Creativity in climate adaptation

Conceptualizing the role of arts organizations

Abstract

In the face of the climate emergency, it is becoming clear that cultural change is a necessary transformative shift that must occur to ensure human survival. Climate change is entangled with behavioural and social dimensions of our lives, necessitating that we undergo cultural transformation to access the potential of existing climate solutions. While there is both an increase in research regarding how the arts can contribute to this needed cultural transformation, as well as increasing participation in climate work by those within the arts sector, the marriage between evidence and practice in this field is in its infancy. Existing literature highlights the exciting potential of the arts to make meaningful contributions to climate action through interdisciplinary contributions to knowledge creation, public engagement forums that go beyond fact-sharing, and imagining future scenarios for our world. That said, arts organizations are often left out of the conversation. In an effort to bridge the gap between study and practice in this field, this paper reports on interviews with key members of CreativePEI to better understand how one arts organization and its members conceptualize their role in climate action as well as identifying critical barriers to conducting climate work within the arts. Further, the paper situates the results of the study within the current literature, examining any synergies between the findings of the study and scholarly works in the field. By showcasing the ways in which one arts organization situates itself within the broader project of climate change, this work sheds new light on the current state of climate work in the arts in Canada and how cultural organizations can reimagine their role to better align with the evidence about what the arts can uniquely offer to climate action.