Let's Join the Dots!

Join the dots is a Glasgow-based collective of four artists - and mothers - based in Garnethill; Jude Williams, Kirstin Taylor, Rosie Cunningham, Sadie Smith. 

Jude is a celebrant, actor and singer.
Kirstin is a landscape architect.
Rosie is an illustrator and artist. 
Sadie is a textile designer and community arts practitioner. 

Our children all attend a local, diverse school - home to many children arriving into Glasgow seeking asylum. We are deeply invested in and embedded within our community. We feel its tipping point, vibrancy and potential every day.

Join the Dots is a two year, artist-led initiative designed to strengthen local climate awareness and community resilience through art, music, food, and collective joy. It will connect residents, artists, businesses, and organisations to explore sustainability, belonging, and environmental justice — grounded in creativity and community as a vehicle for change. We aim to model climate justice as social justice – putting equity, inclusion, and human rights at the centre of every creative action. We need community care and resilience more than ever - our collective future depends on it.

We want to join the dots between people, place and possibility.
Hence the name! But we also want to join dots between local organisations, shared knowledge and a collective imagining of how things can be better. We believe in (and will be relying on) permaculture models of working to sustain these aims: 

Earth Care:
Nurturing, activating and preserving our local green spaces through planting, growing and learning.

People Care: 
Connecting with our neighbours and newcomers through creative gatherings and workshops.

Fair Share: 
Building community capacity through shared skills, resources, responsibilities and positive local partnerships.

Our aims for the two years are to encourage a more communal ethic work the following in the Garnethill Community -

Creative Climate Action:
Residents develop a tangible, local response to climate change through creative participation. 

Improved Wellbeing and Safety: 
Public spaces are reactivated through co-created art and environmental design. 

Community Resilience: 
Increased intergenerational collaboration and shared ownership of local assets.

Cultural Legacy:
The Glasgow Girls’ ethos of creativity, education, and social change reimagined for a 21st-century Garnethill

Joyful Circles of Connection
Mazlow’s ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ is a triangular ladder of needs, requiring survival and safety before connecting with others. We suggest a different approach, centred on hope, joy and collective power. Instead of being stacked, these circles come together, revolving around each other, in constant rotation with one another. 

Hope
Joy - Justice 
People - Place - Possibility 
Community - Courage - Connection - Creativity

Home from Home - Spring 2026

COMMUNITY EVENT 
5-7pm, Saturday 9th May 2026
Garnethill Multicultural Centre, 21 Rose street

Hosted by all 4 ‘dots’; Jude, Kirstin, Rosie and Sadie. A busy event that benefitted from people moving from the Garnethill Music day into the Multicultural Centre to hear and play more music and enjoy some food together! 

Pizzas were provided by Antipasti, sandwiches and salads by _____ and there were contributions and home making from many members of the community. Bunting making tables were set up so visitors could make a flag for the communal bunting - we were able to display some of the bunting made by local groups in our previous workshops. Rosie and Jude brought flowers from their Garnethill gardens to decorate the tables in the centre. 

Intergenerational musicians performed live music including singers, a pianist and young flautist who were much appreciated by everyone present. Local children dressed in costumes on stage and performed some drama and songs they had prepared. We counted approximately 70 attendees. 

Thanks to Garnethill Multicultural Centre for hosting us, Antipasti, Sprigg, Joy cakes and catering and the local community for providing food to share. Thanks to all the wonderful musicians who shared their tunes. 

Pizzas in the Park - April 2026

COMMUNITY EVENT
3-5pm, Saturday 18th April 2026
Garnethill Multicultural Centre, 21 Rose street 

Hosted by Kirstin and Rosie, with Jude and Sadie in attendance, this was our first official community Bread Oven event. Rosie acted as chief firemaster, fanning the flames and cooking food, accompanied by head chef, Kirstin who was assisting people with pizza making. We prepared the dough ourselves in advance and brought it to the park for attendees to make their own pizzas.

We kicked off the event with a community litter pick - and bunting making was hosted by Sadie in Fleming House that morning. We opened up the oven, cleaned it, lit the fire, made it safe and we stayed with the oven for the duration of the flames. We had a good turnout with many familiar faces and some new visitors dropping in to an intergenerational, family event over the course of the afternoon. We were lucky with a sunny day, so could offer chalk for children to engage in creative play - and also go to the playpark.

Everyone was able to make a pizza themselves or experiment with designing their own small bread items(!). We counted approximately 40-50 attendees over the afternoon, many of whom stayed for over an hour or for the entire time. We were joined by Loris - a fourth year GSA student - who was inviting participants to engage in creating a dictionary of Garnethill by offering up and discussing words we use.

For our next event we hope to rely more on donations of ready made pizza dough from local pizzerias so that we have the best chance of pizza success. We would also be brave with fire building and ensure the oven is hot enough to cook quickly and well.

Thanks to everyone that attended and promised to come back and celebrate again with us! 

Community Bread Oven Training

TRAINING
3-5pm, Saturday 17th April 2026
Garnethill Multicultural Centre, 21 Rose street 

All four ‘Dots’ (Jude, Kirstin, Rosie and Sadie) were trained by local community Firemaster, and member of FROGGS, Margaret. We brought our own children as test subjects for the pizzas we made. She showed us all how to unlock the oven, clean it and make it safe for use, both as an oven and in terms of fire safety for the surrounding area and visitors. We have a first aid kit and tools for bread and pizza making. We built a fire under Margaret’s instruction and tended it until it was possible to bake bread in the oven. We are all now fully trained in using the oven for community events. 

April Bunting Making Workshops 2026

WORKSHOP HOSTING
8th, 18th, 22nd April 2026
Fleming House, Sauchiehall street 

Hosted by Sadie. One of the Join the Dots long term goals is to have metres and metres of community-created bunting that can be used for community events both in and outdoors. At the end of this two year project, we hope to hang it in the streets of Garnethill as part of a huge celebration event, akin to a Home From Home event on a much larger scale. 

Over the course of April, Sadie led a series of drop-in workshops to encourage locals to make bunting to add to the collective effort. Groups of local children and a handful of adults attended these workshops, making several metres of bunting of their own design. All the fabric was repurposed, and Sadie used her sewing skills to bring it all together into a stretch of beautiful handmade bunting. 

Thanks to Fleming House for hosting and The Guild and other kind individuals for donations of fabric. 

Home From Home - Winter 2026

5-7pm, Saturday 7th March 2026
Garnethill Multicultural Centre, 21 Rose street

Home From Home events are held seasonally four times a year. They were originally begun in 2024 as a positive response to racist attacks across the UK and Europe. Each one is slightly different, but all have community food sharing, live music and are always free and welcoming to everyone. The aim of Home From Home is to foster links between different people and groups occupying the area local to Garnethill in Glasgow; joining the dots between people, place and possibility. 

Attended by all 4 ‘dots’; Jude, Kirstin, Rosie and Sadie. The first of the official Join The Dots events, this marks perhaps the 6th Home From Home event to date. Free pizzas were provided by Antipasti, and there were other contributions and home making from the community. Bunting-making workshops allowed for flags to be designed and made for the communal bunting. We also set up a ping pong table and a drawing and crafts area, as well as a lego station. 

We were treated to traditional Breton music for circle dancing and also a bagpiper who accompanied a session of ceilidh dancing. Local children dressed up and performed onstage with live piano accompaniment. Jude kicked off with some songs and a local couple performed some folk favourites. The evening was rounded off with live sitar music and song. We counted approximately 30-40 attendees.

Thanks to Garnethill Multicultural Centre for hosting us, Antipasti, Sprigg and the local community for providing food to share.

Community Wishlist consultation

CONSULTATION HOSTING

31st March 2026
Doubletree Hilton Hotel, Cambridge street 

Garnethill does not currently have a local Place Plan. Place Plans are community-led documents that set out proposals for land use and development in a particular area. By submitting a complete and thoughtful plan to Glasgow City Council, the hope for Garnethill is that it will influence positive future development in the area - as suggested by the engaged local community. Much work has already been done by the passionate and hardworking community in Garnethill, so we intend to simply support and continue that effort. 

Here at Join the Dots, we believe it would be helpful to support the creation of a Place Plan for Garnethill, alongside Garnethill Community Council and the Multicultural Centre. This event was designed to bring the community’s creative vision into the development of the document. We were assisted by Scott Galloway; an expert in policy and biodiversity in public realm planning.

Hosted by Jude and Kirstin, this consultation also included live illustration of suggested improvements to Garnethill. Kirstin’s background in public realm design and Jude’s warmth and mediation skills led to constructive and positive outcomes for the future vision of the area. Using a map of Garnethill designed by Rosie, attendees were able to map out current problems with post it notes, air their views and then discuss possible positive change in Garnethill that Join the Dots may be able to help bring to reality.

While Kirstin and Jude led discussions and took notes, Rosie was able to pull those thoughts into an illustrated visual document (see above) that can be shared and used for illustrative purposes throughout this project. We noticed a shift in mood for visitors, as people understandably arrived with grievances and left lighter, with hope that change is possible and can be realised.

Thanks to the Doubletree Hilton Hotel for hosting and providing free refreshments - and to the continuing hard work and generosity of the local community.