On 2 November, over 60 people from across the arts gathered at the National Theatre in London for a COP24 Industry Briefing, organised as part of Season for Change. In the run up to the COP24 negotiations in Katowice, Poland on 3-14 December, the event sought to contextualise the key objectives of the talks for the cultural sector.

We were delighted to be joined by a line-up of high profile speakers:

• Farhana Yamin, Chatham House Associate Fellow and former Climate Adviser to the Marshall Islands;
• Alison Tickell, Director of Julie’s Bicycle;
• Paule Constable, award-winning lighting designer and National Theatre Associate;
• Zoë Svendsen, Artistic Director of performing arts company METIS.

Following a welcome by Lisa Burger, Executive Director at National Theatre, Farhana discussed the significance of COP and introduced the key objectives for this year’s talks. Alison explored why the cultural sector should act on climate change and what has been done so far, while Paule and Zoë presented what we can do in the arts moving forward.

If you weren’t able to attend, you can listen to the speakers here. Please note that the recording has not been edited:

All four speakers raised thought-provoking questions around the unique role the arts and culture occupy in the environmental movement, and around the decisions we choose to make – or not make – in our creative practice or programming. Here are just a few of them:

“The arts sector have an enormous role. We can’t solve this problem just by trusting politicians to relay hard science and reports.” @farhanaclimate at the #SeasonforChange event at @NationalTheatre with @JuliesBicycle

— Artsadm*n (@artsadm) November 2, 2018

“What is the cost of the decision we make as artists?”
Paule Constable, Lighting Designer @NationalTheatre at our #SeasonforChange event

— Artsadm*n (@artsadm) November 2, 2018

“Our work as makers is to work out who we may be… We can’t do it on our own. Collaboration is key” “Are we going to go down like tragic heroes and take our earth with us?” Zoë Svendsen @MetisProjects at the #SeasonforChange event @JuliesBicycle @NationalTheatre pic.twitter.com/XYfAcs9RBr

— Artsadm*n (@artsadm) November 2, 2018

“The great, irreplaceable potentiality of fiction is that it makes possible the imagining of possibilities.” Zoë Svendsen @MetisProjects ends with a quote from the The Great Derangement by Amitav Ghosh #SeasonforChange pic.twitter.com/9NdryMHuvL

— Artsadm*n (@artsadm) November 2, 2018

Farhana Yamin also opened her discussion with a film, Rise: From One Island to Another, which depicts the poetic expedition by Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner of the Marshall Islands and Aka Niviâna of Greenland. You can watch the film below and find out more about the project online:

Following the event, Paul Jozefowski, Head of Building Design and Environmental Sustainability at National Theatre, led a tour of the National Theatre’s spaces and environmental practice.

Thanks to those who attended and we hope that the events’ conversations and ideas spark future collaborations and projects.