Velocity, Cuningar Loop

Since 2021, as part of Glasgow Life and Clyde Gateway’s Velocity programme, artists have been working with communities in Glasgow’s East End through a series of creative projects at Cuningar Loop. Through participatory arts projects, these projects have explored well-being, climate change, and community resilience.

In 2021, artist Karen McGrady Parker led The Happiness Trail, a project centred on mental well-being and joy. Participants took part in creative writing exercises while photographer Ilisa Stack developed a series of photography challenges, encouraging people to capture what happiness meant to them. The resulting images inspired a collection of ten postcards designed by Stack, with 1,000 distributed to the public to encourage visits to the trail. Installed along a walking route leading to the park’s boardwalk, engraved wood with reflections on happiness invited passers-by to engage with the words of strangers.

In 2023, Karen returned to deliver Art in the Park, a one-week summer creative programme developed in collaboration with Sports Scotland. Designed for children and families across the North East, sessions combined storytelling, drama and music-making with natural materials in the park. Participants created puppets and instruments, engaging with the natural environment in imaginative and playful ways.

In summer 2024, STEAM – HEAT explored renewable energy and the geothermal potential of the Cuningar Loop’s flooded mine workings. Led by artists John Binnie, Tina Freeland and Robin Mitchell, the eight-week programme engaged pupils from St Anne’s Primary and adults from NHS Restart Bridgeton. Participants explored the intersection of science and creativity through workshops focusing on sustainability and environmental awareness.

In early 2025, John Binnie collaborated with Riverbank and St Anne’s Primary, Lodging House Mission 360 (LHM360), and NHS Restart Bridgeton’s writing group. Alongside singer and actor Màiri Morrison and artist Robin Mitchell, John delivered weekly drama sessions linking climate change and migration to traditional Scottish folk tales. Màiri introduced Gaelic songs, weaving culture, and language into the work. At LHM360, participants created visual art, wrote poems, and reflected on personal experiences of the climate crisis.

A special thanks to community partners, supporters and contributors: Sports Scotland | Riverbank Primary School | NHS Restart Bridgeton | Lodging House Mission 360 | St Anne’s Primary School | Calton Heritage and Learning Centre | Glasgow Life’s Live Well Community Referral Programme.