Throughout 2021, our Green Arts team supported Creative Scotland RFOs and organisations funded by City of Edinburgh Council Culture with environmental reporting.

We have now received emissions reporting and carbon management updates from 118 of the 121 RFOs despite the difficult circumstances that many have faced in adapting to pandemic related restrictions. As ever, we are impressed with the range of ways organisations are engaging with reducing their emissions and the enthusiasm for important action in this area. We want to extend our thanks and congratulations to all the organisations we’ve worked with over the past year.

Emissions reporting 2020/21 – an exceptional year

In gathering emissions data from the previous year, we were  asking organisations to report on their emissions from 2020/21. With much work changed, reduced, or happening differently in response to pandemic related restrictions, the overall footprint showed up as less than 50% of the 2019/20 footprint. The total emissions reported by all organisations totalled 3289 tonnes CO2e in comparison to the 2019/20 total of 8648 tonnes CO2e.

Below you can see a pie chart of how the footprint of 2020/21 was made up of different emissions sources. You’ll notice there’s almost no travel!

The global pandemic brought with it challenging personal and professional circumstances for all as well as struggle for the sector at large that we would never wish to see replicated. However, there has been some learning from some of the changes made in producing and delivering cultural work with the potential to embed lower carbon methods in the future. Organisations have told us about some work that can now happen remotely, avoiding otherwise significant travel emissions, including some examples where they’re able to reach a larger or more diverse audience.

Pathways to zero

We have now been gathering emissions data from organisations since 2015/16, so we were able to provide all organisations who have been reporting on their emissions with an overview of their emissions up to 2019/20 and tailored pathways to zero emissions by 2030 and 2045. These reports were designed to provide food for thought as organisations consider the scale of the net zero challenge.

Below you can see the collective pathway to zero for all organisations reporting their emissions starting at the 2019/20 footprint. If we intend to keep to this trajectory to reach net zero by 2045, we need to collectively aim for a footprint of 5604 tonnes CO2e in 2025. This is more than the 2020/21 footprint but much less than that of 2019/20.

Working in culture we’re often dependent on carbon intensive infrastructure that we don’t have direct control over to deliver work. We know that reaching net zero is a collective project that spans the whole of society so government, local authorities, businesses, cultural organisations and communities all need to be involved. Monitoring and reducing organisational emissions is part of a bigger shift.

Carbon management planning

Carbon management plans 2018-2021 were shaped around the idea of projects taking place on a year-by-year basis. While the work on these short-term projects has reduced emissions by an estimated 900 tonnes CO2e, representing around a 2.8% annual reduction over the three-year period, in the light of more ambitious national and regional reduction targets we need to do more.

Our experience during this initial three-year period has shown that without longer term planning it is difficult to deliver more ambitious emissions reductions. Responding to pandemic restrictions also meant organisations struggled to deliver their planned actions for 2020/21 and had to adapt these to suit their new circumstances. With these factors taken into account, this year we asked organisations to think further ahead and tell us about an action they planned to deliver before 2025. This allowed many to be more ambitious and explore more innovative ideas which we hope to encourage and support in the coming years.

Below is a snapshot of the commitments reporting organisations made.

It remains to say another big thank you to all the reporting organisations who have provided updates, spoken with us and participated in our workshops over the past year showing careful thought and commitment as we work together to contribute to a lower carbon future.

For any organisation looking at managing their carbon footprint, we have advice, tools and resources available on our carbon management pages and encourage you to contact our Green Arts Manager, Caro Overy (Caro.Overy@creativecarbonscotland.com), with any feedback or questions. 

The post Carbon management update 2021 appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

2nd February 2022: This event provided an opportunity for artists and scientists working on climate change and related environmental issues to meet each other and make connections. The event started with a panel of speakers before moving into space for one-on-one conversations between attendees. This event was organised in collaboration with Metta Theatre.

Speakers

The three speakers for this event were:

• Will Reynolds, stage and lighting designers and co-founder of Metta Theatre
• Dr Emily Taylor, general manager of the Crichton Carbon Centre
• Eve Mosher, artist working on the climate crisis since 2007

Our three speakers provided an introduction to arts/sciences collaborations from their own perspectives. You can watch a video of their three presentations here with a summary provided below.

Will Reynolds discussed his experiences of bringing in scientists to advise on their work and a project pairing up creatives and researchers. He found that these situations tended to work as a two-way exchange where artists benefited from research input and researchers appreciated the opportunity to consider their research in new ways.

One project involved creating a contemporary dance piece about arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh, which required scientific expert input to get a fuller understanding of the issues. The scientist was ultimately recorded speaking and the recording was integrated into the final piece. Another project, Mouthful, involved commissioning six playwrights paired up with six scientists to produce a new short creative work about global food crisis. The collaboration process tended to begin with open discussion with the following collaboration process going in different directions depending on the needs of the people involved. They also worked with a seventh scientist to produce the final production and design of the six pieces so that it would draw out shared themes the most effectively.

Will emphasised how inspiring the project was and how speaking to scientists directly was utterly different from simply reading research. The development of personal connections allowed totally different ways of thinking to develop.

Dr Emily Taylor discussed the projects Peat Cultures and Peatland Connections, which involve close collaboration with artists. Crichton Carbon Centre work with landowners, managers and policymakers to restore peatlands and have good communication with people involved in the process of restoration but have found it harder to reach the general public despite the fact that the work is publicly funded.

Artist Kate Foster made contact with the Crichton Carbon Centre and they co-developed the project Peat Cultures, which sought to build public understanding of peat bogs through activities like taking people out onto the peat bogs for drawing sessions. One of Emily’s key learnings from this was that she can’t prescribe the way that they engage with people and needed to bring in someone with different expertise who would understand how to do this effectively. She emphasised that they could not plan in advance the way things would go and had to respond to changing circumstances, which was dependent on having funding that was sensitive to this need.

Their current project Peatland Connections is being managed by artist Kerry Morrison, crucially someone with cultural rather than scientific expertise. A key aim for the project is to establish good communication between people coming from many different fields and perspectives and bring more people into decision making about landscapes.

Eve Mosher introduced a number of her projects that involved working with scientists. She began by emphasising that there is no right way to do arts-sciences collaboration and that a degree of messiness is often part of the process. The projects she instigates are sparked by curiosity but rooted in science with advice sought from scientists to determine whether they are comfortable with the way research is being represented. The projects are also participant-led with the opportunity for people to provide new information back to researchers in turn.

HighWaterLine is a project that drew flood-zones across cities including New York, Miami and Bristol that would result from sea level rise. She worked with scientists to map where the lines should be drawn but also brought the scientists with them for the process of drawing. Scientists commented on how the process of physically drawing the line and seeing the neighbourhoods affected refocused the issues for them. Another project, Holding the Ocean, aimed to create a more intimate experience of the science on warming in the Arctic for people in Scotland, connecting it to their linked experience.

Heat Response was a project in Philadelphia working with the Trust for Public Land that connected people’s lived experience to scientific data mapping on heatwaves in the city on health. An ongoing project in the village in Aberdeenshire where she now lives involves talking to the community to understand how a historic fishing village can respond to climate change, instigating a dialogue with scientists for the village to operate as a testing ground and produce mutual learning for all involved.

Discussion

This was followed by some questions for our speakers and open discussion time. Points raised included the importance of embodied, physical experience for gaining a fuller understanding of research, the difficulties in instigating contact between different fields and networks as well as how to fund this kind of collaborative work. Some useful resources were shared at this point including:

• For expressing the value of arts/sciences collaborations: Library of Creative Sustainability, Valuing Arts and Arts Research Report, Paper on integrating cultural heritage into ecosystem services, EcoArtScotland Blog
• For finding collaborators: Green Tease Database, ResearchGate, Academia.edu

This was followed by time for one-to-one conversations between artists and scientists using the platform Glimpse. After the event, a shared Slack group was created to allow attendees from the event to keep in touch and share useful resources. To be added to this group, please contact lewis.coenen-rowe@creativecarbonscotland.com.

About Green Tease

The Green Tease events series and network is a project organised by Creative Carbon Scotland, bringing together people from arts and environmental backgrounds to discuss, share expertise, and collaborate. Green Tease forms part of our culture/SHIFT programme. 

The post Green Tease Reflections: Artist/Scientist Networking appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

In 2021, Lyth Arts Centre (LAC), in collaboration with Timespan and the Environmental Research Institute (University of Highlands & Islands), were selected as a Creative Carbon Scotland Climate Beacon for a collaborative engagement programme around the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26).

Titled The Land for Those That Work It, our Climate Beacon seeks to explore issues of land justice, climate colonialism and development policies and initiatives for our region.

As part of The Land for Those That Work It, LAC commissioned The Bare Project to create a room of The People’s Palace of Possibility in collaboration with the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (University of Glasgow) here in Caithness. This residency is the subject of this blog.

Room by room

The People’s Palace of Possibility is a long-term project that creates spaces for people to imagine other ways of living through stories, conversation, and play. It is a place to ask how things could be different, fairer. The Bare Project creates frameworks for crunchy conversations to happen through potlucks, storytelling, and playful, beautiful design. Right now, they are building The People’s Palace of Possibility room by room through a series of residencies across the UK. Each room examines a different theme. Eventually, all these rooms will be gathered together in one big, utopian outdoor installation.

With LAC, The Bare Project began to build the first room of the Palace. The theme of this room is human relationships with land. Before building the Palace, we must examine our relationship with the lands on which it will sit. Over two weeks in November, whilst COP26 took place in Glasgow, The Bare Project met with crofters, young people, community foresters, growers, academics, and artists to begin to unpick human relationships with land in Caithness. What are these relationships? And how are they shaped? Through what lenses and languages do we understand and interact with the land around us? 

Ownership

The team initially expected a good amount of this residency to be focussed on the Gaelic and Scots languages of the Highlands – whilst this was mentioned, it was not a focus for many collaborators. Instead, the team quickly found that ownership was a crucial component of people’s relationship with land in Caithness, and that the history of clearances, and the contemporary rewilding agenda, were close to the surface in people’s thinking about the land around them. Another major theme was around energy production. Caithness hosts the Dounreay Nuclear Powerplant – indeed, this is one of the biggest employers in the region. The county is also covered with wind turbines, with which local communities have a mixed relationship. Across the first week of their residency, all of this complexity filled up the team’s time and conversations – making them acutely aware of how insufficient a two-week residency was to try and say anything new or meaningful about the human relationships with land in Caithness. 

Enter the giants

The Bare Project are primarily a performance company, so their routes into these crunchy questions is through stories. Enter the giants. Giants in Scottish folklore are often the forces that shape the land around them – they scoop up earth and form lochs, they fall asleep and mountain ranges appear. So, with this in mind, the team questioned who the giants of today’s Caithness would be. Quickly, roughly, The Bare Project sketched out four giants based on our conversations with local people. These giants loosely and poetically represented the big estates and their landlords, the energy companies, well-intentioned land projects (such as rewilding projects), and finally, the giant’s giant who encompassed the wind, the rain, the ocean, the salt, and the soil. They then used these characters to create new mythologies about the lands of Caithness at a big final feasting and storytelling event in Reiss Village Hall. Profiles of these giants have been woven into a film about this brief residency. These characters are starting points, and this residency became a testing ground for whether this approach to thinking about land is fruitful: artistically and politically. We know that stories can help us lose ourselves a bit, to open a realm of possibilities and magic. And from this space, perhaps we are better able to look at the world around us – and to reimagine more reciprocal and respectful relationships with the land upon which we depend. 

Acknowledging these giants and naming them, did at times feel scary; Grinshunk, Varnaclay and the other marauding giants were a personification of the massive challenges we face, the huge task we have to take on and a reminder of how small and insignificant we can feel as individuals in this duty. However, what The Bare Project did so well was to ensure a sense of community throughout their residency. Their gentle invitation to the final sharing meal was a reminder of how strong we can be together. The phrase ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ has long been part of the English language, a metaphor and reminder for us to use the understanding of those who have gone before us to make better informed decisions for the future. Too often we think these giants are the great philosophers and thinkers, leaders and governments, but through The People’s Palace we have learnt that these giants instead lie in our communities. That we become massive when we connect with each other – rather than feeling like we have to be individual David’s fighting multiple Goliaths. Whether it is through engaging with indigenous knowledge and practices (such as peatland restoration and the return of ancient grazing practices), or community land buy-outs (like the Dunnet Community Forest), we find our giant’s power in these acts of solidarity.

By Malaika Cunningham (Practice Researcher at Artsadmin) and Charlotte Mountford, Co-Director, Lyth Arts Centre.

The Fifth Giant

This short film is an account of The Bare Project’s time at Lyth Arts Centre in Caithness (also known as The Flow Country) and offers the sketched beginnings of the giants they discovered in their time there. The film was created through a collaboration between filmmaker Regina Mosch, artist/researcher Malaika Cunningham, and sound designer/composer Lee Affen.

Film by Regina Mosch (with audio and composition by Lee Affen)

The post Guest blog: The Fifth Giant (or What Would You Do?) appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

A new e-book published by the Boekman Foundation, a leading Dutch institute for arts, culture and related policy, explores how the creative sector is helping to achieve sustainability in seven European countries, and Creative Carbon Scotland (CCS) contributed the chapter for Scotland.

Towards sustainable arts: European best practices and policies offers inspiring examples for artists, cultural organisations and climate change policy makers and scientists who want to harness the power of arts and culture to achieve mitigation and adaptation in the face of the climate emergency.

The Boekman Foundation points out that the book addresses the clear and disquieting message that emerged in 2021 as forest fires, drought and floods raged: that time is running out and the future is now. In seven chapters, experts from the Czech Republic, Finland, Flanders, Germany, the Netherlands, Scotland and Spain investigate how cultural organisations in their country are becoming more sustainable, how artists are engaging with the climate crisis, and which role culture has in the general transition towards a greener society.

The Foundation, which collects and disseminates knowledge and information about the arts and culture in both policy and practice, notes that each chapter contains many inspiring initiatives unique to each country. But, it notes, there are also striking similarities. In most countries sustainability is lacking in national cultural policy, and culture is missing in climate policy. Another significant observation is the importance of collaboration and of networks, which have achieved great results in the countries included in the publication. In fact, the focus of CCS, whose chapter was co-authored by Director Dr Ben Twist and Communications Manager Katherine Denney, is fostering such collaboration and networks.

Twist said,

“We were delighted to contribute to this excellent book and share the three main strands of our work: making the cultural sector more sustainable, creative solutions for the climate crisis, and changing the structures within which cultures works. COP26 being held in Glasgow in November 2021 concentrated the minds of Scottish policymakers on the connections and synergies between arts and culture and achieving a sustainable, adapted Scotland. For example, the Scottish Government Culture Division now has a net zero officer. Towards sustainable arts: European best practices and policies provides strong arguments and case studies that support an ever-closer alignment between culture and climate policy.”

Read Towards sustainable arts: European best practices and policies

The post New publication showcases the role of arts and culture in the transition to a sustainable future appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

Join us on 7th and 8th March to hear about the experiences of the people running the Climate Beacons.

Climate Beacons for COP26 is a Scotland-wide collaborative project that creates connections between two types of organisations: climate change and environmental organisations on one hand, and arts, heritage and cultural organisations on the other, with the purpose of stimulating long-term public engagement on climate change in the lead-up to and following COP26.

Seven Climate Beacons run by partnerships made up of a mixture of cultural and climate focused organisations in Argyll, Caithness & East Sutherland, Fife, Inverclyde, Midlothian, the Outer Hebrides and Tayside have been up and running since July 2021. The coming of spring felt like a good time to showcase their work and achievements with twin online events. 

The first event takes place on Monday, 7th March from 4:30pm to 6pm and its theme is ‘Collaboration and how to work together.‘ Join us for a chance to hear from the people running the Climate Beacons on their experiences of bringing together a group of very different organisations to work together and get practical advice on how to make such partnerships work effectively. 

The event will feature: 

• Simon Hart, Director of Business and Development at Taigh Chearsabhagh, speaking from the Outer Hebrides Climate Beacon 
• Anna Hodgart, Tayside Climate Beacon Producer, and Dr Rebecca Wade, Lecturer at Abertay University, speaking from the Tayside Climate Beacon
• Alexia Holt, Senior Director of Programmes at Cove Park, speaking from the Argyll Climate Beacon 

Sign up for the 7th March showcase

A map of Scotland with icons of radio beacons situated in 7 locations around Scotland. Text reads: Climate Beacons for COP26 showcase: 2. Inclusive public engagement and climate justice. Tuesday 8th March, 3.30-5pm, online, free.

The second event is the very next day, on Tuesday, 8th March from 3:30pm to 5pm. Its theme is â€˜Inclusive public engagement and climate justice. This event will feature: 

• Charlotte Mountford, Co-Director of Lyth Arts Centre, and Dr Malaika Cunningham, Director of the Bare Project, speaking from the Caithness & East Sutherland Beacon 
• Nicole Manley, Artist and Soil Hydrologist with the British Geological Survey, and Victoria Robb, Education Manager at the National Mining Museum Scotland, speaking from the Midlothian Beacon 
• Duncan Zuill, Teacher at Levenmouth Academy, speaking from the Fife Climate Beacon 

Sign up for the 8th March showcase

About Climate Beacons for COP26 

Climate Beacons for COP26 is funded by the Scottish Government’s Climate Change and Culture Divisions, Creative Scotland, and Museums Galleries Scotland. The project is run by Creative Carbon Scotland and supported by partners Architecture & Design Scotland, Creative Scotland, Edinburgh Climate Change Institute, Museums Galleries Scotland, Scottish Library & Information Council and Sustainable Scotland Network.

The post Blog: You’re invited to our Climate Beacons showcase events appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

Calls for applications: Artists Development Programme residency in Paris – deadline 20th March 2022

The European Investment Bank (EIB) Institute, in co-operation with the Cite internationale des arts, is looking for emerging European artists to join the 2022 edition of its Artists Development Programme (ADP), a three month long residency programme in Paris, under the mentorship of renowned Franco-Italian artist Tatiana Trouvé.

The EIB launched three calls for applications targeting visual artists (EU nationals, aged less than 35) with a focus on:

• Disruption: The Imprint of Man
• Margins to Centre/Periphery to Core
• Geographic call targeting TWO visual artists from Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Luxembourg, Portugal and Romania

The successful applicants will be provided with a living/working space at Cite internationale des arts in Paris, together with a stipend for production and subsistence costs (80 EUR per day), a contribution towards production of EUR 500 at the beginning of the residency and a success fee of EUR 1 000 at the end of the residency, provided a work of art has been created.

The residency will take place from 2nd September until 28th November 2022.

The deadline for applying is Sunday 20th March at midnight (GMT+1).

APPLY HERE

The post Opportunity: EIB artist development programme appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico