Creative Climate Action fund launched by Minister Catherine Martin
Today Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin TD launched Creative Climate Action on behalf of the Creative Ireland Programme in collaboration with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. This new fund invites local authorities and creative practitioners to put their skills of engagement to the cultural challenge of climate change. This €2 million fund over two years will be administered by the Creative Ireland Programme and supports the Programme for Government.
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin said:
“I am extremely proud to support Creative Climate Action. This unique fund is a call to arms for the arts, culture, heritage and wider creative communities to engage the public on the climate crisis. If climate change is essentially all about cultural change, then who better than the cultural and creative world to take this on.”
Creative Climate Action is for creative projects that engage the public on the urgent need for climate-related lifestyle and behaviour change. Together the Creative Ireland Programme and DECC believe that creativity, arts and culture have a vital role to play in bringing the urgency of this challenge to the forefront and encouraging and facilitating change at all levels of society. Collaborative proposals which bring together creative makers from across the arts and creative industries, climate change and environmental NGOs, education, science and civil society sectors, and offer creative, innovative and interdisciplinary solutions will be encouraged.
Commenting at the launch of Creative Climate Action Minister Martin added:
“We are looking for projects that can meaningfully connect people with the profound changes happening in our environment, society and economy, and which can transform that connection into climate action and behaviour change. We are looking for ideas that spark imagination, have real impact, reach new audiences and are collaborative. Artists, designers, cultural and creative practitioners, who live and work through creative practice, are good at making things visible, starting dialogues, addressing fears and coming up with solutions. We want to hear what these solutions are and support them.”
Tania Banotti, Director of the Creative Ireland Programme, said:
“Creative Climate Action wants the creative community to focus on large scale imaginative projects that will make an impact and promote urgent behaviour change. We need these projects to reach not only those who are already invested in issues surrounding climate change, but people who feel overwhelmed when considering their own role in reversing climate change. We hope these creative projects will focus on areas of human activity that have been proven to make the biggest impact on carbon emissions such as our homes, travel, food, shopping and recycling. We need these creative projects to empower everyone to make changes that can make a real difference.”
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan TD said:
“Tackling climate change and securing a more sustainable future for our citizens is a key priority of the Programme for Government. It is wonderful to see how our ambitions are being realised through all aspects of government. I want to congratulate my colleague Minster Catherine Martin and her team for devising and supporting this unique fund which I believe will make a very real difference to the way we think about climate change. I look forward with enthusiasm to see what our creative community will propose.”
Applications are now open and all explanatory materials are available on https://creativeireland.
