Support & Sponsorship

SUPPORT

FUNDING
To make the ideas expressed in this blog happen I am constantly looking for funding and in kind support from organisations, business and individuals. I welcome any suggestions on possible sources of funding and help with fund raising.

Donations can be made easily through PayPal – from your PayPal account – click on send money, fill in

littoralartproject@btinternet.com

Click on “paying for goods & services” fill in the delivery address for your reward to be delivered to then click send .Thank You. Please get in touch if you have any difficulties.

Rewards for donations from individuals are available : please specify whether you would like a keyring or a ‘Guide to Beach Litter in your PayPal message. Supporting businesses & organisations will be fully acknowledged in press coverage and on the blog. Below is a history of the Littoral Art sponsorship

2015 – ‘Guide to Beach Litter’ – Crowd Funding Appeal

The appeal succeeded in attracting £1,100 in pledged donations and In Kind sponsorship from the Field Study Centre at Millport, Cumbrae, where I will collaborate with Marine Biologist Dr Phillip Cowie to complete the hazard details of each litter item

The project received an award from Creative Scotland to part fund the NEO Terra exhibition and the making of the animation Terra NOVA in Shetland and Ullapool CS_Lottery_SB_bw

Shetland Littoral Art Project 2015-16 In kind support has been promised from the Shetland Amenity Trust

Littoral Art Project 2015-16

2014 – ‘Future Fossil Collection’ – Crowd Funding Appeal

The appeal raised £1,000 towards the costs of exhibiting the Future Fossil Collection and a beach litter investigation installation at Ullapool Museum which ran May – October and included an investigation workshop for the local schools and a Littoral Art Project Presentation evening talk.

2013-14 Research & Development

This initial phase of the project was funded by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland and donations from individuals through crowd funding, with business support from Reiver Consultancy and in kind support from Out there Camper Vans

Support in Kind was given by Dr Cowie at the Marine Biological Station Millport who has donated time in tutoring me in marine biological methods, the Marine Conservation Society in Scotland has through their beach watch scheme enabled me to learn beach surveying techniques and Keep Scotland Beautiful and the Scottish Wildlife Trust have provided me with information and contacts.

Over the last five months I have made links with Dr Phillip Cowie University Marine Biological Station Millport, Marine Conservation Society in Scotland and I intend to feed information back to their forthcoming Big Beach Watch event , who are providing marine biology training, and Keep Scotland Beautiful and the Scottish Wildlife Trust.

All are supporting me with information and recording techniques.

The art-science direction of project is inspired visiting Dr Cowie at the Millport Station located at the mouth of the Clyde, in April. He and his students are engaged in the examination of the impact of marine litter on the organisms within the Scottish Marine Environment. Their research into the ingestion of plastic particles in micro-organisms has highlighted the insidious nature of this pollutant and has indicated that plastics could be passed through the food webs from lower invertebrates to top predators such as fish, seabirds and marine mammals.

I plan to take up the UMBSM offer of attending marine biology laboratory sessions to increase my knowledge of observation and analysis techniques and methods which will be crucial for the project. Unfortunately the station has had undergone massive funding cuts and while the station is now secure its future vital research role hangs in the balance. It will be a terrible loss to the marine world and our understanding of what is happening as a consequence of marine litter if the research programme is not continued . http://www.gla.ac.uk/centres/marinestation/

When initially conceiving this project I approached the Marine Conservation Society Scotland (MCSS), in order to begin to understand beach litter and what is being done to change the situation in this country and globally. The MSC was set up over twenty years ago to monitor and campaign for the health of our marine environments, their website offers wonderfully up to date information on marine health, wildlife and the complex issues surrounding this environment.

MCS classification of beach litter

Joining several beach cleans I have become aware of how regular methodical recording of litter on beaches several times a year, has enabled the documentation and analysis of litter trends on hundreds of beaches around the whole of the UK. Many areas still don’t any have any monitoring and the Wester Ross coast is one of the areas that MCS want to reach and encourage monitoring of. In choosing to develop my project in Ullapool in Wester Ross I am hoping that I might leave a legacy of people keen to collect information and join in beach clean ups.

The event phase of ‘Littoral’ in Ullapool is planned to follow on from the MCS Big Beach Clean which takes place all over the UK over the 20th-23rd September, anyone is welcome to join in at a beach in your area: check out the beach watch links in Scotland and the rest of the UK