Resources for visual artists working with climate 

From desk research conducted for CVAN NW in 2022, this resource list focuses on nature recovery.  It is for artists who want to connect with networks or to link to specific organisations with knowledge about climate and the natural environment.

ARTIST COLLECTIVES AND NETWORKS WORKING ON CLIMATE JUSTICE

North West Regional Collectives and Networks

G-MAST is a network of over 50 cultural organisations in Greater Manchester for climate action, providing guidance and professional development to arts professionals.

PLACE Collective, based in Cumbria, is a network for artists working with the environment in rural landscapes.

SHIFT is the arts and sustainability network for Liverpool City Region, founded by METAL.

SPARK – monthly meets shared on Castlefield Gallery events pages.

National and International Resources and Networks

ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND’s Environmental Responsibility development work includes tool-kits for carbon reduction and capital projects and a regular podcast

CAPITALS COALITION  is working to make changes within businesses for climate action

CARBON LITERACY PROJECT offers training and resources to help reduce carbon emissions

CULTURE DECLARES EMERGENCY is a national action-orientated campaign led by the cultural sector

ECOSYSTEMS KNOWLEDGE NETWORK provides training, updates and resources

EXTINCTION REBELLION is a self-organising movement, with local campaign groups

FRIEC – Forum for Radical Imagination on Environmental Cultures – is a membership network for artists, which was born from the Nature of Cities network and summit.  Nature of Cities is a blog site, which has held global summits

GALLERY CLIMATE COALITION is an international network providing tools and pointers for galleries, including advice on setting up and galvanising a Green Team within an arts organisation.

JULIE’S BICYCLE is a national not-for-profit consultancy mobilising arts and culture organisaitons to take action on the climate, nature and justice crisis.

LANDSCAPE RESEARCH GROUP is a global community of interest with membership

VALUING NATURE NETWORK stimulated the AALERT network from University of Reading

AALERT (Arts and Artists in Landscape and Environment Research Today)

WORLD WEATHER NETWORK is a worldwide network of artists, writers and communities reporting on their weather and our climate.

 

MUSEUMS

North West Museums have rich natural history collections that can provide visual stimuli and act as a research resource for artists.

The Museums Association (MA) has made a strong commitment to climate justice

This resource includes case studies of applied work www.museumsforclimateaction.org

 

A FOCUS ON LANDSCAPE AND BIODIVERSITY

 Arts Council England has Memoranda of Understanding with the Forestry Commission England, the National Trust and Canal and River Trust, and Arts Council Wales with the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales.  These agreements each have a series of shared objectives, and are designed to build lasting relationships with arts organisations and artists.

Extinction Rebellion works with visual artists.  Rewriting Extinction has worked with Greenpeace, Wildlife Trusts, World Land Trust and others to produce ‘The most important Comic Book on Earth’.

Clusters of artists and arts organisations work in geographic and thematic clusters on longer-term research and restoration programmes.  Defra is encouraging Landscape-scale projects to group together.

 

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

The Environment Agency: This organisation chart was published in August 2022. The Environment Agency also hosts this series of data sets.

In 2022, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announced funding for 22 Landscape Restoration projects.  The two projects receiving funding in the North West are Wigan Greenheart and Lake District Eastern Fells.  The second of these programmes is based upon significant visioning and restoration at Wild Haweswater, enabled through a partnership between RSPB and United Utilities and charted by author Lee Schofield in his recent publication, Wild Fell.

The Forestry Commission is made up of three parts: Forest Services – the Government’s expert forestry advisors – Forest Research which delivers forestry and tree-related research to England, Scotland and Wales, and Forestry England (recently renamed) which manages the nation’s forests.  Forestry England is an example of a Government Agency that is also a landowner and is seeking a more commercial model of operation, including charging membership for forests.  Three Forests in Cumbria in the north west of England which this applies to are Grizedale, Whinlatter and Dodd Wood at £49 per year each.  The Ministry of Defence is also a big landowner.

Natural England has placed partnership-working at the heart of their vision and mission: Our vision is ‘Thriving Nature for people and planet’. We aim to achieve this through our mission ‘Building partnerships for Nature’s recovery’.  Targets for “A Green Future”, their 25-year Plan for the Environment include

Enhancing beauty, heritage and engagement with the natural environment: We will conserve and enhance the beauty of our natural environment, and make sure it can be enjoyed, used by and cared for by everyone. We will do this by:

• safeguarding and enhancing the beauty of our natural scenery and improving its environmental value while being sensitive to considerations of its heritage.
• making sure that there are high quality, accessible, natural spaces close to where people live and work, particularly in urban areas, and encouraging more people to spend time in them to benefit their health and wellbeing
• focusing on increasing action to improve the environment from all sectors of society 

Nature North is a collaborative initiative looking at generating green financing for landscape-scale programmes.  They are in touch with the Local Nature Partnerships, which operate in connection with Local Enterprise Partnerships and City Region bodies.  For the north west, these are Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire Environment Forum and Nature Connected (Liverpool City Region).