Climate Award 2022 Shortlist

In partnership with The Happy Museum Project and Culture Declares Emergency

Courtyard Centre for the Arts: climate change action

We are Herefordshire's leading arts centre and are working to lead the way for arts and cultural organisations to shift their thinking around climate change and sustainability.

We joined Culture Declares, are working with Julie's Bicycle, and are part of their initiative working with Arts Council England to develop plans for greener, cleaner, more sustainable arts projects across the country.

We've changed how we deal with waste with nothing going to landfill any more; installed more solar panels on the roof and generate 20% of our own electricity, and partner with Beryl Bikes to encourage cycling to the venue. We're working with our staff, stewards and audience members to see how we can decrease our carbon footprint, through our Eco Group, staff training, Carbon Literacy and initiatives such as Good Journey. We're all in this together!

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Eco-Capabilities: Supporting childrens wellbeing through art in nature

The UCL Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education (CCCSE) works in close partnership with arts and well-being charity Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination (CCI).

Our Eco-Capabilities project is situated at the intersection of three issues: a concern with children’s wellbeing; their apparent disconnect with the natural environment (leading to a lack of engagement with local and global environments); and a lack of engagement with the arts in school curricula – all within the context of low socio-economic status (and, thereby, relative disadvantage) in England.

We are researching how CCI’s unique arts-in-nature practice impacts on children’s nature connectivity and wellbeing and learning with mental health and education partners in our region how these opportunities can be scaled up so that more schools and communities benefit. It is crucial for us all that children should develop this sense of belonging in and being part of nature.

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LOOK Climate Lab - LOOK Photo Biennial

Open Eye Gallery is working with growing number of (over 60) communities, researchers, creatives and agencies locally, nationally and internationally to champion the agency people have in addressing the climate crisis and social justice.

From January to March 2022 our gallery spaces became everchanging LOOK Climate Labs featuring diverse projects: from Kenyian Rainforest to Scouse Flowerhouse; from WaterAid to Liverpool Network of Growers; from Energy House (EU retrofitting housing lab) to Climate Café, to name a few. The public actively engaged, from an up-cycling clothing workshop to cycling with Peleton group, to walks with B4Bio-diversity, to contributing to international research (designing environments, visualising air pollution, mapping industrial history sharing fossil fuel memories). LOOK Climate Lab developed into LOOK Photo Biennial - Climate which from July 2022 to Feb 2023, is showcasing work co-created with photographers, community and agency partners, in exhibitions which share insights across 8 locations in the North West of England.

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Mum, Will The Planet Die Before I Do?

Journalists Katy Glassborow & Babita Sharma have spent their careers investigating news stories, including climate change, but when they both became mums the climate headlines left them in a state of fear. How do you parent in a climate emergency?

Katy and Babita decided to consult some of the world’s leading climate thinkers on the questions that really matter to parents, caregivers and children around the world in a new podcast series: Mum, Will The Planet Die Before I do? We realised that the climate narrative has become dominated by negative media coverage and we felt duty-bound to produce a podcast that would facilitate open, vulnerable conversation about the climate crisis. The podcast also gives a platform to marginalised voices around the world who are navigating this unprecedented time in our planetary history.

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Our Earth Your Choice

Our Earth Your Choice is a video game made by arts organisation One to One Development Trust, co-produced with young people. Players explore environmental challenges over four levels in the game – the forest, ocean, desert, and Arctic, undertaking tasks and interventions that improve the health of the earth.

As a response to growing evidence of eco-anxiety in young people and feelings of isolation felt during Covid, Our Earth Your Choice provided a good opportunity for participants to come together at this difficult time, make new friends, learn skills, be part of something new and exciting. Our Earth Your Choice raises awareness of climate change in a fun and accessible way while learning about global environmental issues.

This ambitious project began in December 2020 and ran until July 2022 involving the participants in all aspects of game design from concept inception through to final release on a game platform.

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Yarmouth Springs Eternal

Yarmouth Springs Eternal is a community arts, walking and nature project, instigated and led by Genevieve Rudd. We celebrate and connect with everyday or overlooked aspects of the natural world, whilst recognising inequality of access to natural spaces and challenging definitions of ‘nature’.

The project participants have lived experience of homelessness and migration, as well as self-reported experiences of loneliness, mental health challenges and issues with addiction. Through walking, we notice how Spring unfolds, using arts approaches to document and build a body of knowledge of the season. We emphasise that nature isn’t just pretty pastoral landscapes requiring walking boots and a car to access, it’s the stuff living all around us: Great Yarmouth’s streets, buildings, places and culture is central to this.

We’ve hosted artist-led workshops, an exhibition, conference and public events. This year, the group was mentored by arts and ecology practitioners to design and lead public events

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