SERVICE DETAILS
What is culture/SHIFT?
culture/SHIFT is the Creative Carbon Scotland programme that promotes how the arts and culture can transform society in response to climate change. The programme name expresses how solving the climate crisis requires more than political and technical solutions: it also requires a shift in our current culture, for example, away from consumerism and short-termism. And the programme name also reflects that the engine of transformation that Creative Carbon Scotland focuses on is the arts and culture.
Artists and cultural organisations are ideally equipped to help with this transformation of society needed to fight climate change. They offer new ways of perceiving and thinking. Communication, shared experience and inspiration are key attributes of art of all forms. The arts and culture encourage public engagement and participation. And cultural organisations such as theatres, museums and libraries have built-in public venues and the audiences or communities that gather at them.
History and research confirm the power of the arts and culture to motivate and inspire people to engage with and take action on social challenges. In particular, evidence shows people connect both with the science of climate change and with its emotional and personal aspects through art. Not every environmental project needs to include art and culture to be effective, but many will be less effective if they don’t.
What do we do?
Building on more than five years of pilot projects and action research, culture/SHIFT currently focuses on four strands of work. We:
- Lead and contribute to projects that embed arts and culture into climate action.
- Provide a hub for artists and cultural organisations to connect with each other and with individuals and organisations working on climate change to foster art-sustainability collaboration.
- Serve as a resource centre and learning exchange on art-climate change collaboration.
- Engage with and advocate for policymakers, practitioners and others working directly on climate change to recognise the value added by incorporating art and culture into their efforts.
How do we do it?
culture/SHIFT special projects are the projects we contribute to or lead that integrate creative and climate change work. Examples of our current or completed special projects are:
- Transforming Audience Travel Through Art
- Climate Beacons
- Climate Justice
- Clyde Rebuilt
- Cultural Adaptations
- Seas of the Outer Hebrides
The Green Tease Network builds and supports a network of people and organisations from the arts and culture and the climate change sectors. It includes a searchable members’ database to find partners for collaboration and it hosts creative, informal gatherings on topics at the intersection of art and sustainability.
Our resource and learning exchange activities include:
- The Library of Creative Sustainability, a collection of art-climate change collaboration case studies
- Evaluations we carry out to assess the results and efficacy of collaborations,
- Toolkits, methodologies and best practices we assemble on how the arts and culture can be harnessed for climate action.
- Training and workshops we offer to the cultural and climate change sectors.
To inform organisations working on climate change how incorporating the arts and culture into their work can increase its impact, we produce publications, videos and other resources; work with cultural and climate change organisations and umbrella groups as consultants, advisors or participants or advisors; and take a lead in promoting the efficacy of art-climate change collaborations.
Be part of culture/SHIFT
For enquiries about the culture/SHIFT programme, please contact Lewis Coenen-Rowe, culture/SHIFT Manager.
We are always eager to hear from individuals or organisations from the cultural and the climate change sectors who have a project that could benefit from the integration of art and sustainability.
