The Scottish Government offered Sustainable Communities Initiatives £30,590 in 2006-07 and £9655 in 2007-08 for a project to maximise use of the Earthship Visitor Centre (located at Kinghorn Loch in Fife) with an expanded environmental education programme and new activities - expanding activity on waste and energy, with the aim of achieving self-funding status by the end of year 2, adding evening adult creative waste workshops, a Green Living Experience providing a day of activities on living in an eco home - consuming in a more ecological way and minimising waste - a micro-renewables workshop series, and profile-raising of the visitor centre to increase visitor numbers.
By the time two Visitor Centre officers (an additional 1.5 green jobs) had started in post the summer visitor season had already started so a lot of time was taken up immediately catering for visitors and providing tours. Work on the marketing strategy and expansion of existing and new activities was therefore minimal until the winter months. However, within the first year Sustainable Communities Initiatives (SCI) made good progress towards achieving the project objectives.
Green Living Experience (GLE) Days open to members of the public were launched in August 2006 - two in August and September had a total of 24 participants. Direct evaluation through feedback forms showed participants' satisfaction and that the experience would achieve its aim of making people think about changing environmental behaviours. Youth organisations Youth First and Fairbridge also made use of GLE Days. Power to the People! - A Micro-Renewables Workshop Series - was launched in September 2006, with two workshops attended by a total of 10 participants.
GLE Days modified for staff away-days for the business sector, local authorities and governmental organisations were launched in April 2007. They continued to be marketed in Year 2 with a good response, with 8 GLE staff days successfully completed. With positive feedback, these proved economically to be an effective strategy in helping the Earthship Visitor Centre (ESVC) achieve financial stability. GLE days open to members of the public were advertised and continued in the second year with only a small amount of success - with difficulty in getting the minimum number of people on each day.
Interactive presentations were provided to 9 school assemblies in Fife to introduce the services and activities SCI could offer school groups at the ESVC. As a result 3 tour group bookings were made, and several individual family visits were recorded. Requests by schools to combine demonstration tours with creative waste workshops led to one day visits with a one-and-a-half hours demonstration tour and a waste workshop. There were 11 school days with over 260 participants. This and 6 adult creative waste "Rags to Riches" workshops in summer 2007 were successful.
The Micro-Renewables Workshop Series - Power to the People! continued with 4 workshops in 2007, with a total attendance of 42 people. Feedback showed that people were pleased with their experience. SCI increased workshop prices in 2007 to make the series economically viable.
Because of lack of permanent knowledgeable staff to present ESVC Demonstration Tours with a Technical Tour add-on option, visitors were offered a Renewable Resource Sheet with attendance at the "Power to the People" workshops. The additional cost of training staff to carry out these presentations was greater than the income potential - and all information on renewable energy, waste etc. was being covered in the micro-renewable workshops.
SCI raised the profile of the ESVC and its related activities and services, with increased advertising. High-quality leaflets were circulated for each of the activities and services. In 2006 the ESVC had 2,188 visitors, an increase of 9 per cent from 2,017 in 2005. There was a visitor increase by a further 20 per cent to 2,526 in the second year.
The Earthship Summer Fair and Ceilidh in July 2007 had over 350 visitors, raising SCI profile to the local public. Marketing of the ESVC as a meeting space had a limited response. The upgrading of the website was completed in Year 2. Opening of the Visitor Centre through the winter months was reduced to weekends, due to lack of attendance and cost - and maintained enough turnover to cover costs. In summer opening was to be increased to 4 days with the remaining days being filled with GLE staff days, combined school days and pre-booked ESVC tours.
The original aim that the ESVC would become financially sustainable by the end of Year 2 was not achieved for full-time opening but weekend opening, GLE staff days and combined workshops/ tours proved successful and paid their way.
Overall, the two-year project was very informative and successful in increasing the turnover of "people through the door" while identifying the areas that were not successful. The project funding enabled SCI to experiment with marketing tools and the provision of services, and due to the high level of monitoring and evaluation the most effective options were selected. SCI achieved a greater understanding of the requirements to maximise the use of the ESVC with sustainable costs. SCI was confident this information would increase paying visitors over the coming years.
See www.sci-scotland.org.uk