Cultural Adaptations conference goes digital!

We are excited to announce that the Cultural Adaptations conference, taking place 2-5 March 2021 will be delivered completely online, widening the opportunities for participation from around the world.

Due to the ongoing uncertainty and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals, organisations and nations, we are adapting our plans to reflect these circumstances. We want to ensure that as many people can attend as possible, and aim to avoid the barriers of travel restrictions or localised ‘lockdowns’.

Although we might not be able to physically host conference delegates in Glasgow, we will be bringing you some Glaswegian style and Scottish hospitality from the host city of the United Nations’ COP26 climate change negotiations.

An extended programme for a digital event

We’ve got so many exciting sessions that we’ve decided to add an extra day to the programme! Now across four days, the conference will include keynote presentations from contributors in Europe and further afield, as well as participatory workshops to prepare delegates to explore how culture can play a central role in climate change adaptation.

The programme will explore:

  • How cultural organisations can adapt to the projected impacts of climate change, and what it means for their artistic work and operations
  • How adaptation by cultural SMEs can lead and support other city-region organisations to adapt
  • How creative methods and arts practice can shape how regions adapt to climate change
  • How cross-sector collaboration on climate issues can be a future role for the arts
Who is the conference for?

The Cultural Adaptation conference will provide a unique opportunity for practitioners, policy makers and researchers working in climate change adaptation or arts and culture.

This event is therefore particularly relevant to:

  • Adaptation professionals working at the national, regional or city scale
  • Policy makers from local and national government with a remit in: culture, sustainability, adaptation, regeneration or development
  • Cultural managers of creative organisations, civic creative spaces or cultural initiatives
  • Artists and creative practitioners with an interest in working in different sectors to achieve social/political change
  • Academics with a research concentration in transformation, cultural value, environmental art and adaptation complexity

Register your interest now to be the first to secure your ticket!

Free materials and resources

At the conference we will officially launch the Cultural Adaptations toolkits, which will subsequently be made available for free use and replication. These toolkits will be easy to use, inspiring and practical, with guidance created from our experiences and learning from hosting innovative projects in four city-regions across Europe.

In the meantime, take a look at our developing digital resources, where we share project blogs, research insights and video and podcast materials on the topics of climate change, adaptation and creativity.


Cultural Adaptations is an action research project funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, and co-funded by the Scottish Government.

More about the project and partnerships can be found on our About page.

(Top photo: © Copyright – Samantha Borges via Unsplash)