The purpose of the Culture & Communities Group is to encourage the exchange of knowledge and understanding between the Scottish Parliament and arts, culture, heritage, and historic environment communities. The group will focus on the impact of the public sector, for example the social, health and educational impact of access and participation in the arts, heritage, libraries and museums.

In a new series of meetings commencing February 2025, this group will explore "big ambitions for culture and communities in Scotland". The meeting will be held online, via Zoom, and you can book a ticket here.

To kick off our discussions and inspire our imaginations, we're thrilled that we'll be joined for this event by Scotland's new Makar, Pàdraig MacAoidh (Peter Mackay). We’ll then invite all attendees to share their one-minute 'big ideas' for an aspirational, effective and ambitious vision of how culture and communities might work together as we look to the future. From there, we'll analyse key emerging themes and areas of interest to focus and prioritise CPG meetings in Summer and Autumn 2025.

If you're unable to attend this meeting, your one-minute ‘big ideas’ can be shared in advance of the meeting to kathryn@culturecounts.scot. Submissions should be a maximum of 1 minute (for audio submissions) or no more than 150 words (for written contributions).

To attend this event you must first register as a member of the CPG, which you can do here.