Power Shift: The Real Energy Question (at Celtic Connections)
Prompt to Midjourney: “Scottish wind farm in the style of Roy Lichtenstein”
Power Shift: The Real Energy Question (event at Celtic Connections)
Jan 18, 3pm – 4.30pm GMT
The Green Room, The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Killermont St, Glasgow G2 3NW
Tickets: £13.82 (click here)
By the Spring Consortium
Step inside an electrified Sunday afternoon at Celtic Connections. A collision of presentations - some song and poetry, provocations and collective imagination, maybe even a ceilidh! - all powered by the urgency of Scotland’s energy future and our part in shaping it.
Across the country, communities watch turbines turn and pylons advance, wondering why the clean-energy gold rush feels like something happening to them rather than with them or for them.
Why is it Scotland will have the highest output of renewables in Europe and the highest bills? Why should saving the world mean struggling to survive the month? Why do we feel powerless, trapped in loops of despair and learned helplessness?
Yet there’s a spark, a sense that Spring is coming even in the depth of our political and planetary Winter. Musicians, storytellers, technologists, activists, futurists, neighbours will gather.
We’ll shake off the cloak of winter and test new ideas the way bands test riffs—loud, collaborative, unafraid. We’ll imagine futures where local power isn’t a metaphor but a lived reality, where agency shifts back to the people, where wind and tides fuel not only our grids but our communities’ confidence.
Expect participation. Expect debate. Expect to surprise yourself.
Tickets for event here
What is the Spring Consortium?
Too often, taking action in the face of the current polycrisis lacks traction. Approaching a problem from one perspective can have limited effect. Is politics broken because of the mainstream media? Or is it our technology? Or do we need new stories through the arts?
The Spring Consortium was pulled together in Scotland to integrate a number of different forms of action so that we can have a deep and lasting impact whenever we act.
The current group was convened to address the opportunity of Scottish energy futures. While we currently have the best resources of clean energy in the UK, we have the highest fuel bills in Europe. The issues are complex and the threat of polarisation around Net Zero weighs heavy.
Can we reimagine a Power Shift in which communities’ come together, their lives transformed?
Our consortium consists of:
The Scottish Beacon – network of local newspapers in Highlands and Islands
CrownShy – civic and democratic technology
The Necessary Space – theatre company
Equitable Energy – research, advocacy
Take One Action – film festival
Bella Caledonia - media platform
The Alternative Global – system convenors for ecocivilisation