Big Change & The Feels - The role of Arts and Culture in the Climate Crisis

Pippa Bailey

What does the title of this piece make you think of? A rock band swinging laidback surf tunes? Could be. That’s a good start for this story; music connected to nature with a smooth, feel-good ambiance.

Urban myths tell us that surf music was connected to the babes and dudes who spent their sun-kissed time on the waves. Those tunes expressed the vibe of an easy life with a, then, new technology: the wet spring reverb that ‘sounded like waves’. It was the late 1950s, and the USA was in a period of great social change, with Cold War fear of communism underpinning the aspirational American Dream. This music helped pioneer a new global music business and conjured yearning for growth, youth and freedom. It was part of a sea change where mass produced spinning vinyl played new tunes to millions across the world.

I grew up in a beachside city in Australia where these sounds and other cultural exports from the US and UK helped define Australian culture. Then our own fledgling music, film and arts sectors were finding their feet on the boards, be they stage or surf or in the studio… You get my drift.

Music, like most art forms, is dominated by feel. Whether it’s the notes dancing over rhythm, the blend of shapes and colours on a canvas, the sinew of bodies and voices in space or a U-turn in a story; creative expression offers us leaps of imagination to bypass everyday drudgery and sense making. Artists apply their skills to new creations designed to interrupt the ‘usual’ and take us out of ourselves. At best they open our hearts to new possibilities and help us to think and feel our way through our own lives. Artists and cultural expression also help determine the attitudes and behaviours of Now.

And Now is pretty complicated.

Now there is a Climate Emergency.

At this point, the old needle should be scratching violently across the vinyl of our blissed-out summer tunes. The oceans are full of rubbish, the rolling waves are increasingly replaced by violent storms and tsunami. Even on a fine day the beaches are littered with millions of nurdles (tiny pieces of plastic) on seemingly ‘pristine’ white sand. How does that make you feel? Furious? Exhausted? Powerless?

Feel is one thing, but this story is also based in fact. The science is iridescently clear: the natural world is seriously threatened by excessive carbon and other greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere. Scientists are describing the rapid decline of so many animals, birds and insects that the

United Nations report one million species are now endangered. The signs are everywhere: bee colonies in decline; polar bears starving; major bleaching events in our coral reefs; enduring drought and so much more. After decades of down-play and denial the media in Australia have finally woken up — partly in response to global pressure and children on strike from school.

News reports are also bursting with political chaos in so many countries. This may at first seem unrelated but isn’t it part of the same story? Leading experts talk of broken systems. And the culture is scared: we have been taught and sold fear. Fear for our safety, fear for the future and for our children. In Australia, safety has been exhaustively politicised and everything has the ‘security’ label: borders, water, food and land. As if the fabric of our lives could be controlled and governments could bring order. In fact, there are much bigger commercial powers at play. And our feelings are tuned to political advantage, fuelling the biggest fear of all: fear of change.

Yet change is all around us. In just ten years our lives have been radically transformed by mobile technology. We are experiencing warmer temperatures, more extreme weather events, polluted air and poisoned water, and we are drowning in plastic. We know all of this… Climate anxiety is a thing. According to the Lowy Institute poll, 64% of Aussies think it is the most serious threat of all[1]. Yet despite all this, something is blocking large scale responsible environmental action.

What would that action look like? Well, for a start, the PM and Leader of the opposition would declare a Climate Emergency, engage First Nation Leaders to help them understand the unique natural systems we are busy destroying, set an immediate agenda to mobilise environmental scientists and all the solutions that are already available. We would invest in research for new solutions and re-imagine the country’s resources so that food, shelter, energy and health care are assured through rapid transition to a low carbon economy. Good leadership would steer change with confidence so we all feel reassured.

Instead, Australia is stalling. The truth is that we are embedded in the global economic system’s reliance on consumption, led by the USA and built steadily since WW2, (accompanied by some classic tunes). Growth relies on increasingly intense and accelerated use of fossil fuels and other natural resources. Australia is rich in natural resources. We are ‘early adopters’ of new technology, which has entwined us

with big businesses who seduced us with the latest toys. We have the fourth largest accumulation of personal debt in the developed world. We are indebted to the Mining Industry, which helped us escape the Global Financial Crisis. In short, we are deeply committed to the system that is causing Climate Change.

Propping up our wasteful and inequitable global economic system is the culture that has grown along with it. That culture teaches aspiration, where wealth and power are ‘accessible’ to everyone if only people work hard, don the trappings of success by consuming, and keep ‘winning’. We believe that the most successful are relieved of everyday responsibilities and can do whatever they want. Money and success, we are told, is freedom. Artists work hard to offer alternatives, explore difficult issues playfully and throw up challenges for our society. Behind that work is the machinery that enables it to be created and presented. The Arts industry is synonymous with privilege and aspiration, and plays a significant role in the often contradictory cultural messaging.

Making a living in the arts or the cultural sector requires a different kind of feel. Putting projects together with the right partners, the right money, the right content and context to reach the right audience, all contributes to the elusive success of a project. This ‘feel’ relies heavily on building cultural capital: aligning reputation with those who have power and privilege, who control the financial resources to make something happen. This is the feel we seldom hear about, yet is informing the messaging all around us. It is steeply hierarchical, and we are all looking up, dreaming of rising to the top. The spoils of ‘stardom’ are the bait and everyone is hooked.

As well as personal gain, the hope is that this complex composition of artists and partners can transfer some good ‘feel’ to the audience. This can rise to a frenzy for a ‘sold-out’, ‘must see’ event or evoke a cool offhand ‘pass’ if the art is somehow deemed to be off-trend. It’s an inexact science with a rush of endorphins if the project feels right. Sometimes the art is communicating something new to the audience, like the wet spring reverb. More often it is comforting or cathartic, where a known story, images, sounds, characters or partners confirm the audience’s place and position in the world. It reflects other aspects of society: adversarial, competitive and all at the mercy of powerful individuals.

Artists, arts managers, producers and marketeers pour over their work and the associated data to try and determine successful

outcomes. Everything is a business. The feel for business has increasingly replaced a feel for the creative work or other social values. We all got the memo: Money is power. Driven by profit and competition, business language and methodology has increasingly taken centre stage, while no one notices the cost to the other values inherent in creative practices. Mimicking the corporate model has meant an increased focus on markets, showcasing and selling our artistic cultural ‘products’. The audience is only one part of the equation and all other payers are carefully lined up. This has happened across society. Government is business. Social services are business. Detention is business. Even unemployment is business. Art is definitely business. And that feels right.

So, when business is interrupted by the many calling for change in the face of a Climate Emergency, it feels uncomfortable, difficult, wrong.

I have spent my career in the arts, fascinated by the industrial machinery, watching artists lose ground and position, seeing them replaced by managers, marketeers and fundraisers. This has led to a greater disconnect between cultural policy and creative practice. Too few have noticed. In the performing arts, for example, there are now far more people off stage than onstage. The artists are perceived to be uneconomical whereas those associated with the business are deemed necessary. When organisations come together to make a show, there is duplication of people managing the business machinery, with relatively fewer artists in the mix. Look to the boards of our significant cultural institutions and there are very few artists, or even arts professionals. They are crowded with lawyers, marketeers and financial managers because these are the people with power. This machinery is mostly invisible to the audience.

‘The truth is that we are embedded in the global economic system’s reliance on consumption, led by the USA and built steadily since WW2, (accompanied by some classic tunes).’

And what has all this to do with the Climate Emergency?

For many years, I saw myself as a curious observer. Anxious about the worrying developments in the natural world, busy trying to make a contribution, I have always believed — and still do — that artistic expression and experiences are powerful, playing a vital role in helping society to understand itself, to tease out challenging questions and dream up new solutions. I did not see how implicated I was. Then, finally, the penny dropped. Eureka. I am part of the problem. That epiphany felt pretty terrible. Since then I have been determined to try and focus on the growing Climate Crisis in a sector with so much to offer adaptation to a low carbon future. The truth is, the Arts also need to change.

And the reluctance in the sector to meaningfully engage and show leadership has been immensely disappointing.

Responding to this Emergency is not simple. Taking action is far more complex than carbon emissions, invest in and protect

doubling down on your recycling. What artists and cultural workers need to do now is what people all over the world are facing. We must STOP EVERYTHING, step back, assess the damage we cause and articulate the sustainable value we have.

There is good news. Artistic practice, for the most part, is pretty low carbon. There are wonderful artists who are confronting the Crisis every day and rehearsing innovative new realities. My heroines include Marrugeku (Dalisa Pigram & Rachael Swain), Latai Taumoepeau and Artist as Family (Zero, Meg, Patrick, Woody & Zephyr). them. What’s more, if we invest in artists and focus on practice then we are investing in a sustainable future.

So what else can we do to feel better?

This is personal. The Climate Crisis can’t be siloed, escaped or pushed into the too hard basket. It’s happening now. We have to act quickly. 180 countries are signed up to the Paris Agreement, including Australia. This pledge commits us to drastically reduce There are many others. Find them, support

nature, and adapt to a warmer climate. Start acting on these commitments in your own life. Notice the resistance and challenges. Don’t let business get in the way.

FIRST NATIONS FIRST. We are so fortunate that Australia has the oldest living culture in the world and can still connect to ancient knowledge that is connected to nature, culture and country. They must lead us.

BE RADICALLY LOCAL. The arts industry is now built globally on travel and tourism. We all identify with work and special interest communities that take us geographically ‘away’ from where we live. We fly without thinking . A sustainable future needs to be radically local. Reconnecting locally helps us to notice supply chains and utilises local services (including creative ones). It develops strong communities where artists can play a leading role. I’m inspired by the work of Wan SmolBag in Vanuatu, a local arts centre with two impressive theatre companies at its heart that also provides a range of health, youth and nutritional services. They tour to local islands but don’t tour internationally. They don’t need to. The theatre is full every night.

GET CREATIVE. It’s time for creative power to be unleashed. That means learning new creative skills and encouraging more people to engage in creative practices. Not only do we want more people to attend the many amazing shows, exhibitions and creative events on offer but to become more creative themselves. We need flexible, adaptive imaginative people to help transition our economy and our systems. For the Arts community that means opening doors and encouraging greater participation. Sporting communities are better at encouraging all levels of engagement. The creative sector needs to follow this lead with our unique focus on expression, not competition, or we will all lose.

FIND REAL WORLD ACTION FOR THOSE VIRTUAL CONNECTIONS. Technology has transformed our lives and has brought huge advantages. Spending too much time in the virtual world disconnects us from the real and the natural worlds. We need to better critique its environmental cost and complement our virtual lives with real connections and ways of communicating. Make conscious decisions to put those clicks, likes and comments into real world practice. Connect virtually rather than travel, find a community garden or climate action group in your area that needs a creative voice and connect them to artists and communities in other parts of the world through your networks. Be embodied. Walk your talk.

So… Let’s imagine Big Change and the Feels as a feel-good band of action, a new cultural movement responding to the Climate Emergency. Big Change is coming and needs our attention. It will require emotional intelligence, courage and imagination. Society desperately needs creative, imaginative people to adapt to the challenges and new realities ahead. We all need to focus on sustainable principles and champion the artists who understand how to live simply, take brave leaps into the unknown, ask difficult questions and are forging new pathways. Artists help shape our identity and define the values at the heart of our culture. We must get real, examine the machinery and start to transition our organisations, practices and lifestyles. It won’t feel easy or comfortable or even necessarily ‘right’ by current standards. Like any new movement, the post contemporary Re-generation will challenge all that you thought you knew.

If it’s overwhelming and you want some help, please get in touch.

I know how you feel.

[1] https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/ are-australians-more-worried-about-climatechange-or- climate-policy

Danish artist Jens Galschiot on at COP 23 in Bonn by Art against Climate Change | Image by Pippa Bailey

PIPPA BAILEY

Pippa Bailey is a senior producer / director and currently Director of ChangeFest 19, a national celebration of place-based social change. She is working with Critical Path, Australia’s leading centre for choreographic enquiry, research and development, to respond to the Climate Emergency.