Living Climate Impact
Video description
This is a presentation on one framework from the Research in Residence: Arts’ Civic Impact project. Mass Culture, in partnership with Canada Council for the Arts, the Culture Statistics Working Group, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, and Toronto Arts Foundation, conducted research to understand the civic impact of the arts.
Living Climate Impact, developed by Emma Bugg (Dalhousie University), is a framework that provides indicators to measure arts impact in environmental sustainability and climate action.
Speaker
Emma Bugg, Dalhousie University
Publication date
July 11, 2023
Resources
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Emma Bug
Hi, I'm Emma Bug and I am the lead researcher on the Living Climate Impact Framework for the Arts. I'm a Masters student at Dalhousie University in the School for Resource and Environmental Studies. And I've done this work as part of my master's thesis.
To guide our work to build this framework, we came up with two research questions. So the first is how does CreativePEI conceptualize their role in fostering sustainable transformations towards climate action and adaptation? And the second question was what indicators can be used to measure their impact in this space? So when we began the Research in Residence project, we were in the process of looking for partners and CreativePEI was just coming to the end of their first major engagement with a climate related project as an arts organization. So they were a lead partner in the project Riverworks, which was a climate art project that saw three PEI artists create artwork situated in different places around the province. And those artworks really interacted with the landscapes that they were on. So CreativePEI was in a really reflective moment of having had this really positive initial experience bridging their work and climate efforts. And they were interested in doing more thinking about what their role might be in the climate emergency going forward, and what contributions they could make. And this made them a really appealing partner in my eyes, because this is the exact kind of reflection that we were hoping to do through Research in Residents and that I was hoping to do specifically on arts and climate together. So climate intention is a term that we've used a lot in working on this framework. There's lots of organizations dedicated to climate work, of course, and we've been hearing for decades that the climate emergency is one that demands action from everyone and from all sectors. With this work, we aren't trying to persuade arts organizations to abandon their artistic missions, and pick up climate ones, but really to show those in the art sector, how their artistic work and artistic skills are really useful tools in climate adaptation. This framework is really an invitation to arts practitioners to start thinking about how within their existing artistic mandates, they can begin considering what they have to offer to climate work, and in doing so, start to build that intention to support sustainable transformations into their work using the framework.
When we hear talk of climate action, we often hear it described as either climate mitigation or climate adaptation. So mitigation refers to efforts to prevent the worst effects of climate change from taking place. And adaptation means finding ways to survive and thrive within existing and projected conditions of climate change. Given the progress of the climate emergency and the unique and valuable offerings of the arts to have to make. We are focused more on adaptation in this work. But the two concepts are certainly intertwined. And it's not a line that we drew explicitly, in this study. One example of how the arts are really well suited to support with adaptations, so adjusting to the realities that we're experiencing now and that we're going to experience, is the ways in which the arts can support with adaptation in an emotional sense. This is something that's really reflected in the framework. And I think it's a good example for illustrating this. Climate anxiety and climate grief are words we hear more and more, you may or may not be familiar. You also might have heard the word solastalgia, which is a bit of a fancier word for climate, anxiety and climate grief that's being used more and more. But in general, what these terms all use – all mean is they refer to the emotional stress, grief, and anxiety that we feel when we think about the climate emergency, and when we experienced the loss and destruction that it causes. So that could be anything from being displaced from your home due to a natural climate disaster. Or it could be noticing that your favorite picnic spot on the shoreline is slowly eroding away. And so there's lots of different ways that we can experience climate grief and climate anxiety. And it is a really significant factor. And there's more and more studies showing that it's a major impact on mental health, especially for young people.
There is growing evidence of the ability of the arts to aid both audiences and creators, artists with navigating those complicated emotions, both by experiencing and taking in art, and by creating art that engages with climate change. So that's one example of why the arts are really well suited adaptation, and why our conversation with this framework has focused a bit more on that word adaptation than mitigation or some other words you might hear. But again, they're really intertwined concepts and we're not drawing any hard lines around what this framework engages with. So transformation is another really important word that has informed the development of this framework. Transformation is a word that really recognizes the scale and multi dimensionality of change that is required for humans to survive and achieve a just and healthy society through this climate emergency. And more and more scholars are recognizing that climate change is not purely a biophysical one but also a cultural and social one. And that's certainly not a call that's only coming from scholars, activists have really been emphasizing the social and cultural dimensions of climate change for many years. But really, we're learning that there is a really essential and urgent need to transform the ways that we live in and with nature, and the ways that we consider ourselves as part of nature and that whole relationship. And so transformation is really about changing the fundamental ways that we as humans, understand ourselves and our role in the world, and also understand ourselves as part of and not separate from nature. And so those transformations are an area where we're learning more and more, the arts have a really unique ability to engage with the ways that we're thinking and conceptualizing about our roles in nature.
So here, you can see all of the elements of the framework laid out, we're in a really zoomed out view right now. And the framework is actually available in both English and French. So on the left, you'll see our English framework, and on the right is French. And when you first visit the framework, you'll be directed to a page where you can choose your language. And then you can view the whole framework in your language of choice. There are two main audiences that I think will really find this framework useful, both of which are very broad audiences. So the first is arts practitioners. And when I say arts practitioners, I mean anyone who might count themselves as that. So artists, employees of arts organizations and beyond. So the framework can be used by those within the arts to learn how they might start to integrate climate into their work and see a case study of another arts organization that has done that. And so this can provide some examples and starting points of where you might be able to draw those connections between your work as arts practitioner, and climate engagement. The second main audience I see that might be interested in this framework is collaborators from other sectors. And one thing that I think this framework is really useful for is folks from environmental organizations or other organizations who want to consider integrating the arts with their work in support of the realization of climate goals, can look at this framework and identify, maybe there's gaps here. And those are gaps that other organization can contribute to. And so I think this framework will be useful, both inside of the arts for helping arts practitioners to understand where arts capacity lies, and climate work, but then also for collaborators who want to start partnering with those arts organizations to see where those compatibilities might lie. So the living climate impact framework for the arts is presented in three broad categories and includes eleven impact areas. So we have those impact areas presented under who, how and what. So who speaks to who the work is engaging, or who is doing the work. So we have two categories there, audiences and accessibility. So audiences includes indicators that ask questions about who is and isn't engaging with the work as an audience. Accessibility includes indicators that ask questions about who can and who can't access the work and how the work is made accessible to different audiences. So the how grouping includes four main categories, the first of which is collaboration. So these categories really speak to how the work is being done. So collaboration includes indicators that ask questions about the climate impact of partners that you might be working with whether or not various disciplines are being brought together for the work and similar things. Public engagement has indicators that ask questions about how audiences are being engaged, whether audiences are being engaged, how different platforms are being created to speak with the public.
Emotional engagement includes indicators that ask questions about how audience members in particular feel after engaging with the work. So questions with specific emotions, looking at hope, anxiety, grief, and just different questions that asked more broadly how those emotional experiences are being created. The program content category includes a couple of specific indicators that look at the specific content of the work. So we have indicators that ask whether projects are multifaceted and include various components. And there's lots of room there to expand on context specific program content. There's also an indicator there that asks about whether the content includes a discussion of urgency. Finally, in our watch category, we have three impact areas that look at the overall goals of the work. And so the first is fostering pro-environmental behavior. And that category includes indicators that ask questions about how audiences are being encouraged to change behavior towards more sustainability. So questions about whether audience members leave an initiative with the information they need to change a certain behavior, for example. Second group here, reduced emissions and waste, asks questions about the specific biophysical impact of the work being done. So does the work, come with a high emissions price tag? Does the work come with a lot of waste? What sort of resources is the work using?
Are those resources, local, etc. And then finally, we have climate engagement in the sector. And that category includes indicators, which ask questions about how the art sector is being engaged more and more in climate work. And so that category includes indicators that ask questions like how many artists are creating climate engaged work, and are they're highly qualified professionals on the intersection of art and climate within the sector. From this screen where you can see these categories, you can view any of these impact categories to see the specific indicators within them. So we'll look at one for an example. So say we're looking at collaboration as a point of interest for a certain project and click on this arrow, and it will take you and show you the indicators within that category. The collaboration category has four indicators that you can look at and decide whether or not they're relevant for your work. And from here, you can then return to the framework with this blue arrow. So on the right side of the framework, we've included two impact categories that you'll see here in orange separate from the rest. These two categories are really here to show users how fluid the framework is, and how the indicators that we've shared can be reconfigured to show new and different impact areas. Within each of these categories, so dialogue and discourse and cultural transformations, you'll find indicators from other categories in the framework, as well as indicators that are unique to these two categories. So this is to help users see ways in which indicators can be considered differently and can contribute to understanding different impact areas. And then also remind users if they can pull things out and put them together in new ways, and that they shouldn't feel restricted to using the framework as it is presented here. A really common barrier to doing impact measurement for lots of non-profit organizations, different types of organizations is capacity. So we know that impact measurement is can be a really burdensome task. And there's actually risk of if you do a really robust impact measurement, you can risk the quality of your programs by directing too much capacity into different efforts. But impact measurement also teaches us a lot about our work and whether or not we're achieving what we want to achieve. So something we've tried to do with this framework is make it accessible and make it usable by those organizations who have limited capacity. And so instead of asking users to engage with every detail of our framework, and every indicator that we've included, we've set up a project palette, which allows users to view only the most relevant and interesting indicators for a specific project all together in one view. So one really interesting thing that we think this framework can help with is for organizations to develop their own theory of change for their climate engagement. You're an arts organization, you probably already have a theory of change for your art space mission. And a climate mission could be something that you might consider adding, it could be public or not. But it's a good idea and a good tool for helping to guide your climate engagement, to really make sure that the work that you're doing is working towards the goals that you want to achieve. So a really core part of developing a theory of change is identifying the change or outcome that you hope to contribute to, and then considering what is needed for that change to happen. And this framework can support organizations with that step of developing a theory of change by drawing some connections between modes of doing the work and goals.
As I've mentioned, this framework can demonstrate some examples of outcomes that arts organizations might work towards. And then also lays out specific questions that they can ask about their work to ensure that the work is contributing to those desired outcomes. The categories and indicators here are definitely not exhaustive, we're really excited to see what kinds of things people want to add. And these were created by CreativePEI with their specific context in mind. That said, when we organize the indicators, and chose how to lay them out in this framework, that process was informed by existing literature on sustainability and the arts and also on best practices in climate education, environmental education and various disciplines. But there's, so there's a lot of evidence based connections here between the indicators and the categories and the outcomes that they are connected to. So there's absolutely room for other practitioner practitioners to take their theories of change beyond this framework, but it can really provide some categories and indicators to start from, to start getting that picture of what your theory of change will be for your organization's climate engagement. For the art sector, we're really excited about how this framework might help organizations to start envisioning their own work with a climate perspective.
The framework really is an invitation to people in the sector to start considering whether their mission might have a climate angle or whether the things that they do as part of their artistic missions do also have climate outcomes. And that's something that many folks in the art sector are beginning to be aware of, but that many people haven't been introduced to yet. And so we really want to illuminate all of the potential of existing artistic activities and how those things can lead to climate action, climate adaptation and these transformations that we've been talking about. So once more imaginations and perspectives and contexts are integrated into the framework from your own context, for example, and once more of the power of the arts is mobilized towards climate action, there's huge potential to see significantly impactful work coming from the sector. And hopefully, in particular, work that focuses on those cultural transformations that are so core to the climate action that we need. And that really draw on the unique things the arts have to offer, for example, creating those emotional and affective experiences are audiences. And so this framework is one small tool, it's not going to mobilize the whole art sector on its own. But we do really see this as an invitation. With the framework we're asking other arts organizations to take a step, take a moment and consider how could your organization and the work you do lend your resources, your skills, your knowledge, to climate work? And how could that be realized through collaborations through your own projects, etc. And so hopefully, this framework will help arts organizations to really take those next steps and engaging with climate and considering whether they have ways to contribute that they hadn't thought of before. So the framework is primarily available on Miro, which is a whiteboarding software that is really handy. And it can also be accessed via Mass Culture as website. The framework is available in English and French and is also available as a PDF.
For those who don't have access to Miro or aren't comfortable with using it. One of the main things that we want people to take from this framework is to use it and change it and adapt it to their contexts and needs. On Mass Culture's Miro board, you can view the whole framework, you can see all of the indicators and all of the elements it includes. If you want a version that you can manipulate, or where you can use the project palette, you can reach out to Mass Culture, and they will provide you with your own version of the board where you have full editing access and can make any changes that you want. On the public version where you can't edit, you can leave comments and interact with the community, we have a guestbook that we would love for people to interact with each other, let us know that you stopped by, let us know how the framework was useful. But then if you want a version that you can edit and make your own, you just have to reach out.
We do have a Creative Commons license on this framework. And so we're really interested to see how other people use it and how it is adopted and change. And we would really like to learn from that process. So just reach out if you want an editable version, and we're happy to set that up for you. As I explained with using the framework, you can view a specific category to look at the indicators within it. Once you're in that category, you can add tags to cards. And so that is done here as an example already. But what you do is you click on the indicator, you click on this little tag icon, and then you can add a tag just by selecting it from this list. And so I've added sample project one tag here. And then once you've gone through all the indicators, and you think you've selected everything that's relevant for your project, you can then view the project palette, and you can gather all of your tagged items and put them here. And so I've put a bunch of items here as an example. But basically, the idea of the project palette is rather than trying to engage with every element of the framework for every project, this allows you to cut out some of that extra noise, really focus on a reasonable scale that's realistic for you and focus only on the indicators that are most relevant and most helpful and most realistic for you to engage with for the project that you're thinking about. For those of you who are using the board on Miro and aren't super familiar with Miro, we want to share a couple of the ways that you can interact with the board. So on the public board, one of the main things we'd like you to do is leave comments, let us know you were there, let us know how you use the board, let us know if you have any questions. And when you do comment Mass Culture will be notified. So we're excited to have some back and forth have some conversations and answer your questions. So from this main view of Miro, you can leave a comment, you'll notice there's a toolbar on the left hand side here and there's a comment icon right here. You can click on that, and click wherever you want to leave your comment and type your comment here. And click enter and then from there, other folks can reply, other people can take part in the conversation, and you can talk about points of interest on the framework. You can remove your comment when you're done if you'd like but Mass Culture will manage the comments and we're excited to engage with you that way.