A textile printing organisation in the east end of Glasgow, In Print used a 'Together Again' microgrant from Creative Lives to run workshops for young people, an open day and printmaking demonstrations. Sarah Diver Lang tells us all about it . . .

"In Print Glasgow is a newly established social enterprise that works with young people locally to make, learn and share our love of printmaking. We use sustainable processes and materials to ensure our work is environmentally friendly and love to share our passion with others to show how printmaking can be more sustainable.

The Creative Lives microgrant allowed us to host an open day at our workshop to showcase our work and run demos with the public in screen printing. In 2021 we worked with 5 young people on a placement programme. These young people made a collection called Rescued by In Print; a series of clothes and products which upcycled unwanted clothes with their own decorative pattern.

The microgrant from Creative Lives helped us run an open day event that showcased this collection to friends, family and people locally. It supported 3 of the young people to run printmaking demonstrations and attendees made a series of t-shirts and tote bags to take home. They learned about sustainable fabrics such as recycled and organic cottons and natural printing inks made with natural dyes instead of harmful synthetic dyes and acrylic-based inks.

The microgrant provided the young people with an opportunity to showcase their work and allowed us to reunite after the placements and share our aspirations for the project with others. Since then we’ve been asked to print t-shirts and banners for a few other ethical local groups and organisations and run a workshop at the Slow threads festival.

Without the support of this grant young people may not have had the confidence and experience to host this external event nor would they have had an opportunity to celebrate and showcase their work. On behalf of all of us, thank you Creative Lives!"