Last Tuesday, 31st July, several representatives of cities in the Ruhr region took part in the debate how to increase the number of people getting involved in regional Climate-Change projects in the future. The project is part of the URBACT movement, which means, that the cooperation is funded by URBACT and the European Union. The aim of URBACT, a European exchange and learning programme, is to help cities to develop pragmatic solutions that are new and sustainable and that integrate economic, social and environmental urban topics with the help of international collaboration. Together with five other cities – Manchester , Wroclaw , Mantova , Sibenik and Agueda – Gelsenkirchen wants to share best practice and solutions during the next weeks. As best practice examples you can consider for example the Blue Dot Festival in the UK, the Climate Challenge RUHR 2022 and the Alley of Change in the Ruhr region.
More and more institutions discover cooperation’s between Arts and Culture with the city as one of the main drivers leading to a social change and a new awareness of climate actions. In the first volume of 2018, ‘Kultur & Politik’ , the magazine of the German Cultural Council (Deutscher Kulturrat ) addressed the links between culture and climate change and debated the role of sustainability within the cultural field. One of the authors, Bernd Bornhorst, addressed the agenda goals 2030 where culture is often understood as an object to be taken care – and demanded a more active role: culture above all must be seen as an acting subject being a driver for sustainable development! This realisation strongly demands for actions and new steps towards a climate neutral future.
Therefore, ecce is organising a workshop looking at existing city, climate and culture practice and models and providing an opportunity for exchange and thinking about future actions to support and develop creative climate action in the cities of the Ruhr region, including practical approaches and tools to support climate action in the cultural and creative sector. The day is open to representatives of cities’ strategy, cultural and environmental departments and creative and cultural organisations as well as artists, cultural professionals and creators. The workshop will take place on Tuesday 9th October 2018, 9.00-17.00 at the Wissenschaftspark in Gelsenkirchen and will be led by Catherine Bottrill and Claire Buckley, two leading experts on culture and climate change, from the environmental charity Julie’s Bicycle in London, which was also honored with the Achievement Award, a non-monetary prize of the NICE Award in 2016.
The workshop is free of charge, but we recommend you register as the number of participants is limited. Please register here