“I believe that the creative community has a vital role to play in bringing the urgency of climate change to the forefront. This is why we are the first EU country to launch such a creative climate fund. These projects confirm that creative approaches to community engagement, backed up by academic science, have the imagination and impact to demonstrate that a sustainable future is possible.”

“We know that addressing climate change is a transformational cultural challenge. Our culture shapes how we interact with our environment – through our habits of consumption, ideas about nature, what we value as meaningful, and what we think is possible and impossible.

“Our recent Climate Conversations with communities and individuals while preparing the climate action plan have told us that people want to be supported and inspired to make changes. I believe projects like these will help spark imaginations and to make tangible what ‘carbon footprints’ and ‘climate action’ really mean for individuals and communities.”

• Field Exchange* This is a series of farm based creative events that will support farmers to implement agricultural practices that combat climate change both in and above the soil in Tipperary.
• Repair Acts Ireland* This 16-month pilot project will highlight the care, repair and reuse of objects in Westmeath.
• Corca Dhuibhne Inbhuanaithe 2030* An artist will work with traditional farmers and the Dingle Creativity Hub to highlight why diversification from current farming practices is necessary.
• Worker’s Villages* The Irish Architecture Foundation will work with residents of three Bord na Móna villages in the Midlands on the changing future for locals and on reimagining a more sustainable future for their communities.
• ACT Waterford* This county-wide project will work with five communities to promote energy saving, wildlife diversification, increased use of public transport, the development of carbon sinks and to challenge current consumption habits.
• The Callan Energy Store* A pop-up Energy Store in the heart of Callan, Kilkenny that will be part of a community engagement project that will radically reimagine their town’s energy supply, an initiative led by Asylum Theatre and Loosysmokes.
• Baint an Aeir/Hope it Rains* Working in Irish, artists and the community will co-create renewable energy-generating public artworks in Connemara that will power local services and draw attention to energy consumption/reduction.
• Creative Climate Action Crumlin* Led by scientist Niamh Shaw, Dublin City Council in consultation with the community of Crumlin will activate a series of climate projects to raise awareness, enhance the natural world and change lifestyles
• Decarbonising Together* Five Limerick community groups will identify an aspect of decarbonisation that matters to them and then work with a creative partner to explore and enable behaviour change in their daily lives.
• Stories of Change* is an intergenerational creative roadshow travelling to four counties that will showcase local solutions to the climate crisis through the visual medium of photography, storytelling and food.
• The KinShip Project* will engage the public on climate action through a community creative action programme at Tramore Valley Park, a 170-acre park developed on a reclaimed landfill site in Cork city.
• Rising* This interdisciplinary arts project is led by Brokentalkers Theatre and TCD and will support the communities of Dublin Docklands to creatively explore the complexities of climate change, inspire local action and act as a model for communities nationally.
• Línte na Farraige* is a set of striking visual light installations designed by Finnish artists that will be placed across six Irish coastal sites in Co. Dublin, Wexford and Galway. The installations are comprised of illuminated horizontal lines that represent future sea levels and storm surges.
• Ripple* This project will use a co-design process to explore how the community of Ballina can reimagine and transform their local green space through the use of water as a resource and as a means to improve climate resilience.

Work on all 14 Creative Climate Action projects will begin immediately and all will be completed by December 2022. For more information about the projects please go to https://www.CreativeIreland.gov.ie

• Notes to the Editor*
• Creative Climate Action Fund*