1. Climate Justice Club (Kenya and Wales)
This is a Black-led artist club, that acts as an activator/disruptor for creative, collaborative and decolonised activism funded by Arts Council Wales. This artist club will explore climate and nature through an international lens, focusing on Wales and Africa.
The Climate Crisis is highlighting pre-existing inequalities:
- The carbon footprint of Western powers is the main contributor to climate change.
- Consumerism in the West is a cultural boundary to meaningful change.
- Global South countries are under the greatest threat from climate change.
- Nature movements are predominantly Western led, operating from within Western cultural norms and structures.
- Climate change is disproportionately impacting marginalised communities with the fewest resources to cope.
Diaspora communities feel the impact of climate change on two fronts: in Wales and among the communities they come from. It impacts them financially and emotionally as they continue to support family and friends abroad. We want to claim a central space in combating the Nature Emergency, using soft power to nurture Black-led creative and decolonised action.
Nature does not move along national boundaries, the Climate and Nature Emergency affects all species of plants and animals (including us humans) all across the globe. We will work with artists and partners to explore the global Nature Emergency both locally and in a global context.
The Club will:
- Explore the Nature Emergency from a decolonised and Black-led perspective.
- Give nature a voice and develop nature-centric narratives.
- Coordinate creative artist-led activism; host community arts, interventions and themed events, performances and exhibitions.
- Connect artists with stakeholders (charities, education, government) to collaborate on nature projects and amplify messages.
- Create space for knowledge sharing and debate; host training, talks and deliver workshops.
- Help artists to develop carbon-neutral creative practice.
- Communicate with the wider public through art; raise awareness but also spread hope and calls to action.
- Raise engagement with the environment and climate among marginalised communities; host events and workshops in nature.
- Create space for innovation, creativity and play; nurture our ability to be creative and playful.
- Create insightful and high quality art and art experiences.
- Create a safe space, offer healing activities to cope with trauma, work with respect for the wellbeing of our audiences, collaborators and artists.
- Imagine a Nature Positive Future in which balance between nature and communities can be restored.
The Good Ancestors Club: Art and Climate Justice in Action
Open Call
‘Sub-Sahara Advisory Panel are inviting Black and Brown creatives and allies to develop their skills as Climate Activists and use their creativity to fight for Climate Justice’
This opportunity brings together Black and Brown creatives and allies in Wales and Kenya.
What’s on offer?
*Free training for artists on climate communication, community arts practice, carbon literacy and more
*Opportunity for creatives to develop themselves as effective climate communicators
*Space for creatives to take positive, practical action on climate issues
*Trips into nature to reconnect with the natural world
*Access to recycled and upcycled materials
*An online space for artists and creatives from Wales and Kenya to build bridges and collaborate
* Potential to be funded to run Climate Campaigns and develop new Body of Work
This Arts Council Wales funded project will create an incubation space for Black Excellence in creative climate activism.
How to apply:
We would love to hear a little about yourself; your creative practice and what motivates you personally.
Please send us up to 2 pages of text or up to 3 minutes of video or audio recording. Consider the following questions:
Tell us about your artistic practice and previous experience.
What motivates you to take action for climate justice?
What new knowledge, connections and skills would you like to gain?
What ideas for creative climate activism would you like to develop?
Send your answers to sanab.hersi@ssap.org.uk
Deadline: 26th November 2023
2. Diaspora Climate Change Club
We, at the Sub Sahara Advisory Panel acknowledge that climate change affects all of us, especially minoritised groups. Our members feel the impact of climate change and many are supporting families and friends in the countries and communities they come from. We want to create a safe, supportive and active space for diaspora communities in Wales to address climate change in Wales and beyond. This is why we at SSAP have launched the Wales African Diaspora Climate Change Club and make sure our communities are engaged and our voices are heard on the topic of Climate Change.
Minoritized communities are four times more likely to live in areas at high risk from climate change in the UK. And as Diaspora communities we feel the impact of climate change on two fronts: in Wales and at home were severe drought and flooding are already taking their toll on our people, for example in Nigeria.
Most carbon emissions come from industrialised countries in the Global West, and from Western lifestyle of consumerism. But their impact is most acutely felt in countries with lower emissions in the Global South, including in Africa. This was acknowledged at COP27, and pledges were made to provide financial assistance to nations most vulnerable and impacted by the effects of climate change through a ‘Loss and Damage Fund’. While we welcome the historic decision, it remains to see how quickly funds will be raised and actions implemented.
Climate Change is not the only challenge to our natural world; Pollution and Mass Species Extinction are interconnected issues alongside Climate Change which we must fight to preserve natural balance on our beautiful planet. While more and more people are waking up to this issue, the Climate and Nature agendas are still white-dominated, with Black and Indigenous communities often pushed to the side lines. At the same time, our communities sometimes see Climate Change as a ‘white problem’ and don’t feel it is something they can personally be involved in.
