What happened at the soft launch?
On 14th January at the Green Arts Charter Soft Launch, over 50 artists and individuals from Oxfordshires' cultural organisations came together to brainstorm how we, as a sector, can work to create a more ecological city and county. We discussed how the collaborative creation of a Green Arts Charter might help us achieve this. The concept was inspired by the pioneering work of the Manchester Arts Sustainability Team and the Green Arts Initiative of Creative Carbon Scotland.
The conversations at the launch identified the need for:
- Guidance: a platform to share resources and best practice guidelines⠀
- Community: a network of people working towards shared ecological goals; a place to share ideas and expertise; to connect with local suppliers and to bring our audiences along⠀
- Solidarity: pledges to keep ourselves in check and improve clarity and cohesion within the sector, putting green issues at the forefront; inclusive and accessible so that people can engage on different levels⠀
- Support / Pressure: funding to support organisations and artists to run green workshops to improve practices; a role to advocate for structural change
What Now?
Since then, the network has set up a monthly newsletter to connect members where relevant resources can be pooled and news shared. We are also launching action groups based on environmental arts issues raised at the soft launch and suggestions from artists and organisations within the network.
We are working with the Oxfordshire COP26 Alliance to plan for Oxfordshire's 'Great Big Green Week', bringing activists and artists together to inspire political action in the run up to COP26, and are currently looking into arranging Carbon Literacy Training for the network.
What Next?
We are recruiting for a Steering Group to review the project coordinator's actions and help provide direction to the network and co-creation of the Green Arts Charter.
The long term aim of the project is to support organisations and artists to meet their ecological goals and work together to help create a more ecological sector and county. We aim to act as a hub to link up artists and organisations who share these aims, and also connect them with environmental movements, both locally and nationally.
What We Need
In January, we secured some initial seed funding from CAG Oxfordshire and Transition Network which covered costs until March. The Tandem Collective and Fusion Arts Oxford have each kindly put £300 towards the network which will cover project coordination costs until the end of May.
We are looking for interim funds to sustain the network until we can apply to a larger pot of money. If each organisation and artist in network could donate £10, that would be enough to cover project coordination costs (6hr p/w) until July.
Thank you very much for your consideration!
You can see examples of other green arts initiatives below:
Green Arts Initiative (Creative Carbon Scotland): https://www.creativecarbonscotland.com/green-arts-initiative/
Manchester Arts Sustainability Team (MAST): https://www.manchesterclimate.com/involved/MAST
Sustainable Art in Leeds (SAIL): https://wearesail.org
You can sign up to the Green Arts Oxfordshire Network newsletter via this link: http://eepurl.com/hoz7Hf