SOILSCAPE

SOILSCAPE harnesses the power of Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs), artists, and civil society organisations (CSOs) to promote soil preservation across Europe and beyond. Working with experts from the worlds of soil sciences, arts, decision-making, and humanities, this project coordinated by AFES seeks to cultivate soil literacy and celebrate soils through creative approaches, engaging citizens & professionals on this journey. SOILSCAPE's objectives include understanding human-soil relations, building a network of more than 120 relevant actors in 8 countries, onboarding at least 320 individuals from the society, providing 1,850,000 € as financial and technical support to CSOs, CCIs, schools, artists, and institutions, distributing 375,000 € as awards and 80 soil literacy certifications to inspiring initiatives, and reaching international scales through UNESCO and Coalition of Action for 4 Soil Health. To achieve these objectives, SOILSCAPE uses a multilingual and multi-actor approach, focusing on cultivating artistic soil intelligence, promoting context-based soil literacy, enhancing awareness through innovative communication strategies and a soil literacy portal, organising 2 editions of national soil festivals across Europe, and extending its actions to 30 regions by 2028. 

The project unfolds through 4 key stages: (1) Contemplation: Consulting stakeholders to understand individual perception on soils, arts, and links with societal values; Investigating soil narratives and the potential of arts and arts-based methodologies to engage in soils; (2) Preparation: Developing people-centric transformative strategies, including an artistic and creative international soil network; (3) Action: Conducting and monitoring the SOILSCAPE creative activities, including the support to 28 arts-soils initiatives led by third parties; (4) Sustainability: Validating and replicating the SOILSCAPE initiatives at large scale.