LONGHOR IZONS:AN EXPLORAT IONOFAR …...A collection of personal reflections about art, artists and...

A collection of personal reflections about art, artists and climate change.Commissioned by the British Council and curated by Julie’s Bicyclefeaturing contributions from Antony Gormley, Jay Griffiths, Professor Tim Jackson, Professor Diana Liverman and KT Tunstall.

LONG HORIZONS: ANEXPLORATION OF ART+CLIMATE CHANGE

a snapshot of artists and organisations currently addressing environmental impacts in their work

Aardvark Records Aaron Wolf AC/DC Academy Music Group Adriane Colburn Aerosmith

Aggelos Kovotsos Agnes Denes Aimee Mann Alan Boldon Alanis Morrisette Alessandro Marianantoni

Alex Hartley Alex Uncapher Alice Cooper Alice Oswald Allen Fisher Allman Brothers Band Almeida

Projects Alphonso Arambula Robles Ambassador Theatre Group American Association of Independent Music

Aminatu Goumar Amir Berbic Amy Balkin Amy Sharrocks Ana Cecilia Gonzales Vigil Andrea Polli & Chuck

Varga Andrej Zdravic Andrew Bird Andrew Dodds Andrew Merritt Andy Goldsworthy Andy Goodman

Angela Palmer Ant Farm Anthony Santoro Anthony Utkin Antony Gormley Antti Laitinen Archie Randolph

Ammons Architecture for Humanity Arcola Theatre Arnolfini Art Organic Art Smith Artists Project

Earth (APE) Arts Admin Arts Northwest ASCAP - American Society of Composers, Authors & Publisher

Ashden Trust Atlanta Jazz Festival Aurora Robson Avril Lavigne Ayreen Anastas B.H. Yael Bad Religion

Band Shell Music Summit Banker White Barbican Theatre Barenaked Ladies Basement Jaxx Bash

Beastie Boys Beattrice Bolleta Beck Beggars Ben Folds Ben Kweller Benicassim Bestival Beth Derbyshire

Big Chill Big Session Festival Big Tent Bill Woodrow Bloc Party Blue Man Group Bluesfest BoDeans

Bon Jovi Bonnaroo Bonnie Raitt Boris Bally Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra BPI Brad Pitt

Brandi Carlile Brenndan McGuire Brett Dennen Brian Chippendale Brian Jungen Bright Ugochukwu

Brit Awards British Council Britten Sinfonia Broadway Green Alliance Bruce Hornsby Bush Bush Theatre

Cake Cambridge Folk Festival Cameron Diaz Camp Bestival Candlebox Cape Farewell Carbon Planet Carrie

Marrill Cascade Engineering Cate Blanchett Catherine Prose Catherine Slessor City of Birmingham Symphony

Orchestra Central School of Speech and Drama Chloe Hanks Chris Drury Chris Jordan Chris Levine

Chris Wainwright Christina Aguilera Christine Dhein Christine Lee Circus Kinetica Clare Patey

Clare Twomey Cloud Cult Club4Climate Coldcut Coldplay Colin Firth Copenhagen Playhouse

Cornelia Parker Counting Crows Crockett Bodelson Croissant Neuf Crowded House Dallas Murphy

Dan Gretton Dan Harvey Dan Peterman Daniel B Gold & Judith Helfand Daniel Weddle Danny Seo

Daro Montag Darren Almond Das Fest Dave Matthews Band David Bowie David Buckland David Cotterrall

David Cross David Gilmour David Haley David Hinton David Lan David Nash David W Orr Dennis Lee

Dirk Fleishmann Doll Don McKay Download EAG - Green Books Eco Indie Tour Ecoartspace

Ecorazzi.com Ed Gillespie Eduardo Kac Edward Burtynsky (Canada) Edward Norton Elisabeth Buecher

Elizabeth-Jane Burnett Environmental Media Association (EMA) Emergency Exit Arts EMI Music

Emily Hinshelwood Emma Wieslander Eolica ExtInked EXYZT Faber FACT Fall out Boy Feist

Fiona Apple Firegathering Foreigner Fran Crowe Francesca Galeazzi Franny Armstrong Frieze

Furtherfield.Org Future Sonic 2009: Urban Festival of Art, Music & Ideas, Manchester Environment 2.0

Exhibition Garett Brennan Gary Gulman Gary Hume Gary Snyder Gautier Deblonde Gesche Wuerfel

Glastonbury Festival Global America Today Global Exchange Global Inheritance Glyndebourne Gomez

Goo Goo Dolls Grace Grateful Dead Green Day Green Drinks Green Hands USA Green Music Alliance

Green Notes Green Owl Green Thumb Theatre Green TV Greener Summer Sustainable Music Festivals

Gretel Ehrlich Grizedale Arts Groove Armada Guillermo Calzadilla Gurtenfestival Gustav Metzger Guster

Gwyneth Paltrow Hans Haacke Harriete Estel Hasse Wester Heath Bunting Heather & Ian Morison

Heather Ackroyd Helen Mayer Harrison Henrick Hakanson Hi'may Rivera Hindu Kush Hinterland Symposium

Hootie & The Blowfish Hot Buttered Rum String Band Hot Chip Howard Theatre Huang Zhijian

Hultfred Festival Hyde Park Calling Ian Connacher Ian L McHarg Ian McEwan IFEA - International

Festivals and Event Association Illosarirock Incubus Indigo Girls Inform (Organisation) Isle of Wight

Festival ITC (Independent Theatre Council) J William Thompson Jack Johnson Jackie Eco Jackson Browne

Jacques Nimki Jake Gyllenhaal James Corbett James Marriott James Taylor Jan Zwicky Jane Langley

Jarvis Cocker Jason Griffiths Jason Mraz Jay Griffiths Jennifer Allora Jeremy Deller Jess Brass

Jimmy Buffett Jimmy Fike Joanna Callaghan Joe Gerhardt John Butler Trio John Dewey John Jordan

John Kinsella John Legend John Linden John Mayer John Newling John Ruskin Johnny Hines

Jonathan Dove Jools Johnson Jose Gonzalez Joseph Beuys Josh Ritter Jude Kelly Julia Goodman

Julian H Scaff Julian Stair Justin Timberlake Kaiser Chiefs Karen Michel Kasia Ozga & Valentina Loi

Kate Rich Kate Thompson Kathleen Egan Kathy Barber Kayle Brandon Keith Tyson Kelley Stoltz

Kelly Clarkson Kevin Richardson Kew Kim Sorvig Klaus Weber Klaxons Koekoek Kris Martin Krisanne Baker

KT Tunstall Kylie Minogue Lara Almarcegui Latitude Laurie Anderson Lemn Sissay Leonardo DiCaprio

Les Recontres Transmusicales de Rennes Les Trans Musicales de Rennes Liam Frost Linda Ronstadt

Linda Weintraub Live Nation Liverpool Everyman Playhouse Liz Jensen London Symphony Orchestra

Lou McCurdy Louis Fox Lovebox Lowlands Luc Besson Luca Morino Lucy & Jorge Orta

Ludacris & Tommy Lee Luke Bullen Maggie O'Sullivan Maná Manchester Evening News Arena (cont. page 41 ) >>

The purpose of the British Council, the UK’sinternational organisation for cultural relations, is tobuild engagement and trust for Britain through theexchange of knowledge and ideas between peopleworldwide. Climate change is one of the definingissues of the age, with far-reaching impacts on allaspects of our lives as well as upon the naturalenvironment. It will affect everyone on the planet,though differences in infrastructure and locality willprofoundly influence vulnerability. Impacts will besocial and cultural as well as environmental andeconomic, and solutions need to be social andcultural as well as technical and scientific.

We believe that cultural relations, which works bybringing people together to find common purposebeyond the range of traditional government-to-government diplomacy, has an importantcontribution to make in the fight against climatechange. In challenging times, relationships of trustbetween citizens and their governments may waverand the less formal networks of shared interest andunderstanding to which we can all contributebecome even more crucial. It is via these links withcolleagues and peers across the world thataccurate information can be disseminated,potential solutions debated and collectivecommitments made. The British Council works withpartners in order to develop shared trust andvalues and to remove the barriers that currentlyprevent finding a global solution to this crisis. We want to promote a mutual understanding of theneed for joint action and for innovative responses.

Working with art and artists in order to buildrelationships of mutual understanding is one of theBritish Council's core activities. In addition to theinspiration that they can offer, artists are frequentlyat the forefront of cultural change. Their work andthe way they work may often articulate, in anextraordinarily effective way, Britain's

preoccupations: our humour, our fears, our senseof ourselves. Arts makes our society morecomprehensible to those outside it and as such is apowerful addition to any cultural relations work. It seems appropriate that the work of many Britishartists is already reflecting a growing concernabout climate change and the need for solutions.The museum and music sectors particularly arealready changing the way that they make andpresent their work but artists from all disciplinesare beginning to frame the climate change crisis inpowerful and moving ways through their art. Art and artists can help move the climate changeagenda from intellectual understanding toemotional engagement, and then on to action. We want to encourage artists to take their part indemystifying and energising the debate.

The challenge of climate change is internationaland inter-connected in nature, and any attempt tocreate change needs to happen regardless ofnational boundaries, and on a global scale. The British Council, with its extensive networks, isone of a small number of agencies able to developdialogues and communities of interest around thissubject worldwide. We will continue to work withpartners who can in turn disseminate informationand ideas through their own networks, and bydoing so reach far greater numbers of people thansingle actions ever could. Together we canstrengthen understanding of the need for action, ofthe role that artists can play in the fight againstclimate change, and of the need to support andencourage that role.

Sally CowlingDavid Viner

britishcouncil.org/longhorizons 1

foreword

british council


2 britishcouncil.org/longhorizons

introduction 3

julie’s bicycle

the far-seers of art 5

jay griffiths

sound and vision 9

kt tunstall

art in the time of global warming 13

antony gormley

keeping out the giraffes 17

professor tim jackson

seeking inspiration:

a scientist turns to the cultural sector 21

professor diana liverman

contributors 26

appendices

i) overview of UK cultural policy and climate change 29

ii) resources and tools 37

iii) glossary 39

contents


The pressing issues of climate change andsustainability, shaping our present and future, arepermeating every corner of our business, throughlegislation, markets, artistic voice and industrialinfrastructure. It has always been my primaryambition to support the best in new music and wehave spent many years understanding theopportunities and challenges posed by the digitalage while maintaining that commitment toexcellence. Now another epoch has arrived, a muchmore profound age which requires a total and rapidmarket transformation that puts sustainability andenvironmental respect at its core. We must help ourcreative businesses shift and adapt so that we canall continue to support the best and finest in thearts.

Tony Wadsworth Chairman, Julie’s Bicycle

It is an extraordinary collective consciousness thatmany of us inhabit today. We live comfortably withdeeply uncomfortable information irritating theedge of our thoughts. This information, drawn fromthe rich evidence of thousands of scientists, tellsus that the earth’s climate is warming inexorably,ecosystems and species are in crisis, and we havefinite time and resources left to deal with it. In arational account of this dilemma disaster would beaverted, the narrative would conclude withhumanity restored. Common sense and heroeswould prevail. But common sense isn’t functioningas it should and our global crisis cannot be solvedwith the effort of even several heroic individuals. It needs much stronger intervention.

At the heart of our necessary metamorphosis isthe removal of greenhouse gases from the planet’sstifled biosphere. This requires reconfiguring ourresource consumption, deploying technology, andadjusting our lifestyles in order to achieve asubstantial reduction in carbon emissions. Weneed to do this now if we want to preserve somechoice and flexibility in shaping our destiny.

The arts should have a pivotal role in thismetamorphosis. Art can shape and shiftperceptions; it is a form of dialogue, it createslanguages between people unbounded bynationality, ethnicity, religion or class. Art has thecapacity to transcend any particular issue ormoment; it reflects and reviews the experience ofbeing human. Art does not require voracious

material consumption for its health. Whenpoliticians disappoint and science is not enough,artistic engagement with climate change caninvigorate the issue from a new angle. Above allart distils for us our common humanity; itquestions and puzzles and challenges. The artscan feel and express what Jay Griffiths describesas ‘long horizons’, views of the world that take inthe time-scales of climate change but offer deeperand wider perspectives than science alone canbring.

The last five years has seen a proliferation ofcreative responses to the environment; art andartists who are inspired to think, create and act.But often the arts infrastructure does not putclimate change and sustainability at its heart. It isinherently problematic if, say, an artist is releasingan album inspired by climate change withoutpaying attention to generating as little carbon aspossible in the production.

This collection of essays, commissioned by theBritish Council and curated by Julie’s Bicycle,offers the perspectives of scientists and artists,their questions and a few answers. Eachcontributor has engaged profoundly with climatechange – they live by it. Each contributor hasinterpreted the relationship between art andsustainability personally, so that science and art,both calling on creativity of the highest order, bluras disciplines. For all these contributors the questfor sustainability in their life and their work hasbecome a source of inspiration, a vital definingforce within their lives.

Jay Griffiths’ piece calls for high culture to grounditself in its roots, in cultivating care for the naturalworld. She describes art’s potent ability to remindus of our place within nature and to give visceralpower to the reality of climate change. Her writingis imbued with hope, joy and conviction in theultimately redeeming power of art to expressintrinsic meanings about humanity and theopportunity we have to determine our future.Antony Gormley sees that climate changechallenges some of our dearest-held beliefs:technologically-driven progress and endlessgrowth. He questions art’s complicity in thesecultural assumptions and calls us to fundamentallyre-examine the role of art and the artist in relationto climate change and the natural world. KTTunstall is joyously pragmatic and urges all those


introduction

julie’s bicycle

involved in the business of art to sort out theirown environmental impacts. Professor DianaLiverman, a climate scientist for many years, asksfor more support from the cultural sector, both toaddress its own operations and also – crucially –to support the scientific community’s attempts tocommunicate. And Professor Tim Jackson museson the complex but transformative role that arthas in relation to sustainability and our future. He suggests that it is through the artistic processitself that society will place sustainability at itsheart, drawing upon art’s ability to articulate avision of the future, a resolution of conflicts and aconsolation for our failures.

We should not have to live with the apparentparadox whereby we want the arts to activelycampaign for action on climate change, whilst also understanding that art is not forced. Thisparadox is effortlessly solved when we assignresponsibilities appropriately: actors must play inlow energy theatres, musicians should record insolar powered studios, film sets should be sourcedfrom sustainable forest and audiences shouldknow it. Then it’s up to the artists to do their work.Much of that work will have nothing to do withclimate change; some of it might inspire millions tothink in a new way about the planet. The choice ofsubject is up to the artists but scientists andpolicymakers can at least make them aware of thechoices.

Perhaps we should start by recognising that thearts share an industrial base with other sectors inthe global economy. We heat and cool, lighten anddarken, open and close our buildings, manufacturespectacle. We create, display and reproduce artand artefacts. We tour and travel and ouraudiences follow in huge numbers. All this requiresenergy – significant amounts of it – and most of itis drawn from fossil fuels. Art has a real carbonfootprint. We need to find out what ourenvironmental impact is and how we can manageit. Then we could examine our expectations of

artists as communicators. Climate scientists,struggling to communicate the dangers ofcomplacency, are calling on the arts community tohelp out. But too prescriptive an application of thearts to climate change is fraught with tension.Artists will not want their work to be propaganda.

Climate change cannot be resolved through thecelebration of a single individual’s efforts or thegallant actions of a few, but through the collectiveefforts of many. This effort must extend beyondborders. The framework for climate negotiationstakes national obligation and interest as its startingpoint: can the arts’ sinuous movements across theglobe help us understand the shared implicationsof our choices? This collection has five differentand valuable perspectives each of which iscontributing to a bigger whole. And as such itchallenges the focus on the individual, thecelebrity icon, as the holder of truth and influence.All these responses to climate change andsustainability are different and nuanced; they willspeak to different people and perspectives.

We should start now and build a knowledge basethat will mandate cultural leaders to act. We mustunderstand what resources (knowledge andfinancial), mechanisms (guidance and standards)and future expectations of transparency andaccountability will be required. That means ashared international ambition, with the vision andprocesses that can embed sustainability deeplyinto culture.

The power of change lies in knowledge andcollaborative action.

It also lies within the experience of art itself. We cannot ask artists to ‘do’ climate change butwe can engage with, help, encourage and respondto those artists who choose to make climatechange a key part of their work, and perhaps theywill inspire the rest of us to action. All of thecontributors are writing as artists or as scientists –we need to listen to what they have to say.

Alison Tickell


introduction julie’s bicycle


the far-seers of art

jay griffiths

‘IT IS IN ART THATSOCIETY FINDS ITS LONGHORIZONS, ITS SWEEP OFAGES. ART DANCES AWALTZ WITH TIME; THETHREE STEPS OF PAST,PRESENT AND FUTUREWHICH CAN SWINGTOMORROW INTO THEARMS OF TODAY, SHOWINGSOCIETY WHERE IT ISGOING, AND CAN TAKE ATURN WITH YESTERDAY TOSHOW SOCIETY WHERE ITHAS COME FROM. WITHCLIMATE CHANGE, THEFAR-SEERS OF ART ARE AREQUISITE.’

Picture this. The audience is watching aperformance of She Stoops to Conquer, dressed tokill, in feathers and pearls, bowties and waistcoats.Floodwater, meanwhile, is lapping around thepaving stones outside. By Act Two the water hasrisen, up through the foyer and along the hallwaysand corridors, and by Act Four it has reached thefront rows. The audience stares rigidly at thestage, ignoring the water, not stooping to noticemere nature and necessity seeping into theirshoes.

There is an absolute, irrefutable reality to climatechange, as real as wet shoes and rotting carpet. It is larger than politics, as wide as ocean currents,and its effects are the realities of survival and life.Artists – writers, sculptors, musicians and poets –have responded to this, turning reality intoartwork, because so many artists have a politicalcompass magnetised towards common humanity.

Distilling an image to one drop of pure turquoise,and with this one drop colouring the waters ofsociety, artists effect a sea-change. It is their roleto do this, to illustrate, to cast light on subjects,the light by which society sees more truly andmore richly. Artists are messengers acrossboundaries, for art transcends the confines ofnationality – it is an emissary of kind universality.Climate change forces the need for a greaterintercultural communication than ever before, andartists – those with the keenest hearing andperfect pitch – can tell the stories of thingsunimagined, making immediate the experience ofpeople unknown. Art can do this, collapsingdistance, creating the empathy of nearness, art soclose that it leaves its eyelash on your cheek as itpasses.

The climate is a commons – a shared, equal andinvaluable source of life, both international andintercultural – and all nations hold it in common.The effects of climate change will bring Lear’sstorms and hurricanes to the heath: ‘Blow, winds,and crack your cheeks!’ and these things needgood messengers on the heath of commonhumanity.

Art can speak in sudden language, with thetemerity of a howl in the restaurant: electric,implacable and now. Artists transport significancethrough metaphor, literally a ‘carrying across’.There is a shamanic aspect to this and artists are,like shamans, movers between worlds, betweenthe visible world and the invisible one, able to healindividuals and society. Art can work above-ground, in the heightened, precise super-realismof social portraiture, but also below-ground,working different and deeper spells of restitutionon the invisible realm of symbolism.

Rebalancing the relationship between humancommunities and the natural world is a feature ofshamanism, and artists play that same role, a rolewhich needs and deserves public support throughpolicy priorities, through funding and throughrecognition that this rebalancing role at the coreof deep art is now urgent in response to theunbalanced chaos of climate. ‘The spring, thesummer, the childing autumn, angry winter, changetheir wonted liveries; and the mazed world, bytheir increase, now knows not which is which,’wrote Shakespeare, to describe human dissensionwritten into the very seasons. His work is rooted ina sense of balance between humanity and nature.

It is in art that society finds its long horizons, itssweep of ages. Art dances a waltz with time; thethree steps of past, present and future which canswing tomorrow into the arms of today, showingsociety where it is going, and can take a turn withyesterday to show society where it has come from.With climate change, the far-seers of art are arequisite.

Society has a long relationship with artists, atryst of ages, trusting artists to act as its collectiveconscience; medieval Welsh bards were legislators– judges as well as poets. But science can beterrified of taking a moral position, as if that wouldundermine its authority (although arguably thisabnegation is a corruption of its authority). Therehas been an enormous shift within academiarecently as climate scientists, in desperation at thedevastation they foresee, break their own rules inorder to speak truth to those in power. It is an actof courage for them to do so, but it is a role theywould rather not play; and they need the voices ofpoets to speak those truths as well. For writersand artists have a duty of care to society,musicians and poets are legislators of the soul-world. Good translators are required, not totranslate from one actual language into another,but to translate between worlds, from the world ofscience to the world of imagination, renderingscientific realities of statistics and graphs intowarm and human parables, paintings and plays.

Artists are shape-shifters and in this there is aperennial, ferocious hope; the hope whichtransforms, which whispers of possibility, of vision,of change and radical healing. Existing art aboutclimate change has this characteristic,acknowledging the truth and severity of the issuebut also affirming within it something of grace,seeing the starlight within the night.

When the rhetoric of climate change concentrateson the catastrophic, the result is a freezing-over ofthe psyche, a paralysis of the will. All ice-axe andquestion marks, art tilts and urges on, on, finds a


the far-seers of art jay griffiths

new tense, the future-possible, for its verbs. Art can be playful, splitting the moment, jumpingthe line, burgling predictability. Art can offer thejuxtaposition from which springs movement, somerusset meaning or winter resonance, some dawnof unequivocal urgency. Climate change involvestextures of complexity (political, environmental,social, legal) which art can comprehend, for thebest of art draws maps of difficult landscapes.

Art’s job is not propaganda. Propaganda aims forthe cliché and, in attempting to speak to everyone,speaks in fact to no one. Art takes an idiosyncraticline; the more surely envoiced the artist becomes,the stronger the response to their work. You cansee agit-prop coming a mile away, barging alongthe street towards you, giving you time to turn theother way or shake it warmly by the hand. Art cansteal up more quietly, coming alongside, maybewith a scent of jasmine or rum, speaking intrigue.

The issue of climate change needs persuasion

rather than propaganda and art understands thepsychology of persuasion. It is hard to allowoneself to be drawn by overt dogma, which isdelivered in the daylight areas of the mind. Art works in the shuttered twilights wheredarkness bestows a tenderness and protection, asecret place where the psyche feels safe enoughto alter. It is always easier to change one’s mind inthe dark.

Artists know their place is the edge, fertile,enigmatic, tricksterish. And the edge is not thesame as a limit. A limit is the place of absolutefiniteness or of wise cessation; the limits of naturallaw or, in terms of climate change, the necessaryand just limiting of emissions. An edge, bycontrast, is a place of maximum tension, a place ofparadox, creative by its own geometry; a place ofapparent contradictions which art explores andtranscends.

The distinction between the Edge and the Limitcan be related to the distinction between Freedomand Licence. Claiming they are acting in the nameof ‘freedom’, modern states, allowing uncurbedcarbon emissions, actually promote licence, thelicence for individuals to use more than theircarbon quota, the licence of industries to provokeclimate change, the licence of wealthy nations totake more than their fair share, the licence ofcorporations to bully governments and lie to themedia. More licence is not needed. But morefreedom is. The freedom which art knows, thefreedom which results in a transcendence of visionand a change of heart.

It is, of course, notoriously hard to tell artists whatto do. I know, as a writer, the fiendishly

disobedient streak which my art demands: I can’teven tell myself what to do. For artists with asense of responsibility, a sense of politics, it canbe very hard to demand of themselves that theycreate a work ‘about’ an ‘issue’. While the politicalpart of oneself is outlining the imperative, thecreative aspect of oneself is untameable, off theleash, gainsaying. Yet work on climate change isperhaps produced so readily because we, ashuman beings, are coming to dwell with theknowledge of it, coming to know it in our bones.Compared to any other issue, climate change hasa seismic and ineluctable enormity, and we inhabitthis knowledge because we must. One thing it willcause is a change of climate within.

This isn’t a verbal sleight of hand, it isn’t a gentlypunning metaphor, it is a description written rightat the edge of the future fact. We need a changein the climate of art. The situation which we faceas humans demands to be matched at every level;philosophical, political, pragmatic and personal.The role of art institutions is now truly cultural; tocreate the culture which nurtures nature, not onlyhuman nature but all forms of nature. This isneither a hobby nor a luxury. It is not a Status-Impact Event. It is an exigency which affectseverything, from the blunt demand for emissions-reductions within institutions to the tenor of ourlanguage and the cast of our thought.

But there is a narrow strand of aesthetics whichsuggests that art should not stoop to this actualworld of nature and environmental event, as ifleaning towards this earthy world wouldundermine art’s tantalising artifice or soil thespangly fascinator. This sour cast of thoughtsuggests that art should be ‘above’ moral issues,as if art should never dirty itself with matter, as ifthe artist should stand at one remove, shouldnever treat as equals the cabinet members of theMaldives in suits and oxygen tanks, six metresunderwater, holding their cabinet meetingamongst the fish in the turquoise seas, todemonstrate their nation’s vulnerability to climatechange.

According to that way of thinking, ‘culture’ is theopposite of ‘nature’, the rise of artifice has firmlydefeated the pastoral, and art is in a position ofenmity towards the real, natural world. But formost of human history culture has been rooted innature, as language tells. In its classical sense,culture was effectively the honouring of thecultivation of nature, from ‘cultus’ meaningcultivation, tending, care and respectful treatment.

We humans are part of nature. We are animalbefore we are human and our embodiment in theworld is our primal truth. The sour strand in



aesthetics dislikes this fact and hides it, making it agreat Unsaid in the halls of art, insisting instead onart’s superiority to nature, scorning theineluctability of climate change by the self-deceitof exclusivity. Humanity deserves better. Climatechange demands more, requires looking beyondthe narrow confines of space and time.

The culture of high culture has to shift, has tostoop to the floodwater and dare to touch theearth itself. The unexamined prejudice againstnature within aesthetics will come to seem asvacuous and cruel as racism or sexism for, despitethe pretence that culture is antagonistic to nature,it never really has been. If you watch carefully,you’ll catch them glancing at each other, a look ofshy recognition of a relationship never trulysundered. Take the Forest of Arden out ofShakespeare, shake the linnet from the leaf, snatchthe moon from Neruda, silence the Rite of Spring,take, in other words, all nature out of culture, andwhat do you have left? A few shoddy cataloguesand a tax return.

So, yes, we need a change in this kind of climate,which involves culture going not ‘back’ to its rootsbut ‘down’ to its roots, profound in the deep earth,in the root of the word cultus: nurturing care andrespect, and offering truths to humanity.

In its evidence and reliable data, science offers itstruths, but from art we need truths of a differentorder: Protean, yes, unpredictable, yes,disobedient, yes, but truths nonetheless;metaphoric, spiral truths, because we are notwholly rational creatures. It is not knowledge thatwe lack but parables to embody it and ethics tosustain the implementation of that knowledge. It isthrough stooping that art conquers, Lear on theheath, finding his common humanity on thecommon ground. This is the profound task of art,to find seeds of transcendence deep in the darkand minding earth.




sound and vision

kt tunstall

‘IF THE MUSIC BUSINESSCREATES A SUPPORTIVEOPERATING FRAMEWORKFOR THE ARTIST IT WILLMAKE IT EASIER FOR USTO TAKE ON THE ROLEOF COMMUNICATINGWITH OUR AUDIENCES.FROM THIS POSITIONOUR ART WILL HAVEINTRINSIC INTEGRITY SOTHAT WE AS ARTISTSCAN SPEAK OUT WITHCONFIDENCE ANDSTRENGTH.’

As a touring musician, I see that for the durationof a show it is possible to create a brand newcommunity. It can be of any size, any nationality,and any creed; and providing I act as a positiveforce towards the audience, there can bemoments of genuine, meaningful collectiveeuphoria. These thousands of strangers haveshared something. People often remember suchmoments for the rest of their lives. I know I do.

I feel deeply that these instances of collectivepositivity are breeding grounds for meaningfulchange. If you feel good, it is possible to imaginebetter things.

Music for me is a necessity in life; I am imbuedwith an intrinsic feeling that I couldn’t andshouldn’t ever give it up, regardless of anyattached success. Part of the reason for believingthis is that I recognise that in some very deep way,music can transcend language, can communicatebeyond explicit meaning, and therefore has thepower to capture imagination, bring peopletogether, and draw attention to any issue. Afterseeing an artist I love, I feel cracked like an egg. Iam opened. A significant part of my motivation tobe a musician comes from the knowledge that Iam able to provide that experience for others; it isan incredibly fulfilling transaction.

In light of all this, do I have a responsibility as anartist to communicate my feelings on importantissues? After all, here I am, on stage in a room fullof grinning people who feel connected to eachother - open. The importance of climate changeoverwhelms all other issues and encapsulates somuch – our environment, our sense of humanityacross continents and cultures, our responsibilityto social justice and global equity, our valuesystems, our futures and our self-respect. Wewould be mad not to talk about it.

So yes, I feel I have a responsibility to get involvedand push for change.

But for the artist, acting as a messenger onclimate change can be fraught with risks of amedia and fan storm and we find ourselves almostinvariably ducking charges of hypocrisy.Increasingly I see artists hesitate, aware of avirulent press that is keen to identify the smallestmistake. If we get it wrong we risk spectacularpublic exposure. I must point out that if artistshave a responsibility, so too does the media. We allneed to move to a more supportive mindset andunderstand that every positive effort is significant,including ours as artists.

In this difficult terrain it becomes imperative thatwe get our facts straight, keep up with newinformation and look hard at ourselves. I myself

hate being preached at on any subject and it’shorrific if the preacher is a phoney. We mustapproach our messaging from a place of honestyand humility. I believe this boils down to makingsimple, strong, practical choices that, if we decideto speak out, will vindicate our words.

Artists as individuals, and in their work-relatedcommunities, can implement meaningful changeas well as respectfully invoking their connectionwith their audiences. An artist has a voice, butmore importantly, has an influence in a complexway – through their attitudes and the implicitvalues in their behaviour as evidenced in theiractions, how they live. The integrity of an artist iscommunicated by combining words with deeds,style with content.

I don’t see this as being a pressured decision todo all or nothing; I believe it is about doingsomething. Admittedly, none of this sounds muchlike rock and roll, but I don’t believe that living amore climate-responsible life need be exclusive ofthe fun, the escapism or the bohemian lifestylesthat music is celebrated for. There seems to be anassumption that a life lived which isenvironmentally responsible will be a life lessfulfilled and, as an artist belonging to an industryjustly criticised for excess, I say that from theinside. Without challenging this assumption we areconsigning much of our world to uncertain anddangerous prospects.

And for the record, there are many artists doingsomething. It might not be everything andsometimes we all get it wrong. Our whole-heartedenthusiasm for biofuels blinded us to theconsequences for existing agriculture anddeforestation. But this is not a good reason to sitback on our haunches and wait for the perfectsolution. It will never come. We need to get on andmake the difference now.

Music and climate change have this is common:they are universal forces that disregardgeographic and cultural boundaries. I spend a lotof time in other countries, as do all successfulmusicians – it’s part of the job. Many in theinternational artistic community care deeply aboutthe future of our planet. If an artist commits toclimate responsible actions, and speaks out onclimate change, people will hear and take notice.The capacity of the individual artist to raiseawareness is significant; so imagine the force of aunited artistic community. We urgently need tocome together on this issue, to be unafraid tospeak out. The potential knock-on effects of aglobal community of artists bringing about changein the way things are done could be enormouslyfar-reaching.

sound and vision kt tunstall


It is easy to become disillusioned by the facts andfigures, to feel a sense of futility, but considerslavery as an example of cultural transformation.There was huge opposition to abolition but notenough to prevent the eventual transformation.Right now 23 million people across East Africa arefacing critical shortages of food and water aftersuccessive years of failed rains and worseningdrought. Just as was the case in the abolition ofslavery, our responsibility as human beings and asartists is to connect with this tragedy. This iscompelling; we know that the excesses of thericher nations are responsible for the suffering ofthe poor. Solutions to climate change must putclimate justice at their heart.

The music industry has been working for severalyears across the supply chain to develop climateresponsible initiatives, such as energymanagement in venues, lower carbon CDpackaging, and best practice guides, all of whichstrengthen the artist’s capacity to speak out aboutclimate change. Accurate science is hugelyimportant: for example, knowing that a card CDpackage as compared to the usual plastic casecan produce a staggering 95% less carbonemissions. What’s more, research has shown thatthe majority of music buyers would prefer a cardcase to an unattractive, easily breakable, plasticone. Many retailers are happy to support theinitiative, so why are there still millions of plasticjewel cases entering the marketplace every year?Is it simply because not enough of us arechallenging the status quo?

I recently read an article about the knock-oneffects of educating children into greener habits atschool. Once a child is convinced they nag theirparents into green submission, changing the wholefamily’s habits. Just think: one school responsiblefor an entire community changing attitudes andbehaviours. Artists could surely do this; nag untilyou get what you want. I am going to nag myrecord label for card CD packaging and hey, ifthat’s what people want to buy, no record label isgoing to argue.

I am leading the establishment of ‘GreenmyBand’,a partnership of artists looking at the measureswithin our control. We are working to address ourown operations – how do we “green” tours, gigs,merchandise, CDs, and put into practice carbonreduction as recording and touring musicians. The

information, advice, and experience will be sharedbetween as many artists as possible and hopefullycan become a go-to resource for any artistwishing to get involved with climate change.

So it isn’t just about speaking out, though that isalways really helpful. We can only succeed if wecan rely on our artistic infrastructure to supportus. It requires the entire artistic community – notjust the artists, but the managers, funders, policy-makers, agents, studios and venues, the tours andproductions as well as the audiences – to heedclimate change and reduce the negative impactsof our own making. We need to come together asa creative community and understand that we areresponsible, today, now, as well as in the future, foruntold suffering when we needlessly wasteprecious resources. We are much bigger as acommunity of shared interest; our sum is muchgreater than our parts.

If the music business creates a supportive

operating framework for the artist it will make iteasier for us to take on the role of communicatingwith our audiences. From this position our art willhave intrinsic integrity so that we as artists canspeak out with confidence and strength.

We can all live within the planet’s miraculousnatural supply of resources if we are fair,intelligent, and treat all its inhabitants with care.We could catapult over all the apocalypticwarnings and make with our art a positive,sustainable vision of the future. I’m so blessed tobe part of this creative community and I’m veryaware of my responsibility as an artist to thepeople who are enriched by my songs, as I amenriched by others. The creative force of the artsdemolishes petty differences and nationalboundaries and brings us together in memorableshared experiences. It is possible to imagine aglobal community that has sustainability andfairness as core values and we, as artists, can helpturn those thoughts into lifetime habits. I’m excitedabout what’s to come.

sound and vision kt tunstall



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‘THERE IS A STRONGCONNECTION BETWEENTHE DESIRE FORSURVIVAL AND THEART OF A PEOPLE ANDA TIME.’

art in the time ofglobal warming

antony gormley


I have just driven through the Hatfield Tunnel.

Above it are factory outlet shops that selloverproduced goods at reduced prices to bargainhunters. The tunnel is long and I imagine that theshops are plenty. These out-of-town malls aresatellites of emergent in-town superstores, like thenew Westfield at Shepherds Bush and the newerone that will be at Stratford East on the Olympicsite. Art is similarly involved in a system ofexchange and distribution that involves in-townand out-of-town franchises which might, as withthe Guggenheim Museum in New York, first spreaddowntown, then to Bilbao, then to Berlin and finallyto Abu Dhabi; or the Tate making outposts inLiverpool and St. Ives, then expanding itself intoBankside and now expanding again. Art hasseemingly become enmeshed in the sameprocesses of expansion and growth that havecharacterised late capitalism everywhere with itssystem of exchange, communication anddistribution.

But of course this bland comparison does notreally wash. Shops are there to satisfy inflateddesires. Art galleries contain forms andexperiences that inspire, question and extendhuman experience. Art is the way that life testsand expresses itself, without which we are alreadydead.

But what happens to your enthusiasm in belongingand contributing to this system of distributionwhen you are told that we have ninety six monthsbefore we reach the tipping point whereby thefeedback systems of man-made global warmingtake over – probably resulting in tens of millions ofclimate-change refugees displaced and homelessby the end of this century?

In facing the challenges of global climate crisis ina culture which encourages us to do more,produce more, be seen more – my initial responseis paralysing fear; I want to shrink, to go into ahibernating state with minimum muscular effortand put minimal demand on any kind of fuel.

This position is not helpful but perhaps is a goodplace to start to rethink one’s place in the world.

The carbon crisis calls for a re-examination of ourfaith in the technological basis of Westernprogress. A change in belief is a cultural change;art and artists are implicated. As Paul Ehrlich andothers have pointed out human evolution has beendriven by cultural rather than biological change;our brain size, synaptic activity, physicalcharacteristics have not changed much in the lastmillion or so years. What has changed has beenthe material culture that we have made and whichhas in turn made us, from stone tool-making,

language, farming, printing, the industrialrevolution, the information revolution and now,maybe, the most critical and difficult revolution ofall: a complete reversal of many of the values thatwe have held dear. We can no longer assume thatmore is better. We have to change our culturalheroes from generals and captains of industry tomeditators and mediators, from Rambo andTerminator to Ghandi and the Dalai Lama.

Our tool systems, no longer stone, havingseparated us from the rest of the planet andbiosphere, are now what will, without thisrevolution, destroy both. The notion that humanlife was going to be improved by an empiricalmarch of tool-making that would make lifestronger, longer and safer is challenged by the fall-out effects of this very technology. Technologythat was in some senses made to make life betterhas now become the problem.

But of course art is not technology, it is uselessbut vital; it is through art that we communicatewhat it feels like to be alive. When you ask ‘what isthe point of art?’ you could reformulate thequestion to ‘what is the point of human beings?’

At the British Museum is a carving of two reindeercrafted from a mammoth tusk made twelvethousand years ago. The artist’s depiction of theantlers pressed against the flanks of the female infront and stag at the rear, the winter markings ofthe coat and the rendering of the eyes are theresult of acute observation and enormousempathy with the life of these animals. It was byfollowing the seasonal migrations of reindeer thatmodern Europeans survived between ice ages.When swimming across a glacial melt river thedeer were easily hunted. The making of this objectwas an expression of connection, identificationwith the continuation of life, its interconnectivityboth in sex and in death and by inference thehuman position within a chain of being.

What is the basis of art? There is a strongconnection between the desire for survival and theart of a people and a time. We have a task in hand.Culture in the developed western world has alwayspositioned itself in distinction to nature: now wehave to discover our nature within nature.

A Constable cloud study at the V&A: a small sketchin oil and pigment on board captures that mostfleeting of things, the effect of sunlight on watervapour in our atmosphere. Here are ever-changingforms that evoke time, space and the act of beingitself, but also an invitation to empathise with theexchange systems in our atmosphere. Single drybrush strokes capture high cirrus against the thincold high air while rotating brush strokes evoke

art in the time of global warming antony gormley


the lower nimbus clouds that form hoveringmasses of white just above our heads. This sketchis another object that locates us within thescheme of things evoking our ability to engage inelemental exchanges.

I feel powerless, locked into a system andinfrastructure that I cannot control, built on thebasis on infinite growth that is unsustainable bothin terms of demography and resources; people, air,water and food. How can I avoid making situationsworse? How do I justify my life or indeed thisculture as a whole? This was the problem keenlyfelt and left unsolved at the recent climatenegotiations in Copenhagen. How can there be aconsensus on resource use when half of thedeveloping world wants to experience the samelevel of modern living as us and wants to undergothe last three hundred years of Westerndevelopment in a sixth of the time?

An overcast sky, a dark river and a distant town. A naked woman sits on the ground and suckles ababy under a stunted holm-oak, sheltered bybushes. Opposite her on a low brick plinth cappedby stone rise two broken pillars. To the side andfront of this altar a fully clothed man standsnonchalantly holding a staff in his right hand. He issmartly dressed with slashed breaches and a finelinen shirt with white and red leggings. He looksover to the naked woman, she looks at us. We areinvolved in this scene that is as engaging andenigmatic as when it was painted nearly half amillennium ago. It’s Georgione’s The Tempest andhangs at the Academia in Venice. Here we are heldby an atmosphere partly meteorological, partlypsychological. Lightning is striking in the distancebehind the town where the sky is blackest. Theeffect of the work envelops us in that moment inthe storm before the rain where the world andeverything in it is waiting to change: continuity,future, life, love, nature – everything hangs in thebalance.

Has our confidence in human continuityundermined our ability to make art at all? Art,certainly Western art, has been an expression ofand dependent on confidence: confidence in aculture’s lifestyle and in its continuity in the future.Now art undermines and investigates systems ofpower and, rather than projecting stable traditionalvalues into the future, questions the viability of anykind of future at all. We have to re-evaluate thefunction of art within the frame of a sustainablelifestyle best exemplified by those societies thathave had little technological advance.

Ever since Joseph Banks visited Tahiti and wrote in1770 of the Tahitians:

. . . thus live these – I had almost said happy –people, content with little nay almost nothing. Farenough removed from the anxieties attendingupon riches or even the possession of what weEuropeans call common necessaries. . . Fromthem appear how small are the real wants ofhuman nature, which we Europeans haveincreased to an excess which would certainlyappear incredible to these people could they betold it. Nor shall we cease to increase them aslong as luxuries have been invented and richesfound. . .

Rising sea levels are destroying the homelands ofKiribati, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands (amongstothers) as a result of too much CO2 in theatmosphere put there by us and yet they arefurthest away from the benefits and excessesthrough which our industrialised world has enjoyeditself. Yeats said that it was suffering thattransforms intelligence into a soul but how manytornadoes in Tottenham or floods in Cumbria will ittake to create a soul brave enough to change? It is a cruel fact that the people of Tuvalu are theones who are suffering for our sins and they aretoo far away for their soul to have influence on ourintelligence.

Is it possible to re-think art and take it from thisfinished-object status and make it into a verb, aparticipatory, open space, a place oftransformation and the exchange of ideas andreflection on our state and status? Can we use artas a way of investigating this perilous time? Canwe change from our obsession with productionvalues? Instead of the perfection of an Asprey’scatalogue or the gloss of the desirable brandedobject can we accept that art has to find its ownraw and direct way of existing? It was great to seean old bleached-out photograph in a recent articleon Boltanski – art needs to have its own genuinepatina, communicating its journey into the world.

In the turbine hall at Tate Modern the light isstrange, the air is thick, it is summer but cool.Adjusting to the orange, yellow, modern frequencylight coming from a great disc in the ceiling,people are moving slowly. Some lie on the ground.I had a distant impression that there were batshanging from the ceiling, they moved, blacksilhouettes scuttling. Looking carefully at thegolden light source I realised it was a half discpressed against a mirrored ceiling and that themirror stretched the entire length of the turbinehall. The disk was mirrored so that it becamecircular and complete, we were mirrored, I wasmirrored in the ceiling, these were not bats, theywere us. Passing under the bridge I laid downamongst others who were in the picture on the



ceiling: we could change it. I waved to myself,someone waved back. I was in a picture that wasunfolding, I was inside an artificial world that wasunfolding through and with us as participators.This was Olafur Eliasson’s Weather Project at theTate Modern in 2003.

I can think of many artists who can do this. Beuysand Smithson, Long and De Maria showed the wayof direct working with site, making a place to be inways that art had only pictured before. Kounellis,by investigating the materials of trade acrossEurope continually in smell, texture andarrangement, underscores the relation betweenman and matter. Simon Starling investigates thesubtle inversions and interdependencies of energyand made structures. Following the lead of LotharBaumgarten, Francis Alys investigates the tribalrelations of the city’s forest floor dwellers andcelebrates them. Cornelia Parker re-stagesmeteoric events asking how humans canparticipate in the telluric and teleological. All ofthese artists’ work makes you feel more alive,more aware, both of the human predicament andof our material and elemental surroundings. Thereare more – so many more – that are using theirlives to make balance between thought, matterand feeling in a way that has never existed before.

Last summer I was up in Scotland in a wood justwest of the Pentland Hills and came upon a robusthut, its thick walls made of large lumps of the localdark igneous stone. It is slate roofed and there is asingle door. Stepping in, down, and getting used tothe low light entering from two unglazed windowsfrom each gable end, I recognised that the floorwas uneven and in the half light, that I am actuallystanding on bedrock. This surface revealed thesurface of our earth, unadorned, bruised, cracked,wedged open by roots, smoothed by ice, pitted bywater, laid by sedimentation. This revealing of theunderneath of things, the hidden support that liesbeneath trees, homes, buildings was both shockingand engaging. Here was a useless building inwhich we could encounter our dependency: abrilliant work by Andy Goldsworthy.

So what I am asking for is a re-assessment ofwhat art is and how it works. I am questioning thelinear trajectory of art history as part of theWestern development of history recognising thatall art exists in the sense of a continuous present.We are now in a position to acknowledge thatthose stages in an evolutionary past that would, inprevious times, have been thought of as primitive,are co-existing in this era and are not superseded– and actually the use of the fetish and the totemas reference points for a model of art areenormously useful.

How do I justify the work and life of this studio withits ten thousand square feet of heated space andseventeen daily assistants? In the final analysis Ido not have to justify what we do; this workshop ispart of cultural evolution, part of an attempt todefine my own belief systems and those of mycolleagues. I can only hope that this is a creativecommunity, a place where people can share skills,ideas and energy. I hope that it can be a fulcrumof change and exchange in which the idea of aninclusive culture can be born. We create situationsand objects that can become catalysts for a formof reflexivity that allows the viewing subject notsimply to be a passive consumer of an alreadytested experience but for the experience of artitself to be testing ground for both the model ofart and the model of the human subject. We havein making art a specialisation and its exchange asa matter of high monetary worth lost its centralsubject – the human being. In the art of the 20thcentury the Duchampian breakthrough was theexamination of human labour and mass productionin the ‘found object’. I would like art to re-focus onthe lost subject.

But it is also my responsibility to make sure that Ican deal with my own impacts, including thecarbon footprint of the studio and all its activities. I have had the carbon footprint of the studioassessed, minimised my flights, the studio isinsulated and we will install solar panels on theroof (it is wide and relatively flat). We must recyclemore of our materials and investigate the viabilityof a wind turbine. I must also decide whethercarbon offsetting is a conscience salver or a realbenefit.

Having done all of this my greatest responsibility isto make work in the most direct way that I can,and interpret this time and place in a way thatmakes people more aware of themselves and it.



keeping out the giraffes

professor tim jackson

‘THE BIGGEST DANGEROF ALL LIES INSUBJUGATING ARTISTICENDEAVOUR TO REASON.BECAUSE DOING SORISKS ROBBING ART OFMEANING. AND MEANINGIS SOMETHING, ISUSPECT, WE’LL BADLYNEED IN TIMES TOCOME.’


When the moon rises, said Lorca, the sea coversthe land and the heart feels like an island in theinfinite. Children understand this feeling. Look! It’sthe moon, they cry, turning their own moon facesup towards you, delight and trepidation finelybalanced there. Who are these kids, you askyourself? Where do they come from? The truth isthey’re strangers. Visiting us from another country.It’s called the future. Your children are not yourchildren, said Kahlil Gibran. You may house theirbodies but not their souls. For their souls dwell inthe house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, noteven in your dreams.

A few years ago I was installing some insulation inour home on a Sunday afternoon. My then fiveyear old daughter was helping me. We werepressing thin strips of adhesive-backed foam intothe corners of windows and doors to keep out thedrafts. At least, that’s what I was doing. She wasdoing something else. Will this really keep out thegiraffes? she said. You can hear the five year oldmind at work. How did they get into our garden?Can this tiny strip of plastic really keep them out?Everyone knows how tall and thin they are. Theycan probably squeeze through the tiniest cracks.And what will happen if they do? Will they tangleus up in gangly limbs at breakfast time?

My daughter was a millennium baby. She has acertificate from the Queen to prove it. Her age willalways track the passing years of the twenty-firstcentury. How old will you be in 2050? She will be50. It’s her century. The one in which the climate(and many other ecological battles) will be won orlost. It’s our planet! What does it look like? How willwe get there? Will there still be giraffes in it? Theseare her questions. And mine.

I’ve thought a lot about those giraffes. At first Imistook them for a childish interpretation of aweekend chore. But now I see I was mistaken. Thegiraffes are there. They really are in the garden.The task is real. Keeping out the giraffes matters.

There are lots of puzzles in our failure to

combat climate change. One of them is the manyeasy things we routinely fail to do about it. Likedraft-stripping, for example. Insulating our homesmakes unassailable sense. It reduces our energybill, saves us money, lowers our carbon footprintand makes our lives more comfortable. And yetthey don’t get done, these simple things. Time andtime again. The technologies work, the economicsare favourable, the results are demonstrable. Butour attention is missing. Our priorities areelsewhere. Climate is bottom of our list.Rainforests are a long way from here.

Our lives instead are taken up with daily tasks.

Putting the kids on the bus. Getting to work ontime. Surviving shopfloor politics and emailoverload. Foraging for groceries. Throwingtogether meals. Escaping for a few hours intoprimetime TV. Watching the late night weatherforecast. Collapsing into bed. Making it somehowfrom one end of the day to another. Locked inroutine. Lost in anxiety. Striving for status. Keepingout the giraffes. For everyone knows (andinstinctively fears) the chaos that long-neckedcreatures wreak when they slip through the cracksin our lives.

That isn’t all there is, of course. Our lives routinelyrise above routine. Relationships matter. Familymatters. Hope for the future matters. And weconstantly strive to keep those hopes alive. Thedaily grind is lifted from obscurity by the colour ofour dreams. Our aspirations soar on rainbowwings. We continually crave a better life forourselves and our children. Occasionally, weescape into moments of unadulterated pleasure.And from the loose fabric of fantasy and theradiant colours of desire we create and maintain asense of meaning and purpose in our lives.

What is the objective of the consumer? asked theanthropologist Mary Douglas in an essay onpoverty written over forty years ago. It is to helpcreate the social world, she said, and find acredible place in it. This deeply humanising visionof consumer lives is also a forgiving one. We wouldlike to condemn materialism as greed and damnconsumerism to hell. But we are locked into itssocial logic by our own symbolic attachment tostuff. Matter matters to us. And not just infunctional ways. Beyond the immediacy of materialsustenance –food, clothing, shelter – consumergoods provide a kind of language through whichwe communicate. We tell each other storiesthrough material things. And with these stories wecreate the narratives that sustain our lives.

This task – and I am coming to the point now – is afundamentally artistic endeavour. Technology isimportant to its functionality. Science provides theunderstanding. Artefacts provide a language.Goods and services provide what Amartya Sencalled our capabilities for flourishing. But the taskitself is an act of creation. A creative gesture. It calls on our imagination, our hopes, our vision.It engages our values, our identity, our sense of ashared humanity. Society hangs on the gossamerthread of collective dreams. It always has done.

Living is an artistic endeavour. That’s my point. Art doesn’t portray life. Life doesn’t imitate art. Life and art play swing-ball in each other’s backyard. The uniquely human adaptation of artisticexpression is as strong a force in our shared

keeping out the giraffes professor tim jackson


history as were the steam engine, the semi-conductor and the internet. Infinitely more so. The stories we told, the visions we saw, thedreams we shared: these were the building blocksof civilisation, the harbingers of progress, thebringers of hope.

In making this claim, I’m not attempting toprivilege artists. Art and celebrity are crudelyintertwined in the modern mind. But celebrity isn’tthe essence of art; only its expression in aconfused culture, adrift from its moorings inshared meaning. Nor am I trying to suggest thatart can rise above our culpability for ecologicalchange. That would be ridiculous. The lifestyle of asuccessful pop star can beggar the carbonfootprint of a sub-Saharan nation.

The hands of the artist are stained with thepigment of empire. Art mis-catalogued too manyabuses and stood silent through too manyatrocities. But it also suffered these atrocities. It bore witness to the cruelty that people inflict onone another. It gave voice to the oppressed. Spokeup for the dispossessed. Understood our joy andcommiserated in our sorrow. Whispered to us inour own language. The heart has reasons, reasondoes not know at all, said Pascal. Art speaks toand from the heart. In its purest form, the artisticendeavour is a form of creation. One that we’re allengaged in.

It’s clear that any attempt to change people’s livesmust recognise this. It must speak a languagepeople understand. Science can sketch the natureof the problem. Technology can facilitate thesolutions. Economics can point out the costs andthe benefits. Art engages the soul. It speaks to themoon-struck child in us. It whispers to the giraffes.Art looks like the perfect addition to ourinstruments of change.

And yet I want to resist the call to think of art thisway. Perhaps art can succeed where policysignally failed. Perhaps we can sketch andcompose and sculpt our way towards a lastingclimate treaty. Perhaps celebrity artists can lead usby example towards sustainability. But this line ofthinking falls into too many traps. That art hastraction in politics. That art speaks truth to power.That art is instrumental at all. Some of these thingsmay be partially true. But the biggest danger of alllies in subjugating artistic endeavour to reason.Because doing so risks robbing art of meaning.And meaning is something, I suspect, we’ll badlyneed in times to come.

Instead I believe we need to keep art free to play afar more vital role in the emotional fabric of ourlives. Three roles in fact: vision, resolution,

consolation. Let me finish by speaking brieflyabout each.

I’m fascinated by the proliferation of post-apocalyptic visions of the world. From RussellHoban’s Riddley Walker to David Mitchell’s CloudAtlas; from Saci Lloyd’s Carbon Diaries to Will Self’sBook of Dave. And perhaps most poignant of all,Cormack McCarthy’s elegiac The Road. Literatureis replete with memories of the future. And theastonishing thing is that, even for someone like mewho has worked for over two decades in thescience of the future, these stories have anextraordinary and unexpected power. Theyconnect me to the future in a way that scenariomodels somehow fail to do.

Perhaps even more striking are the visions of ourinner world. I think for instance of Rembrandt’sallegories, Chopin’s nocturnes, Rodin’s sculpture.In Rembrandt’s iconic Return of the Prodigal Sonthe father’s strangely feminine hands rest on theshoulders of the returning son, whose torn andtattered garments somehow radiate a golden light.In an amazing early sketch of the roadside scenein the parable of the Good Samaritan, he offers anextraordinarily intimate portrait of the altruistwithin. Beneath the noise of human strife,Rembrandt reminds us, lies a fragile interior spaceworth knowing about, worth protecting.

These visions are not always comfortable.

They’re not without conflict and suffering. But hereis another of art’s lessons. As an environmentalist,I’m struck by our tendency to flatten the conflictlandscape. To want to rush immediately to thepromised land. But as a playwright, I’m acutelyaware of the rules of the game. The essence ofdrama is conflict. The arc of the story requires aprotagonist, a call to arms, a quest, a series oftrials, a reversal, transformation, a journey home.Resolution through conflict. Art pays homage tothe nature of the journey, its sense of struggle. The power (and partiality) of resolution: not as aninstant, a comfortable future, but as a goal hard-earned, easily lost and almost always temporary.There are lessons here for climate activitists. Forall of us.

When the moon rises, said Lorca, the bells hangsilent and pathways appear impenetrable. The wayahead is gone. Our children turn to us and ask:where now? Which way do we go? What would ittake for us to admit that we don’t know theanswer? That we’re lost. That our best attempts tocombat climate change have failed. That oureconomies are bankrupt. That our technologiesare broken. That our politicians have let us down.That restraint lost it’s fight with desire, justice itsstruggle against inequity. What would it take for us



to admit that our vision of progress was an illusion.A dream we once had. A story we told our childrento stop them getting frightened by the moon.

This is where we need the consolation of art. Itsunderstanding of sorrow, failure, and loss. And itsintimations of transcendence. Nobody eatsoranges under the full moon, said Lorca. One musteat fruit that is green and cold. You’re not alone infear, he says. And in the same breath intimates: thetime for oranges will come again. Loss is only partof the arc of the story. Reversal is only temporary.Art teaches us to look beyond the glitter oftriumph and the shadow of disaster. And to detectbeneath the echoes of immortality.

Vision, resolution, consolation. These are the toolsfrom which to build a different future. Our ability tolive well, to flourish in less materialistic ways, is inessence an artistic endeavour. Sustainability is theart of living well, within the ecological limits of afinite planet. Art is more than an instrument in thisprocess. It’s the nature of it.

My son asked for a telescope on his eleventhbirthday and I was pleased – another battle wonagainst DS this or X-box that. Your children are notyour children; but still it gives you hope when theirdesire for understanding overcomes the forceslined up against them. He pointed his precioustelescope determinedly at the three quarter moon.I’m going there one day, he said, looking up at mesolemnly. His moon-eyes wide and knowing.

Take me with you, I said. Knowing that he cannot.

He just smiled.



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seeking inspiration: a scientist turns to thecultural sector

professor diana liverman

‘OUR DISMALPREDICTIONS ANDTECHNICAL DISCUSSIONOF UNCERTAINTIES SEEMDISTANT ANDINTANGIBLE FROMEVERYDAY LIVES;PERHAPS WE HAVEEXHAUSTED PUBLICWILLINGNESS TO LISTENTO OUR WARNINGS ANDOUR IDEAS FORALTERNATIVE LOWERCARBON FUTURES.’


I have been studying climate change for thirtyyears. During that time the community I belong tohas expanded in every dimension: size, scale,depth, scope and academic discipline. We havegathered ourselves into a global community ofscholars and offered our insights to decisionmakers through the United Nations and nationalacademies of sciences. The IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an extraordinaryconcentration of thousands of minds focusing on acommon purpose, to gather the best evidence ofthe physics, impacts, adaptation and mitigation ofclimate change. What we have discovered over aseries of four major studies since 1990 is thecertainty and impending risk of a warming earthcaused by a rapid increase in the concentrationsof greenhouse gas emissions. Yet despite all ourcollective brains, commitment, passion andcreativity, climate science is still failing to promptchange on anything like the scale required.

Effective communication of the risks andrelevance of climate change to people’s livesremains elusive. As scientific evidence hasaccumulated scientists have found themselves inthe precarious position of being the primarycommunicators to politicians, business, journalistsand citizens. Scientists gather evidence, undertakeanalysis and present the results. We are not alwaysthe best communicators of complex ideas,especially to lay audiences. The language andmethods of science are easily lost in translationand as a result climate science can sometimesseem deliberately arcane, beset with jargon andcaveats. We often hand over information withoutchecking to see if it is what decision makers needor presented in a form accessible to the intendedaudience.

Furthermore our dismal predictions and technicaldiscussion of uncertainties seem distant andintangible from everyday lives; perhaps we haveexhausted public willingness to listen to ourwarnings and our ideas for alternative lowercarbon futures. Within science there hassometimes been a tendency for natural scientiststo see social scientists as their public relationsconsultants to help the public better understandwhat scientists are telling them. But social sciencecan be just as academic in its efforts to explainhow human actions are changing the naturalenvironment, how human vulnerabilitiesexacerbate environmental impacts, and howhuman choices can move us towards sustainability.

In the last five years progress has been made inraising public awareness of climate change, butpopular support for action, and knowledge aboutimpacts, responsibilities and solutions is worryinglylow in many countries. Even in countries with awell informed and mainly committed media,enthusiasm for change is rare, patchy and prey tofashion. Furthermore, any modest progresstowards raising public awareness is undermined bydissent from a small number of climate sciencesceptics, which does not reflect the majority viewof scientific experts that climate change is a realthreat. We clearly need help communicating thebasic principles of climate change and inexplaining what it means for societies around theworld.

What is the message the climate science

community are trying to convey? Simply, theevidence produced by thousands of scientistsshows overwhelmingly that the earth’s climate israpidly changing and that this is almost certainlydue to human activity. Concentrations of heat-trapping gases, such as carbon dioxide andmethane, are increasing in the atmospherepredominantly from the burning of fossil fuels andindustrial agricultural practices. These increasedconcentrations of gases are causing global meantemperatures to rise, changing patterns ofprecipitation and wind as well as acidifying theoceans. The Earth’s natural processes areintimately – and marvellously – connected: achange in one area triggers a reaction somewhereelse, which in turn triggers another, and another.

Although the world came together in 1992 tocreate the UN Framework Convention on ClimateChange (UNFCCC), the efforts so far to reducegreenhouse gases have been completelyinadequate, with emissions increasing by 2-3% ayear. Hopes of keeping atmosphericconcentrations of gases below 450 parts permillion (ppm) – a level that might keep warmingaround 2°C – are receding as we have alreadyreached a level equivalent to about 430ppm. Last September I helped organise a conference atOxford University to discuss what a world mightlook like if we do not control emissions and by theend of the conference I was feeling verypessimistic. We heard that within a lifetime theworld may be 4°C warmer with glaciers and arcticsea ice significantly receding, and more regions ofthe world suffering searing heat waves, severedroughts, and intense, frequent storms withdevastating impacts for people and ecosystems.

seeking inspiration: a scientist turns to the cultural sector professor diana liverman


Climate scientists Steve Schneider and JohnSchellnhuber1 - my friends and my role models forcommunicating climate science - helped developthe ‘burning embers’ diagram to try and conveythe serious risks of climate change2. John has alsocaptured imagination through his research on‘tipping points’ – places where warming may flipthe earth system into rapid and irreversiblechanges such as the collapse of ice sheets or theloss of the Amazon forest. As Steve wrote recently,

…many unique or rare systems would probably belost, including Arctic sea ice, mountain-topglaciers, most threatened and endangeredspecies, coral-reef communities, and many high-latitude and high-altitude indigenous humancultures. People would be vulnerable in otherways too: Asian mega-delta cities would facerising sea levels and rapidly intensifying tropicalcyclones, creating hundreds of millions ofrefugees; valuable infrastructure such as theLondon or New York underground systems couldbe damaged or lost; the elderly would be at riskfrom unprecedented heat waves; and children,who are especially vulnerable to malnutrition inpoor areas, would face food shortages.3

Aside from communicating the reality of climatechange impacts and therefore urgency to act, thescientific community wants to communicate thatwe have the ingenuity and ability to reverse thepathway that humanity is currently on. We are byno means consigned to impending doom. Thereare many technological, political and socialchoices available to us from the simple action ofinsulating our homes to reconfiguring our powergeneration. However, for us to create a future inbalance with the world around us we must agreeshared values and responsibilities as well as thepolitical and economic framework andmechanisms for change to happen.

I wonder how many readers have acted on thisknowledge and shifted their lives, necessitatingsometimes awkward, limiting and lonely lifestyledecisions. Why haven’t I done more myself toreduce my travel or invest in making my housemore sustainable? The broad base of supportwhich translates into lifestyle change fails tomaterialise. It needs to be a good choice, ahappier offer. And for this we need goodgovernance and substantial finance, sure, but wealso need new ideas, shared values and visionaryleadership.

This is where arts and culture

come into their own. The arts have much to offerin catalysing understanding, dialogue and visionfor a world that will live within its ecological limits.Art has global reach and can open conversationsbetween generations, nations, and communities.Art can tell stories and give us a language throughwhich to express our emotional experiences. In anera when travel, media and the internet connectus internationally, the arts can rapidlycommunicate their messages to global audiencesin ways that erase national boundaries and createcommunities of common interest. Artisticendeavours can provoke us to question ourhumanity, create connections with others and withthe natural world, and offer us a vision foralternative futures. The arts spring from creativityand we need that human quality not just toproduce art but also to develop the future visionsfor engineers, designers, businesses, technologistsand scientists alike.

In my own life I have often turned to literature andmusic for solace and hope, as well as to betterunderstand other cultures and to escape from thedaily grind of teaching and research. But over thelast few years I have realised that arts and culturecan be partners in my climate change work andcan play an important role in galvanising a seriousresponse to the threat of climate change. Until recently I was the Director of theEnvironmental Change Institute (ECI) at OxfordUniversity. During my time there we formallypartnered with UK arts organisations CapeFarewell, Tipping Point, Julie’s Bicycle and RedRedemption as well as supporting a number ofartistic projects. Each organisation’s contributionto the climate change agenda is different, but incomplementary ways they are catalysing acoherent approach by the creative community –and their audiences – in the climate challenge. I see several important functions of thisconnection which is reflected in the organisationsand people I have had the privilege to work with.These are: open dialogue between scientists andartists; establishing exemplary practice andleadership; and creativity and creative works.

Both Tipping Point and Cape Farewell focus on thedialogue and the relationships between art andscience: Cape Farewell organises inspirationalencounters with the immediate effects of climatechange – field trips to the Arctic and the Amazonfor small groups of artists to join scientists


1 Steve Schneider has been involved in the Rothbury Music Festival, a festival creating interaction between scientists, musicians andaudiences on issues of sustainability. John Schellnhuber helped develop Tipping Point workshops and conferences between scientistsand artists in the UK and Germany. In addition, the Potsdam Institute is the research partner of the Green Music Initiative, Thema1, inGermany.2 pik-potsdam.de3 Steve Schneider, Nature 30 April 2009, 458:1104-5


monitoring the impacts of climate change in someof the world’s most vulnerable ecosystems.Tipping Point runs specialised workshops in whichthe latest science is explained and explored byartists and arts organisations. ECI has beeninvolved with Tipping Point since its inception andis excited to see this dialogue between scientistsand artists being extended internationally. It isthrough these opportunities for interactions thatideas for joint collaboration can emerge.

Both of these experiential responses have movedminds and opened hearts – I have seen it with myown eyes and felt it change my own perceptions.

Of course, we must be careful not to cast artisticcommunities only as skilled communicators ormarketers of climate change science andsolutions. We also need to ask them to share theirexperience of business practices that can helpbetter manage the planet. Our collaboration withJulie’s Bicycle is an illustration of how the culturalsector can demonstrate leadership by doing, nottalking. We have been able to help the musicindustry understand how the issue of climatechange directly relates to their business activities.Although the carbon footprint of the musicindustry is low compared to many other economicsectors, it has an impact potentially far beyond itsimmediate operations because of the power of itsartists to influence their audiences, especiallyyoung people. And Julie’s Bicycle is extending itswork beyond music and beyond the UK – there isno shortage of appetite from creative people toget on and do something, of that I am certain.

Our work with arts and culture also extends tovideo gaming: Red Redemption is creating gamesthat connect players with climate change issues.Scientists provide the data, models and decisionrules for simulating climate change impacts andnegotiations and the company develops anengaging interface that invites players to destroyor save the planet – hopefully learning more aboutclimate change and its solutions in the process. An early version of the game – Climate Challenge –was played by thousands of people on the BBCwebsite4.

It is interesting to note that all the contributors tothis collection of essays have been inspired by oneor more of these organisations but have movedforward in many different directions. Which isprecisely the point. None of these organisationsare overly prescriptive; they are all introducinginformation about the realities of climate changeand its consequences to the creative communityand hoping that this very creativity will respond in

exciting ways that produce some shifts in art andin practice.

Traces of the encounters between climate scienceand arts and culture were evident at the recentclimate summit in Copenhagen especially in theside events around the city that included orpresented artists and their work and in theannouncements of the UK music industry tointernational leaders about their commitments toreduce emissions. Although Copenhagen produceda weaker agreement than many had hoped for Iremain optimistic that the world can rise to thechallenge of creating a safe climate. Thenegotiations will continue over coming months.The consequences of inaction do not bear thinkingabout: so we must remain hopeful and energetic.

Nick Stern, a distinguished economist whoconvinced many that acting now on climatechange will be much less costly than dealing withthe damages later, has also remained positive,writing that international agreement

…will allow us to avoid the profound risks ofclimate change, to overcome poverty worldwideand to usher in an exciting new era of prosperitybased on sustainable low-carbon growth. Throughinnovation and investment in new greener andmore energy efficient technologies in the nexttwo or three decades, we can create the mostdynamic period of growth in economic history.And what is more, a low-carbon world will also bequieter, cleaner, more energy-secure and morebiologically diverse. Let us not allow mistrust,pessimism and lack of ambition to prevent usfrom achieving these aims. Instead let us havereal vision and leadership in both developing anddeveloped countries which seize theopportunities… for us, our children and futuregenerations.

The commitment of governments, businesses

and individuals is growing daily. The vulnerableisland country of the Maldives is going carbonneutral, Mexico and other developing countriesare limiting their growth in emissions, Wal-Mart andTesco say they will reduce emissions in theirsupply chains, the finance community is seekingclimate friendly investments and thousands ofpeople in the UK have promised to cut theiremissions by 10% in 2010. Although we are stillsome considerable way from a legally bindinginternational agreement to combat climatechange, governments are developing regulationsand incentives to drive forward a low carbonsociety. Businesses, especially large businesses,are increasingly pre-emptive of regulation and are


4 http://makesyouthink.net/games/climate-challenge/


making concerted efforts to cut emissions. Andcitizen movements, such as Transition Towns in theUK that put sustainability at the core ofcommunities, are gaining momentum.

Stern has noted climate change is the ultimatecollective action problem because the solutionsrequire many to act. So given the challenges ofcommunicating the issues, the search for creativesolutions, and the need to broaden the scope ofbusiness responses to climate change there arepowerful reasons to engage the arts and thecultural sector. We need arts and culture morethan ever to be a hugely contributing voice:commenting on, shaping, consolidating andmagnifying the positive responses of governments,business and citizens.

From my perspective as a scientist the arts seemable to provoke and inspire reactions, values andpractices that could move global society to a moresustainable future. The arts have the potential tolead a response to climate change through bothcreativity and exemplary practice. The arts bringtogether those individuals who live for the practiceof creativity, inspiration and ideas – and who oftenchallenge the status quo through critique andalternative visions. The arts have begun their ownefforts to catalyse the cultural shift ofconsciousness that will put sustainability at theheart of society. Now the early arts adopters needto scale up internationally, and perhaps then theiraudiences will begin to perceive what scientistshave failed to express.

Scientists can listen to our colleagues in the artsto better understand their audiences, know what isuseful information and research, and to make surecommunication is not one way. We must be carefulnot to cast the arts and cultural sectors only asskilled communicators and marketers of climatechange science and solutions, but also to sharetheir insights into human emotions, cultures,technologies and business practices that can helpbetter manage the planet. And getting out amessage on climate change is not simply down tothe artists or art. We all need the active support ofinternational cultural structures and institutionsthat support the arts, foster cultural relations andhave global reach.

Building the trust to collaborate takes time, as wellas financial support for what may sometimesappear to be risky scientific, creative or businessinitiatives, but the immediacy with which deepaction is needed means that we do not have timeto lose.



kt tunstallA singer-songwriter and guitarist born in Scotland, KT burst intothe public eye with a live solo performance of her song “BlackHorse and the Cherry Tree” on Later...with Jools Holland. Herdebut album was released in late 2004 and reached Number 3 inthe Album charts. The album also scooped a nomination for theMercury Music Prize in 2005, and 2006 she received three BRITnominations, successfully winning the award for Best BritishFemale Solo Artist. KT won the coveted Ivor Novello Award forBest Song, for “Suddenly I See”, and a Q Award for Track of theYear for “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree”.

KT’s home has undergone an eco-transformation – her new studioand loft extension uses reclaimed wood, sheep’s wool wallinsulation, spray taps and solar panels. KT was invited to journeyto the arctic with Cape Farewell in September 2008, a UK basedarts organisation bringing artists, scientists and communicatorstogether to instigate a cultural response to climate change. She isleading ‘GreenmyBand’ which will offer advice and support toartists acting on climate change working with Julie’s Bicycle.

professor diana livermanProfessor Diana Liverman (PhD UCLA, MA Toronto, BA London)Diana Liverman holds appointments at Oxford University and theUniversity of Arizona. At Oxford she is visiting Professor ofEnvironmental Policy and Development and affiliated with theEnvironmental Change Institute (ECI), the School of Geographyand Environment and Linacre College. She is the former directorof ECI. At the University of Arizona she is Professor of Geographyand Development and Co-director of a new university-wideInstitute of the Environment. Her leadership roles include co-chairing the U.S. National Academies Panel on Informing America’sClimate Choices, chairing the scientific advisory committee of theInternational Global Environmental Change and Food Securityproject and editing the Annual Review of Environment andResources.

Her main research interests include climate impacts, vulnerabilityand adaptation, and climate policy especially the role of business,NGOs and the developing world in both mitigation and adaptation.She also works on the political economy and political ecology ofenvironmental management in the Americas, especially in Mexico.She has made substantial contributions to our understanding ofvulnerability to climate change and to developing larger researchagendas on the social sciences of global change. Diana sits on theboards of Cape Farewell, Julie’s Bicycle and Tipping Point.

professor tim jackson Tim Jackson is Professor of Sustainable Development at theUniversity of Surrey and Director of the Research group onLifestyles, Values and Environment (RESOLVE). Funded by theEconomic and Social Research Council, RESOLVE explores thelinks between lifestyles, societal values and the environment. Inparticular, RESOLVE aims to provide evidence-based advice topolicy-makers in the UK and elsewhere who are seeking tounderstand and to influence people’s energy-related behavioursand practices. Since 2004 Tim has been Economics Commissioneron the UK Sustainable Development Commission and is the authorof their report, now updated and expanded in the book ProsperityWithout Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet (Earthscan 2009). Inaddition to his academic work he is an award-winning playwrightwith numerous radio-writing credits for the BBC.

contributors


antony gormleyOver the last 25 years Antony Gormley has revitalised thehuman image in sculpture through a radical investigation ofthe body as a place of memory and transformation, usinghis own body as subject, tool and material. Since 1990Gormley has expanded his concern with the humancondition to explore the collective body and therelationship between self and other in large-scaleinstallations. He has created some of the most ambitiousand iconic works of contemporary British sculpture,including Field, Angel of the North at Gateshead, QuantumCloud on the Thames in London, and Another Place, nowpermanently sited on Crosby Beach near Liverpool. His work has been exhibited extensively at majorinternational galleries and museums including the Tate,Hayward, Whitechapel and Serpentine galleries in the UK;the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Los AngelesCounty Museum of Art; the Louisiana Museum inHumlebaek and the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin.Antony Gormley was born in London in 1950.

british councilThe British Council is the United Kingdom's organisation forinternational cultural relations and educationalopportunities. While fostering inter-cultural understanding,positive social change and supporting the UK’s creativeand knowledge economy, the British Council has also madeclimate change a strategic priority; assisting the UKGovernment’s international objectives to lead a fastertransition to sustainable, low carbon economies.

jay griffithsJay Griffiths is the author of Pip Pip: A Sideways Look atTime which won her the Barnes & Noble Discover award forthe best new non-fiction writer published in the USA. Hersecond book, Wild: An Elemental Journey was shortlistedfor both the Orwell prize and for the World Book Day award.It was the winner of the inaugural 2007 Orion Book Awardin the USA. She has recently completed a short novel to bepublished in 2010, and written articles and columns forpublications including The Guardian, the London Review ofBooks and The Idler. She has broadcast on Radio 4 and theWorld Service. She lives in Wales.

julie’s bicyclejulie’s bicycle is a not for profit company committed totackling climate change in the creative industries. Theorganisation is a broad coalition of industry, science andenergy experts who have come together to find the mosteffective ways of reducing carbon emissions and promotingenvironmental sustainability. Julie’s Bicycle researchespriority areas which have a significant impact, includingrecording, touring, venues and events. The team provideadvice and support, audits and tools to help companiesdevelop more climate responsible businesses.

appendicesi) overview of UK cultural policy and climate change 29

ii) resources and tools 37

iii) glossary 39



sir nick serota

director of tate

‘WE SHOULD ALL NOTEOUR RESPONSIBILITY TOHAND OVER OURINSTITUTIONS IN ASUSTAINABLE SHAPE,WHETHER THAT IS ABOUTENERGY CONSUMPTIONOR THE WAY OURINSTITUTIONS ARE RUN;AND UNLESS WERECOGNISE THAT CLIMATECHANGE IS A MAJORINTEREST FOR OURPUBLIC, ESPECIALLYYOUNG PEOPLE, WE WILLFORFEIT OUR RESPECT INRELATION TO THATPUBLIC.’State of the Arts conference, London, January 2010

This overview has focused on UKcultural bodies to provide a context forBritish Council policy thinking and tolook at one country in depth. The UK isthe first country to adopt a ClimateChange Act and legally binding carbonbudgets; this survey reveals how suchnational policy is beginning to work itsway through to the sector-specificlevel.

The starting point is the governmentDepartment for Culture, Media andSport (DCMS). The DCMS will beresponsible for achieving emissionsreductions within their sectors, in linewith targets set out in the five yearlycarbon budgets. A carbon reductionplan is expected in Spring 2010 andDCMS have produced a sustainabledevelopment action plan (published in2008). More than 60 bodies receivefunding from the DCMS. We highlightthose that are responsible for providingfunding, setting policy or guidance.Therefore we do not discuss in anydetail the practices undertaken by artsand cultural institutions that are directlysponsored as non-departmental publicbodies (NDPBs).

Climate change policy and practicewithin the cultural sector focuseslargely on process (DCMS, UK FilmCouncil (UKFC)), the built environment(Arts Council England (ACE),Commission for Architecture and theBuilt Environment (CABE), EnglishHeritage, Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)),procurement (CABE) and artisticprogramming (UKFC, ACE, DesignCouncil).

Most initiatives are still voluntary, or ‘forguidance’ rather than mandatory. TheDCMS and the cultural bodies it fundsdirectly are now required to internallyreduce emissions but this requirementis not yet being passed on morebroadly.

The sector’s special capacity to engageand influence the public is alsoacknowledged. CABE argues that artsbuildings should be required to gobeyond minimum standards as they arein a position to showcase their actions.More than many other economicsectors, the steps taken in the culturaland creative industries are on display.

Climate change mitigation andadaptation require a collective shift inconsciousness and behaviour. Thecultural sector is a primary means bywhich to reflect, comment on andencourage this shift.

National (UK)

Department for Culture,

Media & Sport (DCMS)

DCMS is the central governmentdepartment responsible for arts,culture, sport, museums, galleries,libraries, creative industries, film, thehistoric environment, Royal Parks andthe 2012 Olympic Games & ParalympicGames. It oversees 55 public bodies,including 46 non-departmental publicbodies (NDPBs) responsible fordelivering its aims and objectives.DCMS Sustainable Development ActionPlan 2008-11 sets out the department’sresponse to climate change and otheraspects of environmental, social andeconomic sustainability.

Internally, DCMS is taking steps toreduce the carbon impact of itsoperations. Like all governmentdepartments, it must meet targets setout in Sustainable Operations on theGovernment Estate (SOGE), andparticipate in the Carbon ReductionCommitment (CRC). DCMS property isbenchmarked and must meet EnergyPerformance Certificate (EPC) andDisplay Energy Certificate (DEC)standards. Management informationand data systems have beenestablished in order to comply with ISO14001 and the Carbon Trust Standard(formerly the Energy EfficiencyAccreditation Scheme). Environmentalchampions have been appointed toraise staff awareness. DCMS Sustainable Development ActionPlan 2008-11 (Aug ‘08)

Research was commissioned in2007/08 to inform the Action Plan,including a review of existing literatureon the effect of climate change oncultural and sporting assets, and acarbon footprint assessment of DCMSand 18 of its sponsored bodies andcultural institutions. These indicatedthat the evidence base was relatively

limited, and that many of the DCMSbodies were unable to provideadequate information (within theresearch timeframe) to assess carbonimpacts. A conference on climatechange was also organised in early2008 to raise awareness and buildconsensus among ‘DCMS family’organisations.Full Review of the Literature Consistingof 10 Matrices on the Effect of ClimateChange on Cultural and Sporting Assets.(March 08), DCMS Group CarbonFootprint Assessment (April 08), DCMSFamily Climate Change ConferenceReport (Jan 08)

As a result of these initiatives, theDCMS Sustainable Development Forumand Museums and Galleries EnergyForum were established, withrepresentatives of sponsored bodiesand institutions, to share informationand best practice. A ‘Pathways toSustainability’ section hostsinformation links on the DCMS website,including a carbon managementguidance tool. http://bit.ly/400Vap

NDPBs are responsible for developingtheir own action plans and targets, andconducting their own reporting –including with regard to energy andutilities. As outlined below, the extentto which different bodies are achievingthese aims is variable. Technically,many sponsored bodies (with largerbuildings, estates, energy use) shouldalso meet the same governmenttargets as DCMS under SOGE, EPD, DECetc. It is not clear to what extent all arecurrently engaged.

Most of these measures relate primarilyto internal processes and operations ofNDPBs and institutions.

Climate Change does not featureprominently in the major DCMS policydocuments which set out theGovernment’s strategic aims andobjectives for the cultural sector andcreative industries in the UK. Forinstance, the McMaster Review of artspolicy and funding was published in2008 after an extensive consultation,and warmly welcomed by many in thecultural sector, but it makes no mentionof climate change. Similarly, climate

appendix i) overview of UK cultural policy and climate change


change is barely mentioned in eitherthe Creative Britain report of 2008 or in2009’s Digital Britain report. Emissionsassociated with digital information aresignificant. Supporting Excellence in the Arts(2008), Creative Britain: New Talents forthe New Economy (2008), Digital Britain:Final Report (2009)

DCMS has published an action plan forsustainable tourism which includes ashort section outlining tourism’s impacton climate change. This encourages thetourism sector to engage more fullywith sustainability agendas, andprovides information on a range ofrelevant resources and initiatives, suchas the Adapting to Climate ChangeProgramme (ACC) and UK ClimateImpacts Programme. The action planadvocates voluntary rather thanmandatory action, except wheretourism is already governed by existinglaws (e.g. Climate Change Act). Sustainable Tourism in England: Aframework for action - Meeting the keychallenges (2009), http://bit.ly/MjK0l

Department of Energy and Climate

Change (DECC)

DECC is the central governmentdepartment responsible for energy andclimate change mitigation policy.

DECC have recently undertaken aninvestigation of climate change and thecultural and creative sector. Undertakenby artist Keith Khan it investigates therole the arts can play in communicatingclimate change to the public.

The report will identify where DECCshould work more closely with thecultural and creative industries to helpits climate change objectives, inparticular where DECC can leverageleadership, partnerships, expertise, andfunds to support the sector’s responseto climate change.Climate Change and the Cultural andCreative Sector, internal publicationonly, January 2010

DECC’s Act on Copenhagen campaign inthe lead-up to COP15 included a‘culture’ strand, acknowledging the rolethe arts, culture and creative industriescan play in reaching out to society and

“mainstreaming the climate changemessage.” The campaign launched atthe Isle of Wight Festival 2009.actoncopenhagen.decc.gov.uk/

Arts Council England (ACE)

ACE is the national developmentagency for the arts in England. It is agovernment sponsored non-departmental public body with anational headquarters and nine regionaloffices. It supports visual arts, music,theatre, dance, literature, carnival anddigital art, and is responsible fordistributing National Lottery fundedgrants to artists and organisations.

In January 2010 ACE launched itsconsultation Achieving Great Art forEveryone which builds on previous workto define how it will work with artistsand arts organisations to createpositive change for the arts over thenext ten years. The consultation’s visionfor the future includes an arts sectorthat is sustainable, resilient andinnovative. artscouncil.org.uk/consultation

This will be a period for which, itacknowledges, climate change will becentral to all our thinking. “Artists andorganisations are playing an inspiringrole as society prepares to meet thechallenge of a low-carbon economy –now viewed by many as the singlebiggest issue humankind faces.However, the need to adapt capitalinfrastructure and to evolve newapproaches to touring and internationalwork are challenges that are onlybeginning to be addressed.” Consultation preface, Dame Liz Forganartscouncil.org.uk/consultation/preface

In parallel with the launch of itsconsultation, Arts Council England hasrecognised the significance ofenvironmental sustainability for itselfand the arts in England. ACE iscommitted to working with others todevelop sustainable practice within thearts; the sustainable operation of itsown buildings and processes;supporting and championing the arts’role in communicating and exploringthe issue

ACE has funded arts organisations and

individual projects focused on climate,e.g. Tipping Point, Cape Farewell, Julie’sBicycle and Arcola Theatre. It providesthe online resource Arts Energy, a self-assessment efficiency toolkit for artsorganisations. The RSA Arts & Ecologycentre is a partnership with Arts CouncilEngland.artsenergy.org.ukrsaartsandecology.org.uk

Internally ACE is improving its energymanagement procedures and submitteda carbon footprint measurement of1400 tonnes (t) of Carbon Dioxide(CO2), equivalent to 2.18t per full-timeequivalent for the OGC propertybenchmarking exercise 2008/2009.ACE measures and reduces energy,consumables, water, waste, travel andstaff engagement in all its offices,utilising video conferencing to reducetravel. Offices over 1000 m2 haveDisplay Energy Certificates (DECs). In2009 Arts Council England’s Yorkshireoffice was awarded two Green BusinessAwards. ACE has signed up to the 10:10campaign.OGC Property Benchmarking Service2008/2009 Performance StatementPrepared by IPD

ACE Trustees and Management alsoaddress ‘Responsibility Towards theEnvironment and SustainableDevelopment’ in the Annual Review2009.

‘Best practice in the management ofenergy use’ has been introduced as acriteria in grant assessments forregularly funded organisations (RFOs).

With Commission for Architecture andthe Built Environment, (CABE), ACE haspublished a practical guide todeveloping capital projects for thecultural sector that are sustainable andenergy efficient in every respect (seebelow). Guidance for Arts Council England leadofficers on funding agreement 2009/10–2010/11

On an individual, project-by-projectbasis, ACE regional offices havesupported a range of environmentally-themed art works, and continue to doso.


British Council

The British Council is the UnitedKingdom's organisation for internationalcultural relations and educationalopportunities. While fostering inter-cultural understanding, positive socialchange and supporting the UK’screative and knowledge economy, theBritish Council has also made climatechange a strategic priority; assistingthe UK Government’s internationalobjectives to lead a faster transition tosustainable, low carbon economies.

To support this priority the BritishCouncil is developing a newprogramme, Arts, Climate Change andSustainability, which aims to harnessand extend the interest inenvironmental sustainability shown bythe UK arts communities and promotebest practice internationally. Supportfor an international series of TippingPoint conferences for artists andscientists, and Julie’s Bicycle researchinto the carbon impacts of UK theatretouring are early examples of this. Theprogramme will include support forartistic work that inspires anddemystifies the climate change debate,dissemination of industry best practiceand the development of internationalstrategy to support this work incollaboration with other fundingagencies. britishcouncil.org/climatechange.htm

At the operational level the BritishCouncil have developed and maintain aformal certified environmentalmanagement system for its threelargest UK premises. The principles ofenvironmental management and theobjectives of the British Council will beapplied to all other UK premises and aframework for environmentalmanagement (EnvironmentalFramework Tool) has been rolled out totheir global overseas estate.

Commission for Architecture and the

Built Environment (CABE)

CABE is the UK government’s adviseron architecture, urban design andpublic space.

Sustainability is one of CABE’s ninecore areas of work. It aims to ‘embed

sustainable design’ in all of its work,including its Design Review function(e.g. assessing plans for 2012 Olympicvenues). Much of its other work aroundenergy and sustainability centres onresearch, disseminating best practiceand information resources.Sustainability is also central to severalmain programme strands, includingsustainable cities, public spaces, betterpublic buildings, schools, home-buildingand eco-towns.

Internally, CABE has a particularlyadvanced environmental strategy.Rigorous and detailed sustainabilityaudits (carbon footprint and widerecological impacts) carried out in 2006and 2008 also took into account itsinfluence on stakeholders, for examplethrough procurement. CABE aims to becarbon neutral by 2012 through acombination of emissions reductionsand compensation via funds for UK-based, building and energy-focusedprojects. cabe.org.uk/corporate/sustainability-plan

It published a briefing on SustainableDesign, Climate Change and the BuiltEnvironment in 2007 – stating that the“aim is to frame everything we dowithin the context of sustainable designand climate change.” The briefing set 8objectives designed to promote thisstance for 2007-2009, and called ongovernment to extend legislation, buildmore stringent sustainability criteriainto public contracts, demand bettermonitoring data, local authorityplanning and joint working with theprivate sector. CABE also co-organisedthe first Climate Change Festival in2008. Sustainable Design, Climate Change andthe Built Environment (2007).http://bit.ly/3lpV0P climatechange-festival.org.uk/

CABE produced Building Excellence inthe Arts with ACE, a guide todeveloping sustainable culturalbuildings. The guide stresses the needfor sustainability to be integral to everyaspect of building design, materials,life-long energy requirements, usage,management etc. It argues that artsbuildings should meet higher standardsthan minimum building regulations in

order to showcase best practice. Building Excellence in the Arts (2009)http://bit.ly/2af6Dr

Design Council

The Design Council is the nationalstrategic body for design in the UK.Joint responsibility of Department forBusiness Information and Skills (BIS)and DCMS.

Although climate change is mentionedin the foreword of the current DesignCouncil delivery plan, it is notreferenced as a major element of theorganisation’s five main objectives.However, Design Council believes that‘good design is sustainable design’, andthis should have a role in broaderconcerns, such as the role of design inmeeting the UK’s social and economicchallenges.Good Design Plan: National designstrategy and Design Council deliveryplan 2008-11

Some sustainable design resources andcase studies are provided on theDesign Council website, and it hasfunded sustainable design projects inthe past (for example this was anaspect of the ‘Designs of The Time’programme)designcouncil.org.uk dott07.com

English Heritage

English Heritage is the UKgovernment’s statutory adviser on thehistoric environment (in England).

Along with CABE, English Heritage issubstantially addressing climatechange.

Climate Change and the HistoricEnvironment (2008) outlines thepotential risks to the historicenvironment (e.g. from coastalflooding), and advocates strong action.It aims to use its own sites to trialmitigation technologies and strategiesand demonstrate these to the public(for example alternative energy).English Heritage advises on optimisingefficiency of old buildings withoutcompromising historic significance.Climate Change & The HistoricEnvironment (2008) http://bit.ly/1z0LRJ


In addition the English Heritage websiteprovides more detailed research andguidance on specific issues, such asmicro-generation and solar thermalenergy.http://bit.ly/12F7vE

English Heritage delivers the HistoricEnvironment Local Management (HELM)programme, providing advice on themanagement of local historicenvironments by local authorities andothers, including on energy efficiencyand environmental sustainability. Itprovides information and advice onenergy efficiency in older homes andhistoric buildings through a webresource with energy provider E-On.helm.org.uk

English Heritage works closely with theHeritage Lottery Fund (see below) andNational Trust on climate change andenvironmental sustainability.climatechangeandyourhome.org.uk

Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)

The Heritage Lottery Fund distributesNational Lottery funded grants to local,regional and national heritage projectsin the UK, including those relating tohistoric buildings and monuments.

Sustainable development is one offifteen ‘policy directions’ set for thelottery distributor by government.Climate change is identified as one ofthe key challenges for the heritagesector, and environmental impact anduse of resources have recently beenstrengthened as assessment criteria infunding applications. Business Plan 2009, Annual Report2008-09

Planning Greener Heritage Projectsoutlines a range of factors that capitalprojects funded by HLF should addresslong-term, including energy efficiency,renewable energy, water, buildingmaterials, construction waste, soil,timber, biodiversity and visitortransport. There are no minimumrequired standards for buildings inconservation areas but grant applicantsmust address these issues in detail,Larger capital projects must preparemanagement and maintenance plans,

including environmental monitoring andcontrol. All new build projects mustexceed minimum statutory BuildingRegulations for energy efficiency;refurbishment projects should aim tomeet at least minimum BuildingRegulations for energy efficiency,unless these pose an overriding threatto the building’s cultural significance.Planning Greener Heritage Projects(2009)http://bit.ly/9sAZU

HLF will consider funding up-front costsfor more sustainable options (e.g.energy) even if there are cheaperalternatives.

Museums Associations

An independent membershipassociation for sector professionals,institutions and corporates working inUK museums, galleries and heritage. Sustainability and museums, Report onconsultation (2009) http://bit.ly/5KQTE3

In summer 2008 the MuseumsAssociation ran a consultation aboutsustainability and museums. Theconsultation focused on sustainabilityin its broadest economic, social andenvironmental sense. Discussions withover 600 individuals led to thedevelopment of 11 key sustainabilityprinciples for museums, a sustainabilitychecklist from which museums canbuild an action plan, and thedevelopment of ongoing resources.

The Museums Association has alsodeveloped an internal action plan,formed a staff group to championsustainability, and senior managers arelooking in detail at energy use, print,paper and waste.

Museums, Libraries and Archives

Council (MLA)

The MLA is the UK government’sstrategic body for museums, galleries,libraries and archives.Corporate Plan 2008-11

Sustainability is central to much of theMLA’s work with a strong emphasis onsocial and economic sustainability. Itsstrategic priorities are ‘Learning &Skills’, ‘Communities’ and ‘Excellence’.

MLA co-funds an online resource‘Designing Libraries’, which includeslinks (mostly external) to informationabout energy efficiency andsustainable design. designinglibraries.org.uk

Although MLA does not provide strongstrategic leadership on the subject,many individual museums, galleries andlibraries are responding to the climatechange and energy efficiency agendas.These include many of the majornational institutions, which are fundeddirectly by DCMS, such as the ScienceMuseum, National Portrait Gallery,Imperial War Museum, V&A and Tate.The South Kensington Low CarbonFutures initiative aims to reduce carbonemissions by 10% between 2005 and2009 across the 35 hectare SouthKensington cultural and museum siteincluding the Natural History Museum,Science Museum, V&A and ImperialCollege as well as the Royal Albert Hall.

National Museum Directors’

Conference

The NMDC represents the leaders ofthe UK’s national collections and majorregional museums. These comprise thenational museums in England, Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland, fourleading regional museums, the BritishLibrary, National Library of Scotland,and the National Archives. While itsmembers are funded by government,the NMDC is an independent,nongovernmental organisation.

In responding to climate change,NMDC has focused on the uniquechallenge museums face addressingsustainability while maintaining optimalenvironmental conditions forcollections. One of the main obstaclesis the requirement to adhere tointernational standards, which do notreflect the realities of different climaticconditions or needs of differentobjects. To achieve real change, thisissue calls for not just national, butinternational cooperation. To addressthis the NMDC convened a group ofconservators from across itsmembership to identify issues andareas for concern and to set out howan international group of conservators


might liaise. NMDC has developed a setof interim guiding principles forrethinking policy and practice whichmembers have adopted, signaling amove towards a less energy intensiveapproach to collections care. The needfor further research was also identified,and priorities set out at a series ofdiscussions conducted with theNational Archives, with funding from theArts and Humanities Research Council.A report is expected in 2010 from theNational Archives. http://tinyurl.com/ygfmof4

RSA (The Royal Society for the

Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture

and Commerce)

The RSA develops and promotes newways of thinking about human fulfilmentand social progress through research,projects and providing platforms forleading experts to share new ideas oncontemporary issues.

The RSA established the RSA Arts &Ecology Centre in 2005 to catalyse,publicise, challenge and support artistswho are responding to theunprecedented environmentalchallenges of our era. artsandecology.org.uk

Between 2006 and 2008 the RSAdeveloped Carbon Limited. The projectexplored the role personal carbontrading could play in stimulating thebehaviour change necessary to reducethe UK’s carbon consumption. It hassince been handed over to the LocalGovernment Information Unit (LGIU).A persuasive climate: Personal tradingand changing lifestyles (2008)http://bit.ly/8xdh9O

The RSA Arts & Ecology Centre isworking with Peterborough’s Citizens ofthe Future project, where a particularlyforward-thinking administration,working with Arts Council East, issetting itself the goal of transformingitself into a flagship of sustainability.The RSA Arts & Ecology Centre willfacilitate an understanding of how artcan help people re-envision a place,and transform people’s fundamentalrelationships within it.

Sport England

Sport England distributes governmentand National Lottery funding to supportparticipation in sport in localcommunities.

Sport England states that it ‘supportsenvironmental objectives and havestrengthened the environmental advicein our published design guidance’. Sport England Annual Review 2008-09

One of Sport England’s roles is toprovide advice to local authorities andothers on the development of newsports facilities and infrastructure.Environmental sustainability is one ofthe principles informing how SportEngland engages with the spatialplanning system. It works with partnersand advises them on how to buildenvironmental sustainability goals(among other aims) into regional spatialstrategies.Spatial Planning for Sport and ActiveRecreation (2005)

Sport England provides design adviceto those planning new sports facilities,including guidance on environmentallysustainable buildings, taking intoaccount issues such as design,materials, energy, heating, managementand transport.Environmental Sustainability: PromotingSustainable Design for Sport (2007)http://bit.ly/1JhDJq

2012 London Olympic and

Paralympic Games

The Government Olympic Executive(GOE) is part of the DCMS and exists toprovide oversight and assurance of theentire Olympic and ParalympicProgramme. A commitment tosustainability was a key element ofLondon’s Olympic bid, inspired by theWWF/BioRegional concept of ‘OnePlanet Living’. The London 2012Sustainability Plan sets out theorganisers’ objectives across a numberof cross-cutting themes, includingclimate change, waste and biodiversity,as well as inclusion and healthy living.These are applied to every aspect ofthe Games – design and build of theOlympic park, procurement and

materials, transport, venue operations,catering, legacy planning etc. andsuccess will be measured by anindependent Commission for aSustainable London 2012 – the firstbody of its kind in the history of theGames. Towards One Planet: London 2012Sustainability Plan (2007)

The Cultural Olympiad is a programmeof cultural performances, activities andevents throughout the UK to celebratethe Olympics, taking place between2008 and 2012. All projects mustembrace the Cultural Olympiad values,and adopt three of its six themes, oneof which is to ‘raise environmentalsustainability, health & well-being issuesthrough culture and sport’. http://bit.ly/91rqBI

Some projects selected for ‘ArtistsTaking the Lead’ (part of the 2012Cultural Olympiad) reflect climatechange and environmental issues,notably nowhereisland by Alex Hartleyand Flow by The Owl Project/Ed Carter.artiststakingthelead.org.uk/

The Theatres Trust

The National Advisory Body forTheatres in the UK, the Theatres Trustworks to protect theatre buildings bypromoting their importance andproviding advice on planning, building,restoration, development and use forthe benefit of the nation.

The Theatres Trust is responsible forensuring the theatres sector’scompliance with EU legislation on theEnergy Performance of Buildings(Display Energy Certificates and EnergyPerformance Certificates).

A conference on Building SustainableTheatres in 2008 was followed byparticipation in the Green Theatresprogramme supported by the Mayor ofLondon. With funding from theEuropean Regional Development Fund(ERDF) via the London DevelopmentAgency (LDA), the Theatres Trust hasalso developed ECOVENUE, a theatre-specific, environmental businesssupport project for 48 theatre andperforming arts venues across London.


It aims to achieve quantifiableimprovements in the environmentalperformance of London’s theatres.Theatres will be provided with advice todevelop Environmental Policies andachieve Display Energy Certificates(DECs). Savings made will help todeliver the Mayor of London’s GreenTheatre Plan, which aims to helptheatres achieve reductions in carbonemissions by 60% from 1990 levels by2025.ECOVENUE http://bit.ly/8uoITN

UK Film Council (UKFC)

The UK Film Council is the Governmentbacked lead agency for film in the UKensuring that the economic, culturaland educational aspects of film areeffectively represented at home andabroad.

UKFC website states that ‘as a Non-Departmental Public Body, the UKFC isrequired by its sponsoring departmentin government, the DCMS, to put inplace policies to reduce its ownreliance on energy from fossil-fuelsources and to reduce its waste as partof its contribution to the Government’sSustainable Development Action Plan.’

As with other lottery distributors, UKFCmust take into account policydirections defined by the Secretary ofState for Culture, Media and Sport.These were updated in 2008 andinclude ‘the need to further theobjectives of sustainable development’.UKFC states that it is supporting digitaltechnology, and that ‘on locationfilming of any Lottery-funded film,producers are expected to be sensitiveto the needs of the environment andthe use of natural resources’. UK Film Council Group and LotteryAnnual Report and Financial Statements2008/09 (2009)

The UKFC commissioned research in2007, which focused on theimplications of climate change andmade recommendations for anenvironmental strategy for UK film.These included: adopting internal UKFCenvironmental management systemwith long-term goals; working with thefilm industry to define a strategy for

environmental sustainability, withtargets; identifying best practice andknowledge base – e.g. green filmingguides; providing training – e.g. to allUKFC-funded productions; developing aBSI standard for film.UK Film Council Group and LotteryAnnual Report and Financial Statements2008/09 (2009)

Since then, UKFC has carried out aninternal audit and formed industryworking groups for each part of thesupply chain. Links to useful resourcesare provided on its website, plus ashort 3-page briefing note, Change theWay You Work. An officialEnvironmental Strategy for UK Film isyet to emerge, and environmentalconsiderations do not appear to bebuilt into funding criteria. Change the Way You Workukfilmcouncil.org.uk/14347

UKFC has funded productions thataddress climate change. For example,in 2008/09, it awarded £99,360 toDogwoof distributors towards FrannyArmstrong’s The Age of Stupid.

UK Sport

UK Sport works in partnership with thehome country sports councils andother agencies to lead sport in the UKto world-class success. UK Sport isresponsible for managing anddistributing public investment and is astatutory distributor of funds raised bythe National Lottery.

UK Sport produced PracticalEnvironmental Guidelines for venuemanagers and event organisers on howto stage a ‘green’ event, drawing fromUK Sport’s experience supporting thestaging of numerous Commonwealth,European and World Championships onUK soil over the last few years. Practical Environmental GuidelinesPublished 2002 (hard copy only)

UK Sport has undertaken variouspieces of research to evaluate theimpact of major sporting events at aregional and national level. The nextreport will include a consideration ofenvironmental issues alongside theeconomic and social impacts.

Visual Arts and Galleries Association

(VAGA)

VAGA is a leading independent bodyand UK-wide professional networkpromoting the visual arts andrepresenting the interests oforganisations and individuals working inall aspects of the presentation anddevelopment of the visual arts.http://bit.ly/8Vplim

VAGA has committed to addressingclimate change with its members andits own day to day practices. Itestablished a Climate Change and theVisual Arts Working Party in late 2009and is developing a programme ofpractical seminars for its members. It isalso working with Julie’s Bicycle toreview sustainable practice within thevisual arts sector.

VisitBritain

VisitBritain is Britain's national tourismagency, responsible for marketingBritain overseas and within the UKitself.

Sustainability is a key policy area forVisitBritain. It has partnered with DCMSand VisitLondon in the development ofa new sustainable tourism frameworkwhich encompasses economic, socialand environmental considerations.Winning: A tourism strategy for 2012and beyond published the results of theconsultation on the new framework.The framework itself includes anupdate to the National SustainableTourism Indicators first published in2006, which include carbon emissions,energy efficiency and transport.Targets may be considered when theindicators are next reviewed in 2012.Winning: A tourism strategy for 2012and beyond (2009) http://bit.ly/6Z9CEc

Sustainable Tourism in England: Aframework for action - Meeting the keychallenges (2009) http://bit.ly/MjK0l


Devolved Nations –Scotland

Scottish Arts Council (SAC)

The lead body for the funding,development and advocacy of the artsin Scotland.

SAC is due to become part of the newbody Creative Scotland in 2010.

SAC and the planned Creative Scotlandhave aligned their priorities to five ofthe National Outcomes in the ScottishGovernment’s National PerformanceFramework. One of these is to ‘reducethe local and global environmentalimpact of our consumption andproduction’. SAC is working with thecultural sector in 2009/10 to ‘developmeaningful measures, indicators andbaselines’. SAC is also developinginternal environmental policy andreviewing energy consumption in2009/10. Scottish Arts Council Business Plan2009

Scottish Screen

The national development agency forthe screen industries in Scotland.

As with SAC, Scottish Screen is due tobecome part of Creative Scotland in2010. Future policy towards climatechange and film will therefore be set byCreative Scotland when it becomesfully operational. Like SAC, ScottishScreen is committed to meetingScottish Government National Outcometo ‘reduce the local and globalenvironmental impact of ourconsumption and production’.Scottish Screen Corporate Plan2009/10 to 2010/11

Scottish Screen currently states that it‘is committed to the continualimprovement of its environmentalperformance recognising thecontribution that this will make to thewider sustainability agenda in Scotland’.It aims to conform with legislation andprinciples of the ‘greening government’agenda, to adopt energy and resourceefficient practices internally (e.g.travel), to calculate its carbon footprint

and reduce it annually, and toencourage and influence those it workswith.

Historic Scotland

Historic Scotland is an executiveagency of the Scottish Governmentcharged with safeguarding the nation’shistoric environment and promoting itsunderstanding and enjoyment.

As part of the Scottish Government, itaims to contribute to the ‘GreenerScotland’ agenda, althoughcommitment does not yet appear to bereflected in measurable targets. It aimsto increase support to technical andconservation research regardingclimate change to increase awarenessin the sector. Historic Scotland Corporate Plan 2008-11

Devolved Nations – Wales

Arts Council of Wales (ACW)

The lead body for the funding,development and advocacy of the artsin Wales.

Under its agreement with the WelshAssembly Government (WAG), activitiesof ACW are expected to contribute tocommitments of the national One Walesstrategic agenda. These includepromoting a sustainable environment.ACW must also meet the targets ofWAG’s Sustainable ProcurementAssessment Framework andSustainable Development Action Plan. ACW Remit Letter 2008-09

ACW is reviewing its internalenvironmental policy 2009/10, anddeveloping targets and actions. ACWwill also address how to engage fundedorganisations and stakeholders inimplementing and monitoringsustainable development goals, andhold workshops to communicate policy. Operational Plan 2009/10

Film Agency for Wales

The sole agency to support andpromote film in Wales. Film Agency forWales does not appear to have anymajor policy or strategic commitmentsto address climate change andenvironmental sustainability.

Devolved Nations –Northern Ireland

Arts Council of Northern Ireland

The funding and development agencyfor the arts in Northern Ireland.

In its current five year plan, ArtsCouncil of Northern Ireland states thatit will actively support the principles setout in the Northern Ireland Executivegovernment’s sustainable developmentstrategy, although this aim is not linkedto specific measures.Creative Connections: a 5 year plan fordeveloping the arts 2007-2012

Regional

Greater London Authority (GLA)

The Greater London Authority is theexecutive body of the Mayor of London,with strategic responsibility fortransport, planning, economicdevelopment and the environment inthe city.

The Greater London Authority Act of1999, gave the Mayor powers andresponsibilities relating to theenvironment and climate change. Thiswas strengthened in the 2007 revisionto the Act by obliging the Mayor toproduce statutory strategies aroundmitigating and adapting to climatechange in London.

Whether as a direct consequence ofthis or not, both the previous andexisting Mayoral administrations haveexplicitly developed work programmesaround culture and the creativeindustries and climate change. TheLondon Climate Change Action Planaims to reduce the overall footprint ofLondon’s CO2e emissions by 60% by2025. This applies to arts and culture.


The GLA has now published three best-practice ‘green guidebooks’, for thetheatre, music and screen industries,providing advice and case studies as tohow these industries can minimise theircarbon footprint. In each instance,steering groups composed of leadingindustry figures were established inorder to ensure that analysis of howand where carbon emissions weretaking place in the sector supply chainswere understood and most effectivelyaddressed. A fourth guidebook for theVisual Arts sector has now beencommissioned.greeningtheatres.com/about

juliesbicycle.com/resources/green-music-guide

filmlondon.org.uk/greenscreen

English Regional Development

Agencies (RDAs)

Several of the RDAs have madeconsiderable investment in supportingand growing creative industries sincethey were created in 1998. However,although they were established with aremit to promote ‘sustainable economicdevelopment’, they are not obliged toconsider how to address climatechange in their investments andinterventions. Where they have done, ithas tended to be through thepromotion of ‘green technologies’industries and supporting innovationsin the environmental sector (several ofthem have been active in these areas),rather than as an over-arching themewhich would apply to all supportedsectors, such as the creative industries.

English Regional Cultural Bodies

The dismantling of the English RegionalCultural Consortia has left no strategicbody capable of linking policies acrossthe creative sectors at the regionallevel to broader issues such as climatechange.

Individual regional cultural bodiescontinue to exist, such as Arts CouncilEngland’s regional offices and theEnglish Regional Screen Agencies.Regional MLA Councils have beenrestructured and reabsorbed into anational body; future mergers orrestructures in other sectors are apossibility.

English Regional Screen Agencies

(RSAs)

The network of nine RSAs has recentlybeen strengthened with theappointment of a Chief Executive andindependent Chair, increasing thelikelihood of a coordinated response toclimate change. Currently, this is not apriority. Activities of the RSAs differ ineach region, depending on localpriorities, partnerships and levels offunding. Broadly the RSAs are focusedon supporting local media production,skills development, creative businesssupport, film location services etc., andresponding to government agendassuch as Digital Britain.

South West Screen has adopted GreenFilmmaking Guidelines, and encouragesproductions filming in the region toadopt them.

Green Filmmaking Guidelines (2009)http://bit.ly/13OtMU

Film London has also developed theGreen Screen guide and carboncalculator for filmmakers, inconjunction with industry and publicsector partners, and with support fromthe GLA.filmlondon.org.uk/greenscreen

Individual RSAs have also fundedspecific productions with ecologicalthemes. For example, Screen Southsupported the documentaries GarbageWarrior and The End of the Line.

Arts Council England (ACE)

Regional Offices

See the main ACE entry above.

Local Government and Culture

Local authorities are no longer obligedto produce cultural strategies. Manystill do, but these tend to be alignedwith local priorities around education,young people, tackling social exclusion,wellbeing, employment, businessgrowth and regeneration. Climatechange is rarely a key issue, althoughsustainable development in the broadersense (social, economic andenvironmental) may be a priority.

However, energy, climate change andthe environment are becomingincreasingly important issues for localauthorities at the corporate levelincluding a number of nationalindicators of environmentalsustainability introduced in 2007 aspart of a new performance frameworkfor local government. As a result,locally-funded cultural venues andevents may find themselves underpressure to improve energy efficiencyand reduce emissions, while newbuildings will be expected to conformto more stringent standards. National Indicators for Local Authoritiesand Local Authority Partnerships:Handbook of Definitions (2008)http://bit.ly/4Z0A3K

Some local authorities, such asWestminster, are taking a proactiverole. Launched in February 2009, theWestminster Carbon Alliance is aborough wide partnership oforganisations and projects aiming todeliver carbon reduction and energyefficiency projects in Westminster. The Alliance is working with partners inthe local government estate, creativeindustries, the voluntary sector,housing, commercial landlords andsmall and medium sized enterprises.

In 2008 the Leader of the Councilstated that Westminster is aiming tobecome carbon neutral by 2012

Individual local authority culturalofficers fund a wide range of small-scale and community arts projects,many of which explore environmentalthemes (e.g. projects with schools).


A brief guide to

environmental measuring

and reporting systems for

the UK cultural and

creative sector

Responding practically to climatechange requires that arts organisationsaddress their management of staff,systems, assets, and ways of working.One of the first steps an organisationshould undertake is an audit identifyingtheir greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,and steps to reduce this impact. Thisshould in turn feed into an action planfor ongoing engagement probablysitting alongside or within theorganisation’s environmental policy.Implementing an environmentalmanagement system that supports theaction plan and environmental policy iscritical to success. Thereforeorganisations will need to identifytechnical data (actual emissionssources and results, i.e. the ‘carbonfootprint’), practical actions andmanagement systems to ensure acomprehensive response.

It is likely that an organisation mayengage at a number of levels:

Regulatory schemes

• Energy Performance Certificates

(EPCs) and Display Energy

Certificates (DECs). Mandatory for anybuilding being built, sold or rented, theEPC includes an A-G rating of theenergy efficiency and carbon emissionsof the building. DECs are required ofbuildings occupied by a publicauthority or institution and buildingsmore than 1,000m2 in floor area

• The Carbon Reduction Commitment

(CRC) is an emissions trading schemethat will achieve reductions and affectsall government departments and largebusinesses whose annual half-hourlymetered electricity use is above 6,000megawatt-hours (MWh).

• Sustainable Operations on the

Government Estate (SOGE) setssustainability targets and reportingrequirements for all centralGovernment Departments and their

Executive Agencies, including buildingsand land managed.

Voluntary, sector-specificinitiatives or awardsschemes

• BSI (British Standards Institute) andISO (International Organisation forStandardisation) provide both guidancefor implementing an environmentalmanagement system (see below) and astandard against which organisationscan be certified by a third partyassessor.

• BREEAM (The Building ResearchEstablishment’s EnvironmentalAssessment Methodology) can beapplied to all non-residential buildingrefurbishments and new builds.

• The Carbon Reduction Label can beawarded to products or services thathave undergone a life cycle analysis oftheir embodied emissions.

• Carbon Disclosure Project operatesthe only global climate changereporting system for any organisationwishing, or requested, to publiclyreport their greenhouse gas emissionsand climate change strategies.

• The Carbon Trust Standard isawarded to organisations that measure,manage and reduce their carbonfootprint.

• EMAS - the Eco-Management andAudit Scheme is a voluntary initiativeestablished by European regulation toimprove companies’ environmentalperformance.

• Industry Green is a certificationscheme tailored to the creativeindustries managed by Julie’s Bicycle.Industry Green provides a frameworkfor ongoing GHG emissions reductions.

• The Greener Festival Award schemeis based around the twin aims ofpromoting greener practices andpromoting sustainability.

• The Green Tourism Business

Scheme is the national sustainabletourism certification scheme for the UK.

Guidance forsustainability reporting

• GRI: Sustainability reporting

guidelines

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is anetwork-based organisation that haspioneered the development of a widelyused sustainability reportingframework. They are committed to itscontinuous improvement andapplication worldwide. This frameworksets out the principles and indicatorsthat organisations can use to measureand report their economic,environmental, and social performance.

Carbon measurementmethodologies

Note: these sources of guidance formthe basis for many of the schemes listedabove.

• Greenhouse Gas Protocol: The GHGProtocol is the internationallyrecognised standard for corporateaccounting and reporting ofgreenhouse gas emissions developedjointly by the World Resources Institute(WRI) and World Business Council forSustainable Development (WBCSD).

• ISO14064-1 – Greenhouse gases: Aspecification with guidance at theorganisation level for quantification andreporting of greenhouse gas emissionsand removals.

• Department of Environment, Food

and Rural Affairs/Department of

Energy and Climate Change: In linewith the UK Climate Change Act 2008,DEFRA/DECC have published guidanceon emissions reporting for businessesincluding guidance on what conversionfactors to apply to the activitiesincluded within the carbon footprint.

appendix ii) resources and tools


Guidance for GHG “lifecycle assessment” of akey product or service

• PAS 2050 – Publicly Available

Specification for the assessment of

the life cycle greenhouse gas

emissions of goods and services.

Developed by BSI for DEFRA and theCarbon Trust, the PAS 2050 approachis different from organisationalreporting as it involves assessingemissions across the “life cycle” of theproduct, otherwise known as the“embodied emissions”, for examplefrom those associated with theextraction and processing of rawmaterials right through transport,storage, to use and disposal of theproduct.

• ISO 14040 – Environmental

management. Life cycle assessment.

Principles and framework.

International standards on life cycleassessment (LCA) are available inISO14040 and 14044.

Guidance forenvironmentalmanagement systems

• ISO14001 – Environmental

Management System.

Provides a framework for thedevelopment of an environmentalmanagement system and thesupporting audit programme.

• BS8555

Building on BS EN ISO 14001 and theEU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme(EMAS), this British Standard providesguidance to all organisations on thephased implementation, maintenanceand improvement of a formalEnvironmental Management System(EMS).

• BS8901

The British Standard that providesrequirements for planning andmanaging sustainable events of all sizesand types.

Free Tools for GHGMeasurement

• Arts Energy Toolkit

artsenergy.org.ukArts Council England has developed aself-assessment web-based toolkit forarts organisations to help themimplement an effective energymanagement programme including anaction plan. Measures building energyuse only, in kWh but not CO2

• Carbon Trust http://bit.ly/4yoQ0KWeb-based calculator that helpsorganisations calculate their annualcarbon footprint using data on fuel andvehicle usage, the company’selectricity bill and employee travel. Anindicator tool that uses energy bills andsector type is also available.

• DCMS Toolkit http://bit.ly/5ugUFgA downloadable document-basedtoolkit that provides guidance on howto develop a carbon policy and gatherdata to produce an annual carbonfootprint.

• Enworks efficiencytoolkit.netThe web-based ENWORKS EfficiencyToolkit assists businesses to improvetheir resource efficiency across anumber of indicators including GHGemissions.

• IG (Industry Green) tools

juliesbicycle.com/industry-greenWeb-based tools designed for thespecific needs of creative sectororganisations to measure andbenchmark annual GHG emissions andother environmental impacts resultingfrom venues, festivals and outdoorevents and offices.

• Green Screen Carbon Calculator

http://bit.ly/4FnocsA downloadable excel spreadsheet-based carbon calculator it enablessetting a ‘carbon budget’ that can bemanaged along with the production’sfinancial budget, thus working towardscarbon reductions.

• Green Theatre Carbon Calculator

http://bit.ly/7Pl10tA downloadable excel spreadsheet-based tool that identifies which areas ina given theatre production that are thebiggest generators of carbonemissions, enabling the creation of anappropriate action plan.

• Rural Museums Network Carbon

Calculator http://bit.ly/76m7NIA downloadable excel spreadsheet-based calculator helps rural museumscalculate their carbon footprint.

Free Tools for creating action plans

• Arts Energy Toolkit see above

• DCMS Toolkit see above

• Eventberry eventberry.comEventberry is a web-based tooldesigned to enable sustainable eventmanagement and BS8901 compliance.

Free Tool for GHGEmissions and EnergyMonitoring

• SMEasure smeasure.org.ukSMEasure is a web-based tool forbuilding energy use analysis andcarbon monitoring. Unlike thecalculators listed above which are anannual or one-off “snapshot” SMEasureanalyses building performance on aweekly basis. Using regular meterreadings and incorporating weather-energy analysis, it has been developedspecifically for the needs of small andmedium-sized businesses.

For more extensive information please see

juliesbicycle.com/resources

britishcouncil.org/climatechange.htm


Carbon Dioxide. A naturally occurringgas, and a by-product of burning fossilfuels and biomass, as well as land-usechanges and other industrial processes.It is the principal anthropogenicgreenhouse gas that affects the Earth’sradiative balance. It is the reference gasagainst which other greenhouse gasesare measured and therefore has a GlobalWarming Potential of 1.

Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (CO2e). Theuniversal unit of measurement used toindicate the global warming potential(GWP) of each of the six Kyotogreenhouse gases. It is used to evaluatethe impacts of releasing (or avoiding therelease of) different greenhouse gases.

Climate. Climate in a narrow sense isusually defined as the “average weather,”or more rigorously, as the statisticaldescription in terms of the mean andvariability of relevant quantities over aperiod of time ranging from months tothousands of years. The classical periodis three decades as defined by the WorldMeteorological Organization (WMO).These quantities are most often surfacevariables such as temperature,precipitation, and wind.

Climate change. A change of climatewhich is attributed directly or indirectlyto human activity that alters thecomposition of the global atmosphereand which is in addition to naturalclimate variability over comparable timeperiods.

Copenhagen Accord. The outcome ofthe 15th Conference of Parties at theUnited Nations Conference on ClimateChange held in Copenhagen inDecember 2009. It was hoped theConference would replace or extend theKyoto Protocol (see below) which willexpire in 2012. However the outcomewas an accord reached between the US,China, India, Brazil and South Africawhich still has to be endorsed by the193 countries at the talk in order tobecome an official UN agreement.Countries have been asked to submittheir pledges for curbing carbonemissions by 2020, by February 1st2010. The Accord recognises limitingtemperature rises to less than 2°C abovepre-industrial levels.

Direct emissions. Emissions that areproduced by organisation-owned

equipment or emissions fromorganisation-owned premises, such ascarbon dioxide from electricitygenerators, gas boilers and vehicles, ormethane from landfill sites.

Emissions. The release of a substance(usually a gas when referring to climatechange) into the atmosphere.

Global warming. The continuousgradual rise of the earth's surfacetemperature thought to be caused bythe greenhouse effect and responsiblefor changes in global climate patterns.

Global Warming Potential (GWP). The GWP is an index that compares therelative potential (to CO2) of the sixgreenhouse gases to contribute toglobal warming i.e. the additionalheat/energy which is retained in theEarth’s ecosystem through the releaseof this gas into the atmosphere. Theadditional heat/energy impact of allother greenhouse gases are comparedwith the impacts of carbon dioxide (CO2)and referred to in terms of a CO2equivalent (CO2e) e.g. Carbon dioxidehas been designated a GWP of 1,Methane has a GWP of 21.

Greenhouse Effect. Trapping and build-up of heat in the atmosphere(troposphere) near the Earth’s surface.Some of the heat flowing back towardsspace from the Earth’s surface isabsorbed by water vapour, carbondioxide, ozone, and several other gasesin the atmosphere and then reradiatedback toward the Earth’s surface. If theatmospheric concentrations of thesegreenhouse gases rise, the averagetemperature of the lower atmospherewill gradually increase.

Greenhouse gases. The current IPCCinventory includes six major greenhousegases. These are Carbon dioxide (CO2),Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N2O),Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),Perfluorocarbons (PFCs), Sulphurhexafluoride (SF6).

Greenhouse Gas Protocol definesreporting principles and guidelines forauditing the GHG emissions of acompany. Developed by the WorldBusiness Council for SustainableDevelopment and the World ResourcesInstitute, it has provided the basis ofinternational guidelines on companyreporting of carbon footprints.

www.wri.org/publication/content/7778www.ghgprotocol.org/

IPCC. The Intergovernmental Panel onClimate Change. A special intergovern-mental body established by the UnitedNations Environment Programme (UNEP)and the World MeteorologicalOrganisation (WMO) to provideassessments of the results of climatechange research to policy makers. TheGreenhouse Gas Inventory Guidelinesare being developed under the auspicesof the IPCC and will be recommendedfor use by parties to the FrameworkConvention on Climate Change.

Indirect emissions. Emissions that are aconsequence of the activities of thereporting company but occur fromsources owned or controlled by anotherorganisation or individual. They includeall outsourced power generation (e.g.electricity, hot water), outsourcedservices (e.g. waste disposal, businesstravel, transport of company-ownedgoods) and outsourced manufacturingprocesses. Indirect emissions also coverthe activities of franchised companiesand the emissions associated withdownstream and/or upstreammanufacture, transport and disposal ofproducts used by the organisation,referred to as product life-cycleemissions.

Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocoloriginated at the 3rd Conference of theParties (COP) to the United NationsConvention on Climate Change held inKyoto, Japan in December 1997. It specifies the level of emissionreductions, deadlines andmethodologies that signatory countries(i.e. countries who have signed theKyoto Protocol) are to achieve.

United Nations Framework Convention

on Climate Change (UNFCCC). TheConvention on Climate Change sets anoverall framework for intergovernmentalefforts to tackle the challenge posed byclimate change. It recognizes that theclimate system is a shared resourcewhose stability can be affected byindustrial and other emissions of carbondioxide and other greenhouse gases.The Convention enjoys near universalmembership, with 189 countries havingratified.

appendix iii) glossary


Julie’s Bicycle thanks the following:

Sian Alexander, Penny Andrews, Simon Banks, Catherine Bottrill, Tom Campbell, Sally Cowling, Peter Gingold, John Hartley, Emily Kay, Keith Khan, Colin Kirkpatrick, Catherine Langabeer, Laura McNamara, Judith Nesbitt, Sir Nick Serota, Maurice Walsh


contact details

[email protected] +44 (0)161 957 7775 britishcouncil.orgThis publication is available to download at britishcouncil.org/longhorizons

[email protected] juliesbicycle.com +44 (0)20 7379 6886

>> (cont.) Manchester International Festival Manuela Zanotti Marc Garrett Marcos Lutyens

Marcus Brigstocke Margaret Atwood Maria Thereza Alves Mariele Neudecker Marije De Haas Mario

Petrucci Marjetica Potrc Mark Dion Mark Edwards Mark McGowan Markus & Daniel Freitag Marmaduke

Dando Hutchings Maroon 5 Marta Stysiak Martha Wainwright Martin Sexton Marvin & The Cats

Mary Ann Lazarus Mary Oliver Mary-Chapin Carpenter Mason Jennings Master Shortie Materials for the

Arts (MFTA) Matthew Dalziel & Louise Scullion Mau Mau Max Eastley MCPS-PRS Meadowlands

Entertainment Group Megadeth Melanie Challenger Melissa Etheridge Metal Michael Franti Michael Hopkins

Michael Kerbow Michael Landy Michael Rakowitz Michaela Crimmin Michal Bolton Michele Noach

Miles Epstein Minou Norouzi Missy Higgins Moby moe. Mojisola Adebayo Mona El Mousfy Mona

Hatoum Montreux Jazz Festival Moshi Moshi Music from Another Room Music Wood MusicMatters

My Dad's Strip Club Nathan Gallagher National Portrait Gallery National Theatre National Theatre Scotland

National Theatre Wales Neil Diamond Neil Young Nele Azevedo (Brazil) Newton Harrison Nic Balthazar

Nicholas Grimshaw Nick Cobbing Nick Edwards Nicolas Henninger Nicole Krauss Nils Norman

Nine Inch Nails Ninja Tune No Doubt Norah Jones Norman Foster Northern Stage O.A.R Okkervil River

Oliver Hodge OpenAir St Gallen Oran Cat Orbital Orlando Bloom Oxegen Øya Festival Ozzy Osbourne

Page and Plant Paléo Festival Nyon Pamel Lastiri Panic At The Disco Paule Constable Paddington

Development Trust (PDT) Pearl Jam Peats Ridge Festival Penelope Cruz Perry Farrell (Jane's Addiction)

Pet Shop Boys Pete Seegar Peter & The Wolf Peter Clegg Peter Fend Peter Frampton Peter Gilbert

Peter L Johnson Pharrell Williams Phil Collins Phil Constable Phil Stebbing Philippe Rahm Phish

Pierce Brosnan Pink Floyd Pinkpop Planet Green Portobello Nu-Jazz Festival PPL Provinssirock

PRS for Music Pukkelpop Queensryche Rachel Whiteread Radical Nature Radiohead Ray Lamontagne

Razorlight Recoup Red Hot Chili Peppers Redell Olsen Reel Green Media REM REO Speedwagon

Respond Reverb Rheinkultur Richard Branson Richard Buckminster Fuller Richard Lerman Richard Long

Richard Mabey Richard Rogers Rip Curl Festival RiverWired Rob Newman Robbie Schoen & Isaac Frankle

Robert Bringhurst Robert Smithson Robyn Hitchcock Rock & Wrap It Up Rock Werchter Rod Dickinson

Rod Stewart Rogue Wave Rolling Stones Roo Borson Roskilde Festival Rothbury Rototom Sunsplash

Royal Albert Hall Royal Court Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) Royal Scottish National Opera Ruisrock

Rupert Murray Rusted Root Ruth Catlow Ruth Jarman Ruth Little Ruth Tabancay Ryuichi Sakamoto

Saci Lloyd Sage Gateshead Sam Bozzo Sam Collins Samir Srouji Sandra Mendler Santana Sarah Harmer

Sarah Smizz Scenary Salvage Scott Hessels Scott Oliver Sean Bonney Sergio Vega Serj Tankian

Shambala Festival Sheryl Crow Ships & Dip V Shiro Takatani Shlomo Sienna Miller Simon Starling

Siobhan Davies Sisters of the Mona Lisa Skip Schuckmann Smashing Pumpkins SMG Europe Soleil Moon

Sonisphere Sony Music UK Sophie Calle Soul Asylum Soundgarden Southbank Centre Southbound

Festival Spencer Finch Standon Calling Stars State Radio Stella McCartney Stephen Kellogg and the

Sixers Steve Trash Steve Waters Sting Stone Temple Pilots Styx Suba Subramaniam Summer Sundae

Weekender Sunand Prasad Sunrise Celebration Festival Superflex Susan Richardson Sustainability and

Contemporary Art Sustainable Art Sustainable Dance Club Sustainable Fashion Sustainable Style Foundation

Sustainable Theatre Company Suzan-Lori Parks Suzanne Moxhay Swallow Theatre Szegedi Ifjusagi Napok

T.R.A.I.L (Trail Recycled Art in Landscape) Tacita Dean Tania Kovats Tate Taubertal Festival Terje

Isungset The Center for Sustainable Practise in the Arts The City of London Festival The Cure

The Dead The Ditty Bops The Duhks The Eagles The Eco Dance The Falls Festival The Fray The Glade

The Green Theater The Junction The Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination The Life Poets

The Official Charts Company The Pidgeon Detectives The Presidents of the United States of America

The Roots The Story of Stuff The Swell Season The Three Tenors The Who Theatre Royal Plymouth

Third Ring Out by Metis Arts Thomas Herzog Thomas Ruff Ticketmaster Tim Dey Tim Fitzhigham

Tim Knowles Tim Lilburn T-In-The-Park Tipping Point Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Tomas Saraceno

Tori Amos Toshifumi Matsushita Tracey Bush Tracey Emin Tracey Rowledge Tracy Moffatt

Trashcatchers' Carnival by Project Phakama UK Truck Tue Greenfort Turtuga Blanku Unicorn

United Visual Artists Universal Music V&A Van Halen Vanessa Carlton Vicky Long Vikram Seth Vince Gill

Volcano Theatre Company Von Gerkan Marg Wallflowers Warner Music Group WATT Waveform Festival

Weekend au bord de l'eau Wembley Arena Wendell Berry Werner Herzog West Beach Festival William Hunt

William McDonough William Odell William Shaw William Stanley Merwin Willie Nelson Wireless

Wolves In The Throne Room WOMADelaide Wood Workhouse Festival Wyclef Jean Wysing Arts

Xavier Rudd Yael Bartana Yann Arthus-Bertrand Yann Martel Yao Lu Yishai Orian Y-Not Young Vic

Zbigniew Kotkiewicz

Graphic design: Positive Design Works. Printed in Surrey using vegetable oil-based inks by Positive Images (FSC certified and registered with The Environment Agency).

LONGHOR IZONS:AN EXPLORAT IONOFAR …...A collection of personal reflections about art, artists and...

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