Q&A | ‘Interest in the climate crisis is slackening because our attention is pulled in so many directions’

As world leaders gather for this year’s Conference of the Parties (COP30) in Brazil, arts, culture and heritage bodies have been calling for more recognition of the role they can play to inspire climate action.

The Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) and the digital art tour guide gowithYamo have launched London Art+Climate Week, a new five-day event designed to amplify climate action in the arts.

Running in parallel with COP30 (which takes place 10-21 November), the week-long initiative launched on 12 November and hopes to drive change by capturing the public imagination on this vital issue. The initiative comes at a pivotal moment amid what the GCC describes as slackening global attention to the crisis.

Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Barbican Art Gallery, Whitechapel Gallery and the Institute of Contemporary Art are among 25 participating institutions that will be running free special events throughout the week.

All exhibitions at participating galleries can be accessed for free throughout the week or during designated pay-what-you-can hours.

The GCC is a network of 2,000+ arts organisations and individuals in more than 60 countries committed to reducing the carbon impact of the visual art sector by 50% by 2030.

Museums Journal caught up with Lula Rappoport, community coordinator at the GCC, to hear more about London’s inaugural Art+Climate Week.

Can you tell us a little more about London Art+Climate week?

In alignment with COP30, London Art+Climate Week is a five day event that sees more than 25 visual arts organisations present over 30 exhibitions and activations on the topic of climate and environment. Working in partnership with gowithYamo, we created London Art+Climate Week to celebrate the role the arts can play in inspiring climate action and highlight how the sector can become more environmentally responsible. 

What have been the highlights of the week so far?

There is such a range in the programme so far, from sector facing events to artist led conversations. 

We kicked off on Wednesday with Resolve Collective, who gave tours of their new site in Silvertown that will soon be home to one of the largest climate futures centres in Europe. They spoke about how they pick up disused materials from museums and redistribute them to local communities and artists.

It was exciting to be surrounded by museum and gallery workers who were collectively imagining the potential of the space and how they could work with Resolve to make their operations more sustainable.

Wednesday evening, we hosted a sold out event at South London Gallery looking at the ways emerging artists are responding to the climate crisis through their work. Thursday evening, Cristea Roberts Gallery hosted a panel discussion about the erosion of the UK coast line and how it informed the body of work they have on display by Emma Stibbon.

From the subtle to the overt, these two events spoke to the role art can play in helping people understand and address the climate crisis.

Do you think the voice of arts and culture is being heard at COP?

Thanks to the incredible advocacy of various organisations around the world, culture is on the official agenda at COP30 and part of the conversation more than any previous iteration. Hopefully, this presence continues to grow as world leaders recognise the immense potential arts and culture can play in inspiring and mobilising.

Why do you think global interest in the climate crisis is slackening - and what role can cultural institutions play in changing this?

Interest in the climate crisis is slackening because our attention is pulled in so many directions and to matters that feel more immediate or closer to home. The climate crisis is so immense, it can be challenging to comprehend and thus act upon. Cultural institutions can help address this by platforming creative responses to climate that can help audiences better understand these issues and inspire action.

What has the Gallery Climate Coalition achieved since it was set up five years ago?

Since GCC’s founding five years ago, our membership has expanded to over 2,000 members in more than 60 countries. From our diverse array of free to use resources to our recently re-designed, sector specific carbon calculator, GCC has become a hub for arts organisations around the world looking to join a like-minded community and address their environmental impact. 

What are the coalition's future plans?

GCC plans to continue to advocate for reducing the sector’s carbon impact and harnessing the power of the arts to inspire broader change. Following the soon to be released 2025 Stocktake Report, which details the carbon reduction progress of GCC members, we are looking to scale the successful actions to reach our sector wide reduction targets.

We have also been overwhelmed by the positive response to London Art+Climate Week and are thinking hard about what this could look like as an annual event.