€2 million Creative Climate Action Fund announced by Ministers Catherine Martin and Eamon Ryan

The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in collaboration with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications is delighted to announce the 14 successful recipients of the €2 million Creative Climate Action fund. This Creative Ireland initiative supports creative, cultural and artistic projects that build awareness around climate change and empowers citizens to make meaningful behavioural changes.

Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin said:

“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.”

Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan said:

“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.”

14 projects from around the country were selected from 166 applications. They include:

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

Creative Climate Action Fund

The key objective of Creative Ireland’s Creative Climate Action initiative is to provide support for creative, cultural and artistic based projects that engage the public about the behaviour changes society will have to make to address climate change.

The fund was launched on 31 March 2021 by Ministers Catherine Martin and Eamon Ryan. It sought collaborative projects that could meaningfully connect people with profound changes happening in the environment, society and economy arising from climate change, using creative, cultural and artistic approaches to transform connection and awareness into climate action.

It is part of the Programme for Government, "Support Creative Ireland in its ‘Engaging the Public on Climate Change through the Cultural and Creative Sectors’ initiative" (p88).

Creative Ireland Programme

Creative Ireland is a five-year programme which connects people, creativity and wellbeing. We are an all-of-government culture and wellbeing programme that inspires and transforms people, places and communities through creativity. We are committed to the vision that every person in Ireland should have the opportunity to realise their full creative potential.

Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, Climate Action Fund

The projects will be co-funded with €1 million from the Climate Action Fund. The Climate Action Fund was established on a statutory basis in 2020 to provide support for projects, initiatives and research that contribute to the achievement of Ireland’s climate and energy targets, and for projects and initiatives in regions of the State, and within sectors of the economy, impacted by the transition to a low carbon economy. The Fund is resourced from proceeds from the levy paid to the National Oil Reserves Agency (NORA) in respect of relevant disposals of petroleum products, after the funding requirements of NORA have been met.

Further information on the Climate Action Fund is available at the following link: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/de5d3-climate-action-fund/

€2 million Creative Climate Action Fund announced by Ministers Catherine Martin and Eamon Ryan

Notes

Creative Climate Action Fund

Creative Ireland Programme

Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, Climate Action Fund

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