraits of community farm stewards in Southwest Philadelphia show the community power in everyday acts of care and resistance.

Live music runs through the night: R.AGGS – a Glasgow multi-instrumentalist and songwriter known for euphoric post-punk – will round out the evening, and junglehussi – a mainstay of Glasgow’s electronic scene – will punctuate the night with genre-shifting sets.

Peigi MacVicar (Sabhal Mòr Ostaig) will read from Sorley MacLean’s An Cuilithionn (The Cuillin), which links international struggle, anti-fascism and the Highland Clearances.

Take One Action’s Saoirse Amira Anis will facilitate a panel discussion with Ica Headlam (We Are Here Scotland), Peigi MacVicar (Sabhal Mòr Ostaig) and Suhail (Hate Out Of Farming).

🎟️Tickets are available on a sliding scale (£0-£20) and can be found through the link in bio!

A word for our own sector.
Scotland’s culture sector is quick to call itself inclusive. The statements are written, the ...
28/07/2026

A word for our own sector.
Scotland’s culture sector is quick to call itself inclusive. The statements are written, the panels are booked, and still, when you look at who holds the money, who makes the decisions, and who’s asked to do the unpaid work of educating everyone, the picture has barely moved.
We say this plainly because the climate outside is more dangerous, and the gap between what we say and do has never mattered more.
To the white allies and the organisations who mean well: allyship is not a diversity line in a funding application. It’s not one Black or brown face on a panel, or asking for our insight and offering nothing. Those are tick-boxes, and tick-boxes are tokenism dressed up as progress.
The deeper problem: the work to understand our communities has not been done. Black and Global Majority is not one experience. Our communities live at intersections of race and gender, disability, class, migration, faith, language and sexuality. Our q***r and trans siblings carry more than one target on their backs, and trans people especially are made a lightning rod for the same hatred coming for us all. Solidarity that stops short of them is NOT solidarity. The sector keeps flattening all of this into a single word: “DIVERSITY”.
When you don’t understand the intersections, you can’t support the people inside them. You platform the version of us that’s easiest for you and call it inclusion.
Real work is harder and quieter than a statement. It’s letting our communities make the real decisions, not just advise on them. It’s handing over power over money, hiring and programming, not a seat at the table. It’s funding Black and Global Majority led work properly and on our terms, it’s doing your own learning instead of extracting it from us, it’s noticing who’s missing from your networks and asking why, not asking us to close the gap for free.
We’re not asking for perfection. We’re asking you to do the work you’ve claimed to be doing all along, and let’s be honest, the work you’re funded to do.
We see who’s genuinely doing it, and we see who’s only performing it. In a climate like this, that difference is not harmless. It has consequences.
PEOPLE ARE TIRED.

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