Dandelion (UNBOXED)

Dandelion was a six-month STEAM project that formed part of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK, and was one of the ten major projects that took place across the UK and online in 2022. It was a partnership between a number of arts and science organisations, community organisations, academic institutions and others across Scotland and its theme was “Sow, Grow, Share”. The project worked in schools and with families and school communities to distribute 2000 tons of specially created growing medium and “tatties” so they could experiment with growing in multiple different ways.

Dandelion also held growing festivals in Glasgow and Inverness. A fleet of cargo bikes toured Scotland towing growing cubes containing stacks of plants. The tour was used to initiate conversations about food and the environment.

The centrepiece of the project was Unexpected Gardens. Dandelion organisers worked with local organisations in 13 different locations to plant gardens in unlikely places, such as waste ground. As well as planting food crops, the Unexpected Gardens hosted events and live performances. A September Harvest formed the finale in each of the Unexpected Gardens and beyond, resulting in over 500 harvest events, and there are plans for some gardens to stay in place beyond 2022.

In the UK there is public consensus that climate change is a problem – an ONS survey of October 2021 showed that 75% of people in the UK are worried about climate change. Dandelion made conversations about sustainability more accessible by using food as a starting point. Its festivals, bike tour, schools programme and Unexpected Gardens project reached people in many different communities.

We’ve put culture in agriculture and got communities and children and young people thinking about their food and where it comes from.
– Dandelion organiser, February 2022.