Yearly Archives: 2016

The simple act of giving is stronger than a thousand bullets : Milan Rai’s White Butterflies

MELD

This post comes from MELD

To mark the Nepalese Earthquake’s anniversary, Shira Pinson and Lucas Veuve made a series of videos to commemorate the strength and unity that many Nepalese have shown following the tragedy.

They met Milan Rai, an incredible visual artist who is known worldwide for his white butterflies. To commemorate the Earthquake’s anniversary, Milan has created a huge installation with 9,000 white butterflies spread around the grounds of Kalmochan Temple, a place reduced to rubble by the earthquake – each butterfly represents a life lost in the earthquake, symbolizing peace and hope.

photo credit to Prem Tshering Sherpa

photo credit to Prem Tshering Sherpa

It was an emotional day for everyone involved. Many young volunteers came to help Milan to spread the 9,000 butterflies around the temple area. Some people travelled 600km to be part of the poignant event. Remarkably though, the atmosphere was joyful and positive.  They commemorated the lives lost but celebrated life and hope, illustrating, once more the resilience and strength of the Nepalese people.

photo credit to Prem Tshering Sherpa

photo credit to Prem Tshering Sherpa

Lucas Veuve is a documentary filmmaker and photographer based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He has worked for many international organizations such as GIZ, Handicap International and Care International. He frequently travels to Nepal for personal projects and for commission work. In this project, he has created with Shira Pinson a series of videos for the one-year anniversary of the earthquake.
Twitter:@lucasveuve | Instagram: @lucasveuve | Website: lucasveuve.com

Shira Pinson is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and a video journalist. She has done work for Aljazeera, France 4, BBC Arabic and Vice as well as independent work. In this project, she has joined forces with Lucas Veuve to create a series of videos for the one-year anniversary of the earthquake. This was her first trip to Nepal but not the last.
Twitter: @shirapinson | Instagram: @shirapinson | Website: shirapinson.com

The post, The simple act of giving is stronger than a thousand bullets : Milan Rai’s White Butterflies, appeared first on MELD.
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meld is an ongoing interactive global art platform and collaborative catalyst to commission, produce and present ground-breaking and evocative works of art embedded in the issues and consequences of climate change. meld invites exceptional artists and innovative thinkers dedicated to the moving image and committed to fostering awareness and education to join us in our campaign for social change. Through a collaborative dialogue, we hope to provoke new perceptions, broaden awareness and education and find creative solutions concerning climate change, its consequences and its solutions.

meld was formed by a devoted group of individuals guided by a passionate belief in the power of art to convey personal experience and cultivate social progress. meld is inspired by the idea that when art melds into the public realm, it has the power to reach people beyond the traditional limitations of class, age, race and education and encourage public action.

Go to MELD

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Doing Nothing is Not an Option – June 17-19 2016 – Tipping Point

ecoartscotland

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

A major event in partnership with Warwick Arts Centre andJulies Bicycle

This event is intended for everyone concerned with climate change and the role performing arts has in exploring it and its ramifications. It will energise, re-energise and inspire; our aim is that all will leave with a clear sense of direction and purpose, and not a few with concrete ideas or commissions and collaboration that will have the active involvement of producing partners.

Background
COP21 has justifiably been hailed as a diplomatic triumph; it went a long way further than any previous attempts to achieve international consensus on a concerted response to climate change. But a world that includes, in the small corner of the UK, daffodils flowering in December and unprecedented flooding, reminds us of the scale of the chasm between what can be successfully negotiated by the Body Politic and what is actually needed.  The Paris agreement is much better seen as the end of the beginning, rather than something we can take comfort from, a finale.  The fact remains that the West has still not taken on board the scale of action – technological, political, intellectual – needed to deal with this challenge, not by a long chalk.

Taking place at the large Warwick Arts Centre, Doing Nothing is Not an Option – DNNO – will be our most ambitious event ever.  It will offer an opportunity for people in the performing arts sector to reflect on what the subject means for artists today and in the future.  During this three-day gathering, exclusively targeted at the performing arts, 200 people – writers, directors, producers and others, together with climate specialists of all types – will come together to shape new ideas and develop a platform for creative responses and new work. This will take place in the context of a public festival of climate related performance work.

The programme – details here
Using the celebrated methodology TippingPoint has used and refined in five continents, over the three days participants will work, play and eat together. They will share their knowledge, experience and understanding of climate change and will leave feeling affirmed, informed and energised; their horizons broadened, their imaginations enriched and their practice developed. It will be the beginning of a creative journey and a focus for new performance work.

The value of the event
Different people will gain different things from attending this event.  However, our central aim is that all will have a clearer idea of ‘what to do next’ – it is designed specifically to do that.  Particular benefits should include, for people from the performing arts world:

  • –  Greater clarity on the phenomenon of climate change
  • –  The chance to go into real depth on particular aspects of the topic
  • –  The opportunity to identify possible collaborators for creative work
  • –  The chance to access commission opportunities

For people from the research world, our intention is that the event will deliver:

  • –  An opportunity to work closely with creative people from a very different world – who will put a high value on particular expertise
  • –  An entirely new way of getting research into the public domain, of politics and policy
  • –  The potential for very rewarding long term partnerships

We can virtually guarantee that all who attend will leave feeling affirmed, enlightened and reinvigorated, with horizons broadened and work of all types enriched by a sense of purpose and new ideas.

Costs
Charges for attendance are as follows; they include all meals and refreshments, though accommodation onsite, very close to Warwick Arts Centre and strongly recommended, will cost extra.  All TIppingPoint events are very carefully designed, with a beginning, middle and end, so we strongly discourage partial attendance. The booking page is here.

For people from arts organisations with grants of over £750k and research institutions £240
For people from arts organistions with grants between £250k and £750k £190
For people from arts organisations with a grant less than £250k £150
For independents £95
An ‘early-bird’ discount of 10% will be available to all those booking before Sunday May 8

ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.

It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.

Go to EcoArtScotland

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Artist Opportunity: AiRborne Residency

Creative Carbon Scotland, Open Calls

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

The House for An Art Lover ‘Artist-in-Residence’ in support of Graduates in the Visual Arts, Design and Architecture.

You are invited to submit a proposal for AiRborne, a three-month ‘artist-in-residence’ opportunity funded and supported by the House for an Art Lover (HAL), and located in the newly created ART PARK in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. HAL seek applications from graduates from either undergraduate or post graduate programmes in the visual arts, design or architecture, and from a Scottish Higher Education Institution between 2013 – 2015.

AiRborne aims to give creative practitioners the space in which to develop a new body of work within a supportive and stimulating context. Time focused on individual practice can enable new projects and experimentation, as well as encourage interaction with other artists/professionals. Suggested themes that can be considered, but are not exclusive, are:

• Art & Health and Well-being
• Art & Horticulture
• Art & Heritage
• Art, Environment and Sustainability

Each residency provides opportunities for the exhibition of work to share project outcomes with the wider community and new audiences. Work can be presented within the art studios and project spaces within the ART PARK that also includes the surrounding parkland.

The 2016 AiRborne residency will commence in June, and will include:
• £3,000 (fee and materials)
• A studio with negotiated access to large-scale workshops
• An exhibition space for the presentation of the residency outcomes
• Support from HAL’s Arts Development and Management Team

Deadline: Sunday 15 May

More information and application guidelines can be found here.

The post Artist Opportunity: AiRborne Residency appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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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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Funding Opportunity: Network for Innovations in Culture and Creativity in Europe Award

Creative Carbon Scotland, Open Calls

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

The N.I.C.E. Award 2016 Theme:
Solving the World’s Major Challenges – A Call for Innovations

The 2016 award challenges the cultural and creative sectors to propose surprising and experimental innovations that are solutions to difficult global problems with special, but not exclusive, attention given to digital innovations. The N.I.C.E. (Network for Innovations in Culture and Creativity in Europe) Award addresses projects of cross sectorial character that often demonstrate spillover effects of the arts, culture and the creative industries.

Entries eligible to the N.I.C.E. Award can be single individuals such as artists and researchers; or organisations such as companies and public institutions or agencies, non-profit foundations or initiatives as well as research institutions from within the cultural and creative sectors. Teams, even those without legal personality, can also apply.

The entries can be single projects that have already been realised or implemented; as well as policies and other innovative activities, such as planned research or proposed projects. Projects older than three years cannot be submitted.
In order to take part, applicants are asked to add a short promotional film (1 minute max.) to the application giving an insight into the project and/or idea.

More information here.

The post Funding Opportunity: Network for Innovations in Culture and Creativity in Europe Award appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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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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Green Arts Initiative reaches 150 Members!

Creative Carbon Scotland

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Congratulations to our Green Arts Community

150 Scottish arts organisations are now members of the Green Arts Initiative, gaining tailored advice and support, free resources, an annual conference and member connections across the country! Their commitment to environmental sustainability is exemplary in the arts sector and we’re proud to highlight their work.

We’ve Come a Long Way

The Green Arts Initiative began as the ‘Green Venues Guide’: a pamphlet designed to offer sustainability advice to venues at theEdinburgh Festival Fringe. Over several iterations, it has developed into the form it takes today: a networked community of artists, arts organisations, companies and venues working individually and collaboratively to reduce their impact on the environment, and think more creatively about engagement with sustainability.

GAI Members MapBeginning with 23 members at the end of 2013, the membership of the community has increased as issues of environmental sustainability, and their relevance and opportunity offering to the arts, has become of greater prominence. The launch of Creative Scotland’s ‘Environment’ Connecting Theme and carbon emissions reporting requirements for Regularly Funded Organisations, the 2015 United Nations COP in Paris and the surrounding ArtCOP andArtCOPScotland movements, have emphasised the important role the arts have to play.

With community members from across the country, and across art forms, sustainability activities range from inspiring (and aspiring) environmental policies, to artistic programming directly about climate change, to creative forms of engaging staff and audiences in environmental efforts. No two of our organisations are the same, but sharing knowledge and experiences with other members is a big part of being in the community: communicating and provoking new ideas and efficient use of resources.

The Next Steps

2015 was a big year for the GAI, and we’re hoping that the rest 2016 will prove to be even bigger! We’re planning a second annual conference, more member resources, and continuing to grow our community. Become a member of the Green Arts Initiative to be kept up to date with these developments!

GAI-WE-ARE-PART-Green circleThe Green Arts Initiative is an interactive community of Scottish organisations committed to growing the environmental sustainability of the arts. There are already 150 members across all regions of the country and range of art form: from large-scale producing theatres, to independent art galleries, working on everything from carbon emissions reduction to creating Green Teams from within their staff.

Free to join, you can find out more about the initiative and its members, and join the community, on our Green Arts Initiative project page.

The post Green Arts Initiative reaches 150 Members! appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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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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Seeking Volunteers for Remembrance Day for Lost Species

Open Calls

ONCA is proud to be a key part of the coalition of artists and educators driving the Remembrance Day for Lost Species initiative. We are looking for a volunteer researcher/ project developer to help promote and develop the initiative.

Recent research has shown that Earth has lost half its wildlife in the last 40 years. Worse is to come, as climate change and habitat loss are leading us into the Sixth Mass Extinction. Now is the time to create new rituals for remembering and mourning what we have lost, and for celebrating and making commitments to what remains.

Since 2011, groups in the UK and internationally have met on the last day of November to hold memorials for extinct species. Activities over the five years have included:

  • Cairn building, processions and vigils
  • Performances and poetry readings
  • Centenary memorials for the Passenger Pigeon
  • Bells tolled around the world at the same time

and many more.

Our vision is for Remembrance Day for Lost Species to become an established and familiar part of the broad cultural calendar, in the same way as initiatives like Black History Month, International Women’s Day and Earth Hour. For this to happen requires dedication and energy. We are looking for a special person to work on this project for about one day per week. In the autumn this commitment becomes more intense in the build up to the Day. The role requires:

  • A solid grasp of the issues and drivers of the extinction crisis
  • Use of social media
  • Network building
  • Education outreach
  • Creating resources for use in schools
  • Writing, blogging, speaking about the project
  • Strategic planning
  • An understanding of fundraising.

Ideally you will be based in Brighton and able to come into ONCA for meetings, but the right person may be based anywhere and liaise regularly via Skype/ phone/ email.

To apply for this unique opportunity, please send a CV and covering letter saying why you would like to volunteer by email to Persephone Pearl, persephone@onca.org.uk, by May 15th 2016.

Funeral for the Caspian Tiger, Feral Theatre: photo credit Bridget McKenzie.

Notes about some coalition members:

Sustainable Music Festivals Guide Published

Creative Carbon Scotland

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

On Friday April 22, a new guide showcasing environmental sustainability initiatives across Scottish and UK music festivals was launched at Wide Days music industry convention in Edinburgh. Alongside music hustings and band showcases, Creative Carbon Scotland sponsored a panel discussion to explore questions of the environmental responsibility of the live music sector.

Joined by organisers of Scottish music festivals HebCelt Fest, Knockengorroch and Electric Fields, and Claire O’Neill (Co-founder and Director, A Greener Festival), this is the first environmentally-focused panel of its kind at Wide Days. We’ll be taking the chance to learn about some of the great work already being done by participating festivals and will discuss opportunities for a flexible support network to further this work in Scotland.

The guide, an outcome of a year-long research project – Fields of Green, summarises key research findings and next steps to research including:

  • Environmental impacts of UK music festivals as outlined in the recent report The Show Must Go On;
  • Best practices and challenges of six Scottish music festivals;
  • Results from an audience survey conducted at a Scottish music festival in 2015;
  • Tips, resources and a call to action for Scottish music festivals to get involved in the Fields of Green project!

Download the Fields of Green next steps guide here!

 

If you’re interested in finding out more, take a look at our blog from the recent Green Events & Innovations conference in London, showcasing socially and environmentally engaged activity across music festivals internationally. We even made a sneaky appearance to share the great collaborative working model shared between the twelve Edinburgh Festivals to reduce their environmental impacts and engage with artists and audiences in this area.

Fields of Green is a partnership between the University of Edinburgh, University of the West of Scotland, Lancaster University and Creative Carbon Scotland. The project is supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

The post Sustainable Music Festivals Guide Published appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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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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