Yearly Archives: 2017

Opportunity: Earth for Life – Non-Executive Board members

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Deadline: 31 May 2017

Earth for Life CIC is a social enterprise committed to transforming people’s lives through environmental education and eco-therapy using our innovative and life-changing woodland based programmes. They specialise in empowering adults with mental health issues; young people experiencing developmental difficulty; and marginalised community groups using effective eco-therapy methodology.

They know that a skilled and diverse Board is key to their future aims, so they are currently seeking to appoint three new Board Members to help drive forward their strategic plans, deliver first class services for their clients and achieve their vision.

They are offering an exceptional opportunity for candidates to work with directors from different professional backgrounds; broaden their career horizons and reputation; and put their talents to use by making a positive difference to the lives of disadvantaged people in Scotland. Their appointed director will also get to join a minimum of one woodland-based activity day/training/development event per year.

Full details on experience requirements

The time commitment is a minimum attendance of quarterly Board meetings, plus contribution to specific board activity. The initial appointment is for 2 years (renewable). Although unremunerated, expenses incurred (travel, subsistence, hotel accommodation) are reimbursed, up to the organisation’s expenses limits.

To apply, please reply to Laura Copley laura@earthforlife.org by email, sending your CV and a cover letter.

The closing date for applications is 31st May 2017.

The post Opportunity: Earth for Life – Non-Executive Board members appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.


About 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

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Call For Abstracts: International Conference on Sustainable Development

The Global Association of Master’s in Development Practice Programs (MDP), in collaboration with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), will hold the Fifth Annual International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD) on 18 & 19 September, 2017, at Columbia University in New York City. Abstract submission and conference registration will take place on the conference website.

If you would like to present at the conference, you must submit an abstract as directed below. The conference is also open to observers (i.e. non-presenters). Simply register on the conference website to join.

The conference theme is The World in 2050: Looking Ahead for Sustainable Development. The aim of the conference is to bring together persons involved in research, policy, practice, and business. Participants will share practical solutions for achieving the SDGs at local and national levels. Abstracts should be directly relevant to one of the following Topics. There are a large number of topics on offer this year, several focusing on specific SDGs:

  • Poverty Eradication, Social Protection, and Equality in the SDGs
  • Agronomy for Sustainable Development
  • Tools & Technology to Improve Health in Rural Areas
  • Health Economics
  • Health and Sustainable Development
  • The Role of Universities in the Implementation of the SDGs
  • Education for Sustainable Development: An Issue of Consciousness and Values
  • Gender and Sustainable Development
  • Sustainable Use of Water Resources
  • Water, Energy, and Agriculture in the Context of Climate Change and the SDGs
  • Towards Affordable and Clean Energy through Life Cycle Thinking
  • Governance of Energy Transformations: Key to Sustainable Electric Systems
  • Green Growth: How Can We All Profit from the Low Carbon Transition?
  • Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Approaches to Sustainable Development
  • Sustainable Development Challenges in Urban Areas (Climate, Water, Natural Resources, Transportation, etc.)
  • Fostering Equity and Social Inclusion in Cities
  • Sustainable Consumption and Production
  • Building Resilience to Climate Change
  • Extreme Events Affecting Life and Livelihood for Small Island States
  • Sustainable Blue Growth
  • Conserving Habitats and Biodiversity in Latin America & the Caribbean
  • The Role of Natural Resources in Peace-Building

And several cross-cutting:

  • Economics and Demography of Natural Disasters
  • Enhancing the Resilience of Livelihoods and Production Systems in the Sahel, Africa
  • The Arts as a Tool to Raise Awareness of the SDGs
  • Indicators, Feedback Loops, and Impact Evaluation for the SDGs
  • Sustainability Science from SDSN Northern Europe
  • New Technologies and Solutions for Development Practice

Interested presenters should submit an abstract of at least 300 words but not exceeding 500 words, in English, via the conference website. Each abstract may only be submitted once and under one topic. Failure to answer questions on the submission form or the submission of the same abstract under multiple topics is likely to result in the abstract being declined.

The scientific committee will review abstracts and send all decision letters by 30 May 2017. Abstracts can be accepted as either poster or oral (i.e. PowerPoint) presentations. Presenters invited to give oral presentations must submit a full paper by 1 August 2017 in order to maintain their position in the program. Presenters failing to submit full papers will be moved to poster presentations. Presenters who do not register before the 1 September 2017 deadline may also forfeit their spot in the agenda.

Presenters who will be submitting papers will have the opportunity to have their work submitted to Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development for the Fall 2017 issue. Consilience is a student journal ran by undergraduate and graduate students at Columbia University. It is the only such student journal in the country and maintains a wide international readership. After all papers are submitted for ICSD, they will be passed along to Consilience for submission. More information on that process will be available as September approaches.

Abstract Timeline

1 March 2017              Call for Abstracts Open

1 May 2017                 Deadline for Submission of Abstracts

1 June 2017                Abstract Decision Letters Emailed

1 August 2017             Submission of Full Papers with Accepted Abstracts Are Due

1 September 2017      Registration Deadline for Presenters

Click here to download a PDF of the 2017 Call for Abstracts to access offline or share.

SUBMIT AN ABSTRACT

Open Call: Joya AiR Summer Residency

Since 2009 Joya: AiR has invited and hosted in excess of 500 artists providing them with a creative environment free from distraction in one of Spain’s most beautiful and remote regions. Joya: AiR is an interdisciplinary residency based at Cortijada Los Gázquez, an ‘off-grid’ eco-destination, in the heart of the Parque Natural Sierra María – Los Vélez, in the north of the province of Almería, Andalucía.

The Joya: AiR programme was founded by Simon and Donna Beckmann with the intention of making a strong cultural destination within a Spanish rural context. They believe that dynamic and sustainable creative activity is the backbone to regenerating land that has been slowly abandoned over the last fifty years.

This is one of the sunniest regions of Europe receiving over 3000 hours of sunlight a year. Daytime spring temperatures are warm/hot, outside nightly temperatures are cool, making this a dramatic environment. Cortijada Los Gázquez is a creative hub where there is always an inspirational environment of knowledgeable and informed thinking around all creative disciplines.

Artists will have use of a studio space and 20 hectares of land. Accommodation (private room with attached bathroom) and meals are included as is collection and return to the nearest public transport system.

Working languages: English and Spanish

Disciplines and media:

Interdisciplinary:

Visual Art / Sculpture / Ceramics (enquire before applying) / Dance / Theatre / Performing Arts / Music / Writing / Educational Programmes / New Media / Curatorial / Film Making /

Participatory Months: July, August, and September.

Application Deadline 20th May, 2017 - APPLY HERE

Art+Climate=Change, Upcoming Events in Australia



General Events:


EXIT: GLOBALISATION, CLIMATE CHANGE AND ARTIn a time of increasing anxiety about globalisation and its impacts, the installation EXIT provides a vibrant representation of some of the processes which link us, sometimes inextricably, planet-wide. In this forum, a panel of experts will discuss EXIT and the issues it raises.

Wed 26 April, 6.45pm
Carillo Gantner theatre, Sidney Myer Asia Building
University of Melbourne
Free, more info: https://www.artclimatechange.org/event/exit-globalisation-climate-change-art/


BIKE TOUR WITH SQUEAKY WHEEL: CITYSet your wheels in motion with an ART+CLIMATE=CHANGE 2017 bicycle tour! Starting at Fed Square, you’ll visit four festival exhibitions, hearing from the artist/curator at each stop. You’ll finish at EXIT at Ian Potter Museum of Art in Parkville.

Sat 29 April, 1.30pm – 4pm
Meeting at Federation Square
$10, bookings essential: https://www.artclimatechange.org/event/bike-tour-city/



Art+Climate=Change Keynote Events:


ED MORRIS (USA) – AVOWING THE POLITICAL: ART AND SOCIAL CHANGEArtist and co-founder of The Canary Project Edward Morris will discuss the diverse ways in which artists can contribute to social movements to address climate change. One half of the artist duo Sayler/Morris, Edward will draw on his own work creating and producing myriad projects – from the directly activist Green Patriot Posters to contemplative museum exhibitions – and also upon the work of other artists.

Mon 1 May, 6.30-8pm
The Carillo Gantner Theatre
Sidney Myer Asia Centre, The University of Melbourne
Free, bookings essential: https://www.artclimatechange.org/event/ed-morris/


FORMS OF RESISTANCEThree innovative Australian artists – filmmaker Alex Kelly, Quandamooka woman and artist Megan Cope, and Melbourne-based artist and researcher Amy Spiers – will come together for a panel discussion around Forms of Resistance. They will draw upon their work, influences and ideas around issues of environmental and social justice in a discussion about the different tactics that artists can use to incite social and political change.

Wed 3 May, 6-8pm
The Melba Spiegeltent
35 Johnston St, Collingwood
Free, bookings essential: www.artclimatechange.org/event/forms-of-resistance/ 


MEL EVANS (UK) – ARTWASH: BIG OIL AND THE ARTSMel Evans (UK) draws upon her extensive work and research about art and its relationship to corporate sponsorship in Artwash: Big Oil and the Arts. Evans is a member of Liberate Tate, an art collective exploring the role of creative intervention in social change and the author Artwash: Big Oil and the Arts, in which she argues how corporate sponsorships erase unsightly environmental destruction.

Fri 5 May, 6.30-8pm
The Carillo Gantner Theatre,
Sidney Myer Asia Centre, The University of Melbourne
Free, bookings essential: https://www.artclimatechange.org/event/mel-evans/ 

If Not Artists, Will Museums Save the World?

This post comes from the Artists and Climate Change Blog

I’m going to be honest with you: artists can’t save the world.

Though I’m a tireless optimist and probably a slightly naive idealist, even I know: it’s not going to happen. Artists may make the most amazing tapestry out of carrots or powerful and politically charged paintings, on an institutional level, very little changes. What we really need is systems change. Diana Scherer. Rug made out of roots. The Regeneration Exhibition, Transnatural Arts & Design, Amsterdam. 190 cm x 100 cm.

Luckily, the world doesn’t need to be saved. It will be just fine. Those who could do with a bit of help are human beings. If we want our societies and natural environments to (still) be pleasant/liveable in the future, our economic, political, and societal structures need to be re-invented now.

Our crashing economies, fossil fuel-based energy over-consumption, and deregulated climate are just a few examples that prove that our current systems are broken in many ways. And lone wolves – whether they’re artists or not – are generally not well-positioned to instigate systems change.

Better able to make that kind of large-scale change from within the realm of the arts, are the museums. An institution (just like a business) can be a key interface between government and the public, and a museum is traditionally a place for ideas, dialogue, knowledge, and fresh perspectives. However, many major European museums grew out of the colonial regime of the 19th century. Natural History Museums in particular – where you can see stuffed animals through the lens of colonialism and exoticism – feel painfully and embarrassingly outdated in the 21st century. This makes them institutions par excellence to take the lead on the discourse around post-colonialism, mass extinction, and climate change. Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) was a British naturalist regarded as a pre-eminent collector and field biologist of tropical regions in the 19th century.  He was an explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and writer.

Independent curators Anna-Sophie Springer and Etienne Turper have come to the rescue. They work with Natural History Museums worldwide to help them “re-purpose themselves as relevant agents for change in the Anthropocene.” The duo works with permanent collections to change the role of the curator from a caretaker of objects to a producer of knowledge. According to Turper, museums needs to respectfully respond to science but also connect to the outside world. Through their project “Reassembling the Natural,” and specifically the exhibition cycle “Disappearing Legacies: The World as Forest,” Anna-Sophie and Etienne work directly with scientists and propose new takes on specimens in existing collections. They suggest a different response in order to create a new understanding of the present through history.
A Taxonomy of Palm Oil, installation by Anna-Sophie Springer and Etienne Turpin, as part of the exhibition “Emergent Ecologies: NYC Edition.“

In a Skype interview in February 2017, Etienne remarked: “It’s shocking how conservative the institutions are. The scientists are really smart, the activists are really smart, the artists are really smart – everyone is smart and still it’s so challenging to get this moving forward. What I find most challenging is to realize that this attempt is just a drop in the bucket. The urgency and complexity of this global challenge requires so much more (…) and yet it’s still challenging for the institutions to overcome their hurdles to get on with their job. That’s shocking to see; in 2017, we’re still slowing down our work on this. What we want to communicate is the scope in terms of the size of our problems as well as the speed of the transformation, and how that connects to us.”

Institutional responsibility includes practicing what you preach; a museum exhibition is per definition a wasteful practice. Toxic materials are used for painting and photography, huge installations are built and flown all over the world, and venues (often big and monumental) spend precious energy keeping temperatures and humidity levels within a narrow range, and lighting spaces to make the work as aesthetically enticing as possible. The business of showing art doesn’t allow for easy compromises. However, there has been significant improvements. Since 2012, all Major Partner Museums (as well as National Portfolio Organizations) of Arts Council England are required to report on their environmental impacts, using Julie’s Bicycle advanced carbon calculators which were designed specifically for the cultural sector. Museums, as well as other cultural institutions, are starting to understand their environmental impact. New tools help to measure and reduce energy, water, waste, recycling, travel (audience, business touring) and production materials. With arts funding continuously drying out in Europe, more and more arts funding bodies are looking at this pioneering collaboration, if not for the planet, for their pockets. In 2013-2014, Julie’s Bicycle’s identified savings of 7,063 tons of CO2 or £1.25 million compared to the previous year.The Happy Museum Project  looks at how the museum sector can respond to the challenge of creating a more sustainable future.

Furthermore, museums are becoming increasingly aware that they will lose credibility with their audiences if they keep on accepting funding from Big Oil. How can a climate change exhibition in the Science Museum be sponsored by Shell? The organization Platform has been questioning these partnerships and pioneering a divesting movement through their Art Not Oil campaigns, targeting major museums such as the British Museum, Science Museum London, and Tate.
Performers from the Art not Oil coalition calling for an end to BP sponsorship at the British Museum September 2016. Photo by Anna Branthwaite, image courtesy of Art Not Oil.

These are just a few examples showcasing what institutional transformation in the arts could look like. But it is painfully apparent that this movement is spearheaded by people outside of museums; independent curators, activists, and charities. Museum staff, it’s your call now! Putting up exhibitions about climate change and mass extinctions was step one, but after talking the talk, it’s now time to walk the walk….


About Artists and Climate Change:

Artists and Climate Change is a blog that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

Go to the Artists and Climate Change Blog