Art is a climate story

Hopes on display at the GMAST Gathering Spring: Culture and Climate Commons. Photo by Kat Wood.

Art has always helped us make sense of the world around us, and climate change is increasingly becoming part of that story. From theatres and festivals adapting to extreme weather to artists using their work to explore the climate crisis, the relationship between art and climate change is growing in both practical and creative ways.

We spoke to Arts Council England and looked at projects across the UK to explore how the arts are responding to climate change, supporting community resilience and helping more people engage with climate action.

How is climate change affecting the arts? 

For many of us, summer is synonymous with festivals. Music, poetry, comedy, theatre – there’s an event on the calendar for almost every taste. But how do these events, and the artists and production companies behind them, cope when faced with extreme weather? We spoke to Robin Lyons, Senior Officer for Environmental Responsibility at Arts Council England, to learn more. 

“Operationally, climate change is having very real impacts. We only need look at the recent heatwaves May through July to see examples of this. We’ve seen closures and changes to opening hours, challenges around performer welfare (including a need for performer hydration breaks), the disruption of transport infrastructure which is critical for our sector and of course affects our audiences, visitors, and creatives and particularly our touring productions, and we see financial impacts ranging from ticket cancellations and reduced visitor numbers through to increased building management and cooling costs… 

“But at the same time as there may be negative impacts the sector is facing, we should also recognise that cultural organisations are increasingly showing themselves to be forms of public infrastructure, and a part of community resilience. A really positive example is the Cool Off in Culture campaign, where cultural venues across the country are opening their doors as free-to-use cool spaces for the public, during periods of extreme heat.” 

Climate storytelling and the arts

Climate change is affecting the arts in two important ways: it is changing the conditions in which artists and cultural organisations operate, while also increasingly becoming a subject for creative work itself. The arts have long been intertwined with social change, politics and protest, and the climate movement is no different. Robin also had some thoughts on this: 

“There are far too many brilliant examples of climate storytelling for me to mention any individually, so instead I’d like to highlight the Climate Playwriting Prize, which is a partnership between Shakespeare’s Globe, Climate Spring and Fern Culture. Its aim is to uncover exciting new plays about the climate crisis, and to support them to find their audiences. Submissions are open this year until the 1st of September. 

“I mention the climate playwriting prize because it demonstrates in a high-profile way, how the sector itself is actively now investing in climate storytelling in a way that perhaps wasn’t commonplace ten or fifteen years ago. And this isn’t by accident; this is because the sector recognises its own strengths, and recognises the importance of climate storytelling. And what’s perhaps even more compelling, is that research suggests that audiences themselves want more climate change content in culture.” 

This desire for more climate-related work is already being acknowledged by companies like Script6, the Norfolk-based production team behind the podcast soap opera, Parklife, which Carbon Copy is supporting; Manchester-based theatre company Ergon Theatre, composers like Sarah Nicolls and Erik Ian Walker and many other performing arts and cultural institutions. It also speaks to the bigger picture: that climate change is now affecting every part of our lives, and therefore whatever story is being told, there is a climate narrative embedded within it. 

How local arts organisations can adapt to climate change

The arts are not all about headline acts and sell-out shows. Like climate action, much of the work that has the most profound and meaningful impact is happening at a more local level. In smaller galleries, community theatres and through passionate volunteers and creatives. That the venues are less high-profile does not mean they are less affected by climate change. In many cases, community arts organisations are wrangling tighter budgets and older buildings, making their need for adaptation even greater. 

For local arts organisations, adapting to climate change can mean understanding how risks such as extreme heat and flooding could affect venues, audiences, performers and the wider community. Robin had these thoughts and advice for local creative projects: 

“Certainly, the principles of assessing risk apply to most – that is first to consider your community’s vulnerabilities from social and infrastructural standpoints. To then understand what climate impacts or hazards (e.g. heat, flood) might have an effect on those vulnerabilities. And then finally, to consider how exposed to those impacts you might be on both a national and hyper-local scale. That will help you to better understand what your version of adaptation and risk might want to be centred around. 

“It’s also vital to focus on collaboration amongst your local arts ecology: finding opportunities to share knowledge and experience of climate change impacts and sharing both successes and failures in attempts to improve environmental responsibility. 

“It’s important to be constantly asking the question ‘who is missing from the conversation?’ to ensure that stakeholders at all levels and from all backgrounds can have an input. 

“This is something that our sector has actually been doing for a long time already through networks such as GMAST, or SAIL. These are creative networks that support local culture-based climate action, and recognise the strength in collaborative resilience. There are networks like these found in multiple parts of the UK, and you can find these on SAIL’s website – under the title Project Constellation: UK Sustainability Network of Networks.” 

How art can inspire local climate action

In Carbon Copy’s new report about the characteristics shared by some of the most successful local climate action projects, we uncovered that creativity was one of the twelve attributes we found enabled initiatives to thrive. This doesn’t always mean creativity in the sense of being an arts-focused project, but in many cases the arts have been used as a way to engage more people and to communicate complex issues. 

Power Station is a project led by artists Dan Edelstyn and Hilary Powell. The pair raised money through creative projects to help install rooftop solar for themselves and their neighbours on their street in East London. Listen to Hilary speak about this inspiring initiative on the Carbon Copy Podcast. 

Scrap Antics is a Dundee-based CIC rescuing materials from landfill and running playful, creative sessions with people of all ages to create awareness and engagement with issues around waste. 

Hwb y Gors in South Wales is a community arts, environment and enterprise centre run by Awal Aman Tawe and funded by profits from renewable energy projects. The centre provides a venue for a wide array of classes and workshops, helping to support local wellbeing, to bring cultural enrichment and to provide education about climate change. 

The cultural sector is not immune to the effects of climate change, but it’s clear there are many ways in which museums, venues, artists and musicians can help to address its causes and build resilience locally. Whether it’s practical adaptation to protect artistic institutions, or the creative outputs themselves prompting discussion and action to tackle the crisis, art definitely has a climate story. 

Discover more climate stories like these to inspire you at carboncopy.eco/initiatives.