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Strange Broth – A gathering to make, learn, play and share stories for commons and commoning

Friday 25 April and Saturday 26 April, 2025. 9 a.m. – 6.30 p.m.

GalGael Trust, 15 Fairley Street Glasgow G51 2SN

A gathering for the commons and commoning across Scotland and beyond

£5 – Tickets and Programme 

Hosted by GalGael and Future Natures and brewed with commoners near and far.

The world is on fire. Illegal “wars” rumble on. Powerful institutions fail us – even as they seek ever greater control over social life, knowledge, production and nature.

Many feel increasingly abandoned, disaffected and disenchanted in the world.

In such a time, where do we look to sustain our collective energies and imaginations? Commons offer ways of thinking collectively about what we can create together. Commons aren’t just a ‘thing’ or a resource – they are ways we govern ourselves and produce social wealth. The politics through which we resist dispossession, domination and enclosure. The pluriverse of values that bind us to each other and the more-than-human world.

Practices of commoning invite us to think about that which supports our common existence, but which have been or are being threatened with destruction, erasure, or enclosure.

As folk stories like that of the stone soup* depict, alone we may be hungry and afraid of the unknown. Yet we all have something to bring – to build a fire to chase away the shadows and make a broth to fill the emptiness. Together we can find enough to fulfill ourselves and each other – sharing with our families and communities. Traditions and practices across Scotland are testament to this – from the tenements of Glasgow to the shielings of the Outer Hebrides. In these ways we recover the strength to make liveable futures in a wider world that’s gone… weird.

You are invited  to an unusual gathering – a convergence for the ‘commoners’ of Scotland, both practicing and aspiring.
“Together we’ll make a ‘strange broth’, stir up old stories and cook up new ones, form bonds, kindle new collaborations and find ways to take care of each other and our collective futures.”

What to expect

“We’re combining a dash of theory, a sprinkle of history with discussion, practical know-how and a good pinch of the imagination needed for recommoning all that has been enclosed through an era of hyper individualism, market extension and exploitation. Over the course of two days we’ll do this through making, play, reimagining and re-storying the world around us and what we conceive of as possible. To give you a flavour, here are some of the sessions cooked up so far:”

Reimagining institutions with Col Gordon (of the podcast Landed)

Urban Commons – the potential of self governance (Ruchill Golfcourse & Alexandra Park Food Forest)

New Enclosures (Brian Garvey on current challenges linked to enormity of critical mineral demand, versus the low ebb of local active involvement alongside weakness of international mobilisations, Amber Huff on communities resisting extraction in South Africa; Bronagh Gallagher and Decarbonisation infrastructure: reshaping the local state through enclosure)

Community Economies and Making Publics Press – Atlas Arts, Skye

Stories from the archives and frontlines (Skye – Amazon)

Remix the Commons (Frédéric Sultan, European network)

Commons 101(with Amber Huff)

Seannfhaclan: Gaelic proverbs and patches (babs nicgriogair and keng keng da)

Body to Body to Body (a water ritual with Carmen Wong)

Grindbygg Construction (building a Norwegian shelter with Robert Mercer)

Foraging as an act of resistance (with Johanna Koen)

Our Place, No Place (a table top game exploring the complexities of a better future with David Blandy)

Collective Decision Making: Learning to be a Commoner (Clem Sandison, Landworkers’ Alliance)

Feminist Encounters of a DIY Kind: Crafting Divination Cards (with Bernadette Floresca)

& more (like Commons Karaoke Power Hour with Laurie Brown – pick yer commons croon)!

The programme is still being finalised so the timing of individual sessions (mentioned on the agenda) is subject to change. They’ll send out the final brew a week before.

Each day is served with plenty of time for gabbing – the gravy or the sauce of all gatherings – and will close with collective sense making and discussion. With this in mind  folks are encouraged  to stay for as much of the gathering as possible (rather than cherry pick and go). Of course, understandable that won’t be possible for everyone. This is to create space to build shared practices and knowledges between us through the course of the two days.

This is for you if your work or interests relate in some way to commons or commoning or could do, eg. shared assets, solidarity economy, sharing, land issues, community gardens etc (Pls don’t come to consume something novel but from a commitment to dig this in to your practice going forward 🙂

Folk who are working within groups/orgs or who are involved and based in communities throughout Scotland are being prioritised. And space is limited. So tickets/registration is currently open to people, groups and collectives from throughout Scotland. If this doesn’t describe you – add your name to this list and you will be informed if there are available tickets/when registration is open to wider folk.

Tickets £5 (1 ticket = 2 days. If you’re running a session – no need to book tickets. )

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included.

Travel bursaries are available (particularly for groups and folk traveling from rural areas/across Scotland).

Let us know if you need help finding accommodation or costs of childcare.(Options are available on the registration form when you book a ticket )

See Future Natures Website for more back story about commons in Scotland and beyond.

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