After two years of Covid uncertainty and estrangement across the globe, I am delighted to say that Cape Farewell is – very thankfully – in robust health. During the pandemic we busied ourselves developing new climate focused art and performance work, and we also built and launched our new website, designed by Bullet Creative. Easy to navigate, filled with current news and 20 years of extraordinary research and creative work, communicating on a human scale the urgency of the global climate crises.

Being able to gather together to experience art is more valuable and life affirming than ever. Cape Farewell has joined forces with Lighthouse, Poole’s brilliant centre for the arts and, timed to coincide with COP26, we are launching the wAteR-climaTe arts festival.

The centrepiece of the festival is the compelling new RiverRun exhibition (open until 4 December) – the culmination of two years of artists’ work interrogating the River Frome in Dorset, visioning how its salmon are stressed, what threatens this precious chalk river, how farm/food production has to be super mindful, and the impact of climate change.

The festival programme continues with a climate / culture debate, a series of internationally acclaimed climate-focused film screenings (including Q&As with directors), and live performances. These include a workshop and showcase for local writers, and the brilliant new show from writers in residence, SIRENS. Lucy English from Lyra Bristol Poetry Festival wrote: “I haven’t seen a performance like this for many, many years and I am excited that SIRENS are bringing back complex spoken word experiences to audiences.” 

Booking has opened, and I will be at every event so hopefully see you there or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.

There is great expectation that COP26 in Glasgow will deliver – it must do. But rest assured, away from the copious amounts of hot air, Cape Farewell continues to bring creativity to the climate challenge, all staged in partnership with Lighthouse on the south coast of the UK.

Please consider supporting our work

One salient image, poem, film or song can speak louder than volumes of scientific data. 

Every gift, however large or small, makes a big difference. Help Cape Farewell create a better future for people and planet – we are all in this together.Your donation will help collectively kick the fossil fuel habit, creating the possibility of a vibrant, just and an ecologically stable society.

Thank you.

David Buckland, Founder & Director, Cape Farewell

“Climate change is no longer the preserve of the Arctic or Amazon: it is here in our own communities, presenting a cultural challenge for which we are all the solution as well as the problem.”  David Buckland

Chicago Theatre and Arts Community, the time has finally arrived! 

The 6th Annual CGTA E-Waste & Textile Drive begins THIS FRIDAY! Are you ready for fun, free costumes, fabulous friends, and freeing your household/theatre of clothing and e-waste?

October 22, 23 & 24 – 12pm-4pm (Friday through Sunday)

Hosted at Chicago Children’s Theatre – 100 S. Racine Ave.

All staff and patrons will be required to wear a mask during the event.

The textile/costume event will take place inside the theatre space. The e-waste collection will be outside in the parking lot.

The Chicago Green Theatre Alliance is excited to host three days of dropping and swapping! 

Textiles Accepted: Clothing, Costumes, Shoes, Hats, Accessories, Fabric Scraps and Household Textiles (towels, sheets, blankets, etc)

E-Waste Accepted: Electronics of all shapes and sizes, working or not. If it plugs in OR is battery operated we’ll take it, and maybe turn it into a prop. If it works – PLEASE LABEL it as such! (NOTE: CRT Monitors and CRT TVs NOT accepted)

Please help spread the word! 

• Forward this email!
• Download a sharable/printable flyer here
• Share the CGTA Drive Facebook event. Have you RSVPed yet? Put the dates in your calendar!
• Follow the CGTA on Instagram. Share the event from there! @ChiGreenTheatre
• Remind your friends and colleagues that Halloween is around the corner and you know just the place to get awesome, free, and sustainable costumes.

We are also asking for volunteers in the days of and shortly after the drive. If you are interested in first dibs on the best items (and would like to be generally helpful) sign up for a volunteer slot in this form: CGTA Textile & E-Waste Drive Volunteer Sign Up. Mostly three hour shifts!

Thanks to our partners and sponsors: The League of Chicago Theatres, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Conscious Costumes, FUNDrive, and Garvey’s Office Products.

Please email chigreentheatre@gmail.com with any questions and someone from the CGTA will get back to you.

Follow us on Instagram and join our Facebook Resource Sharing Group

Canada’s performing arts community is invited to a FREE online gathering of some of Canada’s most knowledgeable and inspiring climate leaders, activists and educators. We believe that artists have an essential part to play in the climate battle. We know that our role as storytellers and communicators can be instrumental in delivering a societal shift.

Following on from the wonderful energy generated at June’s Green Sessions: Day of Learning, we are delighted to bring you the training sessions. We have been overwhelmed by the extraordinary speakers who have stepped forward to take part. This Training phase of the Green Sessions will be split over two afternoons, on September 21 and 22, 2021.

As pressure mounts towards a general election and COP 26, there has never been such an important moment to recognize that Art is Activism! Or at least it can be, if we choose to make it so.

Join us to be inspired by the thinkers who are mapping out a more climate conscious world, and then be ready to get to work as we understand, together, how to hone our policy demands, shape our message, build our collective strength and deliver extraordinary, uplifting, future-shaping art in both the public and virtual space.

Speakers joining for The Green Sessions include Kate Raworth and Yannick Beaudoin on September 21 and Naomi Klein on September 22. More exciting speakers to come!

The climate emergency is clearly a cultural challenge.  It’s about who we are and how we live. Never have we needed more the persuasive vision of artists to inspire us towards a greener, greater world. So join us at The Green Sessions as we shoulder our responsibilities, and get creative about how we might change the world.

We’ve planted the seeds and we hope you can join us for an inspiring day where we work the soil of this movement. And join us for the Day of Action when we harvest our collective work.

MORE INFO AND TICKETS HERE

Proudly supported by

The Metcalf Foundation invites you to join us for the virtual report launch of Art and the World After This, which will feature a presentation by David Maggs — sharing key ideas from the paper — and a thought-provoking panel discussion with leading international voices in the arts.

Date: September 15, 2021
Time: 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm ET (via Zoom)
We are delighted to announce that we will be joined by:

• Marcus Youssef, International Associate Artist at Farnham Maltings in the UK and a Playwright in Residence at Tarragon Theatre
• Diane Ragsdale, Director of Cultural Leadership at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
• Hasan Bakhshi, Director of the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre at Nesta

Together, with David, they will discuss key questions posed by the paper as well as the wider implications for the arts sector and beyond.

Learn more: davidmaggs.eventbrite.ca

REGISTER TODAY

Find additional social media messages and images you can use to help share news of this event in this promotional toolkit.

3 WEEKS OF RENEWAL,
COLLABORATION AND CREATIVITY

Our program has been around for 15 years, granting space and production support for people who are doing innovative work worldwide, across the arts and sciences. During their stay (25 days), participants use the hacienda grounds as a laboratory for the creative process and engaging with the local community. They are free to work whenever desired in the provided studios and anywhere in the property. Experimentation is encouraged as is discourse and collaboration. 

WINTER SESSION: JANUARY 10 – 30, 2022

Up to 8 people per session are selected from a mix of the following disciplines:

• Performing Arts (Music, Dance, Performance, Theater, Puppetry, etc)
• Visual Arts (Painting, Drawing, Mixed-Media, Photography, Video, etc)
• Sculpture and Installation
• Design and Architecture
• Humanities and Social Sciences (Anthropology, Philosophy, Writing, etc)
• Natural Sciences (Ecology, Hydrology, Biology, Geology, etc)

S U P P O R T

• LIVE/WORK SPACE: Single or double occupancy bedrooms and studios, plus common areas at the hacienda, at NET COST.
• PRODUCTION ASSISTANCE to realize one or more projects while in residency.
• PUBLIC EXHIBITION at the Open House event on the last week of the residency.

C O S T S

• LIVING EXPENSES: All utilities, cleaning services, drinking water and three prepared meals per day at NET COST: $1,200 USD for the 25 days ($40 USD per day).
• TRANSPORTATION: We do not cover transportation expenses beyond the arrival and departure van from/to Mexico City, but can assist you in pursuing additional funding with other sources, to cover expenses such as international flights and additional local transportation. Some funding options here:

A D D I T I O N A L    S U P P O R T

• 1 HALF SCHOLARSHIP (pay only 50% of the living expenses) for participants residing in Mexico, Central America, South America or the Caribbean. Awarded based on merits and financial need. Must provide proof of residence. 

SIMPLE ONLINE APPLICATION – DUE SEPTEMBER 1st AT MIDNIGHT

——

The Guapamacátaro Center for Art and Ecology is a site-basedand community-oriented initiative where artists from different disciplines, scientists, educators and activists converge to foster culture, collaboration and sustainable development.

M I C H O A C A N,  M E X I C O
www.guapamacataro.org

Biocenosis21 is an international exhibition of contemporary art on the theme of biodiversity, organized by Art of Change 21 within the IUCN World Conservation Congress and at La Traverse, next September in Marseille.

Curated by Alice Audouin, founder of Art of Change 21, it brings together Marie-Sarah Adenis, Art Orienté Objet, Thijs Biersteker, Julian Charrière, Marcus Coates, Abdessamad El Montassir, John Gerrard, Jérémy Gobé, Caroline Halley des Fontaines, Camille Henrot, Janet Laurence, Lin-May Saeed, Tomás Saraceno and Michael Wang.

France is hosting from September 4 to 11, 2021 the next IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) World Conservation Congress at Parc Chanot in Marseille. Organized every four years, it is the world’s largest meeting on biodiversity. The Congress brings together the best international experts, countries, institutions and companies, to draw up a detailed inventory of biodiversity, raise public awareness and obtain ambitious international commitments. This highly anticipated edition incorporates contemporary art for the first time, commissioned by the French Office for Biodiversity, with the exhibition Biocenosis21.

This highly anticipated edition incorporates contemporary art for the first time, commissioned by the French Office for Biodiversity, with the exhibition Biocenosis21.

Biocenosis (the term was introduced into scientific language in 1877 by the German biologist Möbius) is an association of different organisms forming a closely integrated community. It corresponds to all living beings (animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, etc.) established in the same living space and linked by reciprocal dependence. At a time when biodiversity is collapsing in the face of the destruction of natural spaces and global warming, Art of Change 21 is activating an artistic biocenosis at the heart of Marseille’s biotope, around the challenges of the 21st century. Together, the artists form a community to provoke emotions, exchanges, ideas and engagement.

Biocenosis21 brings together 14 of the most inspiring French and international artists, committed to biodiversity, and gives a carte blanche to Photoclimat.

The exhibition allows visitors to see, feel and understand differently the challenges of biodiversity and global warming, and highlights a relationship between humans and non-humans, a bearer of hope. The selected artists are not only just inspired by nature, they are also researchers, activists and activators of solutions.

The Biocenosis21 exhibition integrates eco-design into its approach. Selection of artists is based on criteria such as: same geographical area, grouping of transport, more ecological printing solutions, movement of artists and teams by train… These are among the principles applied in the organization of the exhibition with the enlightened advice of the Karbone Agency, founded by Fanny Legros, also a member of Art of Change 21. An environmental assessment of the exhibition will be published, including its carbon footprint.

The different facets of biodiversity addressed in the artworks

Energy choices, demographic growth and economic activities, since the industrial era, generate pressure and are today destroying biodiversity, and yet humans do not change their behaviour and continue their course. The series Not Clean Yet by Camille Henrot highlights this with an element of humor.

However, a movement is emerging that brings hope. Artists are at the heart of this dynamic of reversing a world that has become counterproductive, denouncing it and opening the way to another relationship with the living, which is not only more ethical and responsible, but more cooperative and benevolent.

Artists place “care”, empathy and knowledge in a new relationship to non-humans. American artist Michael Wang takes care of species that no longer exist in the wild but only in human activities (laboratories, farming, aquariums…) in his series Extinct in the Wild. Object Oriented Art rescues a kangaroo wrecked by a car in Pieta Amazonia; German artist Lin-May Saeed frees an elephant from its chains and gives understanding and love to hyenas, a species often despised by humans; the Argentinian artist Tomas Saraceno, along with Spider Cube, cooperates with spiders and reveals their connection to the living and the cosmos; Le Calendrier de la Nature(Nature’s Calendar), by Marcus Coates, delivers a daily nature scoop, a humorous way to understand how species live; and the artist Jérémy Gobé has given himself the mission of repairing the damage caused by human activities on corals, with his Corail Artefact project.

The impact of human activities on biodiversity, such as nuclear tests with Coconut Lead Fondue and Pacific Fictionby Julian Charrière, pollution of freshwater with (Flag) River by John Gerrard, or the devastating effects of deforestation with the monumental light and sound installation that lives to the rhythm of real-time data on deforestation in the Amazon, and Wither by Dutch artist Thijs Biersteker, promotes awareness. Among the natural disasters linked to human activities, the fires in Australia in late 2019 have decimated billions of species; Australian artist Janet Laurence has created the Requieum in video form in response. Abdessamad El Montassir draws a community of destiny between humans and plants in the desert, undergoing the same pressures, capable of the same resilience, with his video Galb’Echaouf.

Caroline Halley des Fontaines’ photographic work on the colors of nature from the Lighscapes series, diffuses a spiritual vibration, opening the way to a more harmonious Whole. This global view also includes viruses, which have now become the scapegoats for the health crisis. Artist, designer and scientist Marie-Sarah Adenis rehabilitates them with Le virus que donc je suis ( The virus that I therefore am), showcasing their major role in human evolution. The artist also reverses the hierarchical image of the phylogenetic tree (on the evolution of species) for a more egalitarian representation in Tousteszincs.

What if, beyond its relationship to living things through manipulation, illustrated by Leavis (John Gerrard’s SpaceLab), the human species, on the contrary, explored its place in a new paradigm, that of the biocenosis, of a community of interdependent living beings all now linked together in a community of destiny in the face of the ecological crisis?

Some prestigious partners

The French Biodiversity Office (OFB) mandated a grant to the Art of Change 21 association to organize a contemporary art exhibition in the Espaces Générations Nature (EGN) of the IUCN World Conservation Congress .

Biocenosis21’ main partners are the Schneider Electric Foundation, LVMH – as institutional partner, the French Biodiversity Office and the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, with the support of Maison Ruinart.

Alice Audouin

July 2021Credits : Wither, 2019, Thijs Biertseker, photo courtesy of the artist / The Liberation of Animals from their Cages XVIII / Olifant Gate, 2016, Lin-may Saeed, photo by Wolfgang Günzel / Coconut Leaf Fondue â€“ First Light, 2016, Julian Charrière, photography, photo by Astrid Gallinat 

Find all the articles from Impact Art News n°32 – July / August 2021

To subscribe to Impact Art News (free) : here

Compiled by Louise Casemore and commissioned by Alberta Playwrights’ Network, “Surveying The Landscape” is a practical research study surrounding the experience of playwrights and status of new play development in Canada, gathering insights from artists and decision makers about the processes and pathways to creating theatre. After an unexpected pandemic interruption, countless conversations and hours of data mining, and valuable time to write and reflect – this study has now been released to the public.

Featuring firsthand accounts from hundreds of playwrights in english and french from across Canada, the “Surveying the Landscape” study contains:

• a database of pre-pandemic contacts, programs, and submission information for play development centres, theatre companies, producing festivals, publishers, and funders
• an Executive Summary, offering a quick glance at the big picture
• the full report, featuring detailed recommendations to organizations and artists in the sector, gorgeous cover art by Bianca Guimarães De Manuel, and illustrative design by Kelsi Kalmer

The study can be accessed here: https://albertaplaywrights.squarespace.com/surveying-the-landscape

Feedback and questions are warmly encouraged, with an invitation to contact Research Coordinator Louise Casemore at louise@albertaplaywrights.com with any inquiries.

In Art and the World After This, Metcalf Innovation Fellow David Maggs outlines four interrelated disruptions faced by Canada’s non-profit arts sector and identifies the unique value art brings to society. As an artist, academic, and sustainability scholar, Maggs brings a unique perspective to the subject of disruption and transformation. The report is informed by consultations and conversations with numerous arts workers, funders, and academics from across the country and beyond.

Collectively, we are facing the disruption of activity, stemming from COVID-19; the disruption of society, emerging from ballooning social unrest; the disruption of industry forced by the digital revolution; and finally, the disruption of world, rooted in the existential threat of the climate crisis. Maggs explores how the arts can serve a more applied and accountable role in society as a catalyst for meeting the profound challenges we face. The report makes the case for how this must be done not by instrumentalizing the arts, but by the arts doing that which only the arts can do.

To proactively tackle the world’s complexity, Maggs argues for a shift towards a system-approach across the arts sector that can enable innovation and learning through a direct relationship to research and development (R&D). He introduces us to the idea of the complexity economy and asks us to consider three questions:

1. What are we doing here anyway? To prepare for deep transformative change, this first question attempts to identify the arts sector’s essential value proposition.
2. Is this an ecosystem or a zoo? The shift from a paradigm of ‘production and presentation’ to innovation will require adopting an integrated systems-approach.
3. Can we learn our way out of this? This question considers the broad issue of the arts sector’s capacity to learn, especially through the lens of R&D.

Driven by a sense of urgency and optimism, Art and the World After This makes the case for grounding the arts firmly in action as a powerful force for creating a better world.

The report can be downloaded here.