About

How can arts and heritage practices empower people within climate justice-action-policy work?

This AHRC and Met Office funded arts-led research project focuses on community knowledge and creativity to deliver a Manchester (UK) case study responding directly to its climate action policies and community contexts. The project builds on existing practices of the researchers across the areas of climate and social justice, geography, gardening, mapping, performance, puppetry, music, socially-engaged arts practices, and intangible and material heritages.

The project is part of the UK Climate Resilience Programme, and responds to the “Living with Climate Uncertainty” call.

We work with partners Manchester Climate Change Agency (MCCA), Manchester City Council (MCC), Neighbourhoods North Manchester (Miles Platting & Newton Heath ward), Northern Chamber Orchestra (NCO) and National Trust North Region (NT), with advisory and impact-related support from Manchester Arts and Sustainability Team (MAST) and the EU C-Change Project, Manchester Institute of Education (MIE, UoM), Manchester Environment Education Network (MEEN), and the Black Environment Network (BEN). A Bird in the Hand Theatre‘s puppet maker and director Alison Duddle is a co-creator.

We investigate these questions:

  • Q1. How can socially-engaged arts and community-based performance methods identify barriers and solutions to initiating climate mitigation and adaptation strategies?
  • Q2. How can creative methods offer improved and new processes, tools and skills by which community climate resilience and adaptation targets can be more effectively attained?
  • Q3. What is the transferability of creative techniques, processes and spaces for holistic approaches to mitigation and adaptation locally and nationally?
  • Q4. How can creative practices be embedded within local policy consultation processes toward inclusive engagement on climate action?
  • Q5. How can research learn about modes of resilience from residents in areas of high deprivation?
  • Q6. What new “artivism” forms, spaces and outcomes emerge from interdisciplinary approaches around climate action?

The issues we explore include:

  • how a community articulates its perspectives on social justice and equality with regard to climate resilience;
  • how interdisciplinary creativity can be researched and applied to activate community climate resilience;
  • how a community can create, own and embed creative outcomes for resilience;
  • the means to best transfer these methods to policy-makers for wider implementation.

We define resilience as “the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, and more successfully adapt to adverse events” (Centre for Climate and Energy Solutions 2019).

Key words:

Arts Methods


Folk Arts


Material Culture


Heritage

Pageantry


Socially Engaged Arts


Artistic Activism

Urban Geography

Climate Change

Resilience

This website will be used to document and share the project.

Follow us on twitter: @CreativeResMcr.