An Imaginarium is a space devoted to fostering, stimulating, and cultivating the imagination and creativity.
Imagination is one of the most underused yet urgently needed capacities for seeing beyond the immediate and innovating amid the ongoing, systemic, and interconnected crises affecting both people and the living landscapes we depend on. Beyond preparing us for the next disruption and advancing the restoration and regeneration of our planet home, the growing emphasis on ‘futures literacy’ invites us to harness imagination in ways that help us face uncertainty with confidence and strengthen our ability to adapt.
Our Bioregional Imaginarium is imagination grounded in place—a fusion of creativity, ecology, and community visioning for a specific landscape – the Tay Bioregion. Its purpose is to help people reconnect with the living world around them, strengthen local resilience, and foster visions of sustainable, place-based futures.
“come aa ye at hame wi freedom“, a portrait of the great Scots poet, Hamish Henderson, by Martin McGuinness, made in 2019 in Glenshee to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth, photo Clare Cooper
It is a cultural engine for re-inhabitation, giving communities in Tayside the tools and creative spaces to practice this concept in real time. Coined by early bioregional thinkers (like Peter Berg and Raymond Dasmann), re-inhabitation means learning to live-in-place in ways that are sustainable, reciprocal, and aligned with the ecological and cultural realities of a bioregion. It’s not just “living” in a place but becoming native to it again through practices of care, restoration, and the rekindling of belonging. It cultivates the imagination, skills, and relationships needed to transform “residing in a place” into “living as part of a place.”
Arts, culture and heritage are at the heart of a Bioregional Imaginarium. They bring people together, challenge the status quo and create spaces for new ideas and opportunities to flourish and through the curator-ship of our Makar, Jim Mackintosh, we’re starting off the work of the Imaginarium with some specially commissioned writing and poetry from some of the Tay Bioregion’s most powerful cultural voices.
Over time we hope to develop the programme to commission more works and promote those of others in Tayside who are activating Bioregional imagination, not only culturally, but scientifically and spiritually too.
For now, scroll through the posts in this section to be inspired!
