Gaada is an artist-led organisation which runs Toogs Art Workshop, a neurodiverse making community and Shetland’s only visual art workshop facility. It was founded in 2018 by artists Amy Gear and Daniel Clark. The organisation’s founding aim is to contribute toward a more inclusive cultural landscape in Shetland, which reflects the diversity and experience of people who live in the isles. Gaada develops ambitious creative projects in collaboration with an intersectional community of aspiring and professional artists, peer and support groups, educational institutions, and organisations in Shetland. Our work is currently centred around the improving provision of Shetland’s only publicly accessible visual art production
facility and specialist creative support, Toogs Art Workshop. Through this work Gaada helps remove barriers for under-represented groups to enter the creative economy and increase their independence through accessing wider supportive networks. At a national level, Gaada visibly champions remote rural environments as sites of artistic endeavour whilst continuing to build supportive networks of dialogue and exchange with neighbouring artists, organisations, and institutions in the UK and Norway. These efforts challenge notions of peripherality toward island communities, and strengthen the role of Shetland as a central point of cultural exchange within the Northern Atlantic.