Climate Advocacy and Action in Arts and Museum Work

Join DRN members for an online roundtable discussion with arts organisers working for climate advocacy across a range of careers.

Increasingly, creating a sustainable practice, whether in artmaking, research or within collections management and display, is becoming a key concern. This roundtable will ask a range of speakers, working in commissioning, curating, museum advocacy and climate activism, about the issues most pressing to them in the arts sector today. We will hear from Lucy Wood, Art Science Producer at Invisible Dust, a national charity that works with leading artists and scientists to produce artworks which help people connect emotionally with climate change. Lucy will speak alongside Inês Costa and Laura Bowen, curators at Southend’s Focal Point Gallery, on their recent project Storm Warning, a collaboration with Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange, Penzance, which sought to explore impacts of climate change on coastal communities. Alongside a discussion on commissioning new art works and projects, we will also hear from Hannah Hartley, Environmental Action Manager at Manchester Museums, on enacting sustainable practice within the museum sector, and Zoe Rasbash, Climate Action Researcher at Watershed, Bristol, and Julie’s Bicycle Creative Climate Leader 2023, on climate action-focused careers within the arts sector.

This roundtable will be an invaluable opportunity for PhD students working on topics related to the environment, ecologies, climate activism and advocacy, or those who are hoping to explore these areas in their future careers.

Speaker presentations will be followed by a Q&A.

Image: Installation view of Storm Warning: What does climate change mean for coastal communities?, 2023. Works by Harun Morrison. Photo: Anna Lukala