Celebrating 20 years of Rea!

This spring we are celebrating 20 years of Rea! 

In March 2006 Lucy & Arran received a start-up grant from Business Gateway, and Rowanbank Environmental Arts & Education was created. The name was chosen as we were based on a small croft in the North-East of Scotland called Rowanbank. It was there that we began to establish our diverse range of clients from across the renewables industry, the nature charity and the public sectors. We moved to Edinburgh in 2008, but the name stuck, and it wasn’t until last year that we became Rea (Rowan Environmental Arts).

Rea means to flow. Our success over the last 20 years has been due to the hard work, expertise, passion, creativity and playfulness of our amazing team, and lots of time spent amongst the trees. It has also been because we have been able to flow like a river, constantly changing and flowing forwards. Thich Nhat Hanh's teaching about flowing like a river has inspired our approach: "If you are a drop of water, you might wonder whether you have the capacity to go to the ocean. But when you become a river, you are sure you don't have to worry. You will certainly come to the ocean.” 

Over the past two decades, our 'river mindset’ has transformed our approach to working in the climate and nature space, and has been the key to our success, resilience and wellbeing. Flowing like a river helps us to gracefully navigate big changes, maintain our momentum and passion, and remind us of our shared purpose and the powerful climate community we are part of. We hope you will join us as we flow forwards, honouring the wisdom of the river and the trees.