Sustaining Creativity: Environmental Action at Arts Council England Lucy Latham
Creativity and culture powering environmental action Our objectives: • Support culture to meet the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees • Advocate for culture to inspire action on climate change and sustainability
Why policy? •
It creates the conditions and framework for action
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It reflects the urgency and scale of climate change and legitimises action
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It can multiply initiatives and amplify outcomes
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It unlocks significant new co-funding streams for the arts and culture
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It can support the necessary partnerships and resources for new and scaled-up projects
Environmental governance supports cultural leaders to redefine the purpose of our cultural infrastructure and its impact on society.
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The Arts Council England Environmental journey…..
1. Sector change: Arts Council England Environmental Programme • • • • • • •
Phoenix Dance Theatre @ Yorkshire Festival Photo: Yorkshire Festival
The backbone of environmental action….Creative Green Tools
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Now what…?
2020-30 strategy under development
Major push from the sector to go faster and further on climate and environment
What does data have to do with it?
1. Understanding impacts Carbon footprint The measure of the climate change impact of an activity, product, person, country, venue, event etc. The sum of the climate change impacts of a set of activities – energy use, waste, transport etc. expressed as a single number in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents using government conversion factors e.g. • kWh electricity x kg CO2e per kWh = electricity use CO2e
2. Informing action
3. Communicating impact
What have we learned? 1.
Collaborations and partnerships to break the siloes Focus on responding to ‘Missions’
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Policy needs support Support structures, implementation strategies, in-house expertise, tools
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Creative content will thrive under positive conditions Training, community, artist residencies, tools for promoting environmental practice Programming/curatorial opportunities
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Evidence will generate the business, creative and ethical case for action Collect data: environmental impacts, attitudes, case studies
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Champion and empower leadership Map practice – and invest in it, scale what works Focus on purpose align to 1.5 degrees and Sustainable Development Goals
THANK YOU lucy@juliesbicycle.com
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