First year of climate initiative is hailed
The Tayside branch of a national climate change initiative celebrated its first year of success with the release of a report demonstrating its achievements.
Partners in Perth and Kinross, such as the James Hutton Institute, joined the Dundee Rep, V&A Dundee, Abertay University, Creative Dundee and other enterprises in building a network involved in the arts and environmentalism to plan environmental action.
This has involved organising collaborations and field trips between artists and researchers, commissioning new artistic work, and running public events combining creative performances and presentations from local environmental organisations.
The Tayside Climate Beacon initiative was launched in June 2021 by the arts and sustainability charity Creative Carbon Scotland to mobilise people in response to the COP26 United Nations climate talks that took place in Glasgow in November 2021, and for the future.
The initiative is also funded by the Scottish Government, Creative Scotland and Museums Galleries Scotland.
The Beacons are collaborations between local cultural organisations, environmental agencies, research institutions, and community groups based in seven regions across Scotland that create events and activities that respond to the most pressing environmental issues in their locations.
These include Scotland’s temperate rainforests, industrial heritage, water, adaptation to climate change, land use, biodiversity, and green jobs.
Over 160 events took place, involving over 50 organisations and more than 18,000 attendees.
The report concludes that activities attracted diverse audiences and successfully engaged new people in the climate conversation, while localised creative approaches brought abstract climate concepts to life and audiences expressed a strong appetite for further work.
Ben Twist, director of Creative Carbon Scotland, said:“The point of the Climate Beacons and indeed our mission is to demonstrate that the arts and culture are an essential ally for addressing climate change, so we’re thrilled that [this] evaluation confirms the initiative’s success.”