Join Take One Action and friends to explore what it might look like to have a radical social centre in central Edinburgh, and to explore together all the different things that a space like this could offer!

There is a long international history of social centres, and they take many different forms. We’re going to look together at global examples, from Brazil to Birmingham. We’re also going to hear from the founders of Pelican House in Bethnal Green in London, one of the prototypes for this model, to hear their story.

One of the key features of a radical social centre is that it should offer free meeting and organising space for local community and grassroots groups. We are going to hear provocations from different people and organisations about what else an Edinburgh centre could offer, from performance space to a public diner, from a creche to migrants’, tenants’ and workers’ rights clinics, from a garden to a newsroom or community journalist-in-residence. And we are going to work together to design our own imaginary social centres – in the hope of making this a future reality.

Join us to imagine together, and for a meal prepared using sustainable local ingredients. There is also a fund to support with travel and childcare, just contact us at rachel@takeoneaction.org.uk.

BSL interpretation will be provided, and you can find more venue access information here – we will be in the Binks Hall. This event is supported by Edinburgh’s Regenerative Futures Fund.