Launching: SPRINGBOARD local assemblies for creative climate action

SPRINGBOARD local assemblies for creative climate action connect people and organisations working on culture and climate change from the same region so they can learn together, share knowledge and information and collaborate.

Join us at a local assembly to collaborate with your creative sector and climate change peers on the continuing journey towards net zero. See the dates, locations and details of local assemblies.

SPRINGBOARD local assemblies for creative climate action build on the work we’ve been doing for more than a decade: our Green Arts Initiative – a community of practice comprising more than 300 cultural organisations around Scotland working to reduce their climate impact – and Climate Beacons – an innovative partnerships of cultural, climate change and civic society actors working to build deep-rooted, sustained public engagement with climate change.

Aiming to develop powerful local networks, the first local assemblies for creative climate action are taking place across Scotland in November and December 2022. Hosted in-person by leading cultural organisations, each local assembly will be individually designed for its location.

Practical workshops led by Creative Carbon Scotland will be selected from the following list of topics:

Harnessing the power of the creative sector to influence society on climate change
Creative and cultural organisations have tangible and intangible assets with which they can influence society: the work they make, present or distribute; their long-term relationships and regular communications with loyal audiences; the ways in which they use and manage their buildings and estate; the examples they set through their behaviour and their values. This workshop will draw on findings from a recent meeting of Scotland’s national cultural institutions and UK climate action experts.
Carbon management for creative sector organisations
Creative Scotland and other bodies are increasingly asking applicants for funding to measure, report and plan to reduce their carbon emissions. In this session we will share tools to identify and understand your main emissions, and together you will devise and commit to creative ways to tackle them. Appropriate for those with all levels of prior experience in carbon management (including none!).
Understanding cultural adaptation and your influence in the wider culture ecosystem
Creative sector organisations are experiencing the impacts of climate change, from flooding to travel disruption but also warmer summers. Adaptation is the term given to thinking about how to manage the risks and grasp the opportunities this presents. This session will introduce you to climate adaptation in the context of your local area as well as globally, enabling you to identify your main climate change risks using our Adapting our Culture toolkit and collaboratively planning how to approach adaptation in your work.
Climate justice and arts & culture
Climate justice is a way of understanding how climate change results from and exacerbates existing inequalities and injustices as well as how climate action can help create a fairer world. This workshop will share our research into how climate justice thinking is relevant to the creative sector in Scotland and provide opportunities to explore how this relates to your own organisation or individual practice.
Arts and environmental collaboration on climate change
Collaboration between the arts and environmental sectors can create diverse opportunities for more effective action on climate change. This session will explore the ways that these fields can benefit from collaboration, offer examples of what has been achieved in the past and explore the practical steps needed to make collaborative projects a success. The session will end with an opportunity to consider what a collaborative climate change project would look like for you.

Local assemblies schedule

NB: Links will be added as soon as available

Aberdeen – 10 November [opens in a new window]
Argyll – 7 November [opens in a new window]
Dumfries and Galloway – 1 November [opens in a new window]
Dundee – 2 November
Edinburgh – 14 November
Glasgow – 4 November [opens in a new window]
Inverness – tbc
Inverclyde – 8 November

Each local assembly will finish with a discussion about what participants would like to happen next followed by light refreshments so participants can continue to develop their local network.

SPRINGBOARD local assemblies are free to attend and open to anyone interested in how culture and climate can work together, whether from organisations or as individuals working or volunteering in the arts, creative and screen industries, heritage, museums and libraries, and climate change / sustainability.

Each assembly will be fully accessible. BSL interpretation will be available if required. Please contact lowenna.hosken@creativecarbsonscotland.com or the local host at least one week in advance if we can help you attend.

The local assemblies are part of SPRINGBOARD: Assembly for creative climate action, a new long-term project, led by Creative Carbon Scotland, working to bring about transformational change in the arts and culture sector, and wider society, to help build a net-zero, climate-ready Scotland. We’ve envisaged SPRINGBOARD in these two parts so as to encompass both local and national challenges.

In January 2023 you’re invited to the first SPRINGBOARD: Assembly for creative climate action, which we are holding online.

While the local assemblies connect cultural and climate change individuals and organisations in a given region of Scotland, the annual assembly will bring participants together in cohorts of a given creative practice, eg theatre, visual art, libraries, etc to work on shared topics and interests.

Registration for the SPRINGBOARD assembly will open at the end of October.

Follow all the SPRINGBOARD action on social media using #ClimateNeedsCulture.

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