Partnerships with environmental movements
Invite activist groups or environmental movements to become involved in the common conceptual work. This is an important and inclusive tool because on the one hand, it enriches the programme with relevant content and ensures high quality presentation and on the other, it gives the floor to other, less audible groups or movements. This makes conscious use of the symbolic capital which every cultural institution has at its disposal. It also gives very real support to the topic or problem which a given group or movement is concerned about.
> As far as art is concerned, an example of multi-entity cooperation may be the exhibition ‘Magical Engagement’ carried out at the Municipal Gallery Arsenał in Poznań. The exhibition gave the floor to the eco-movements Obóz dla Puszczy (Camp for Białowieża Forest) and the Wild Carpathians Initiative, on equal footing with the curators, artists and activists (2020).
> Flow is a mobile artistic residency on the River Vistula that has been run by artists Agnieszka Brzeżańska and Ewa Ciepielewska for a decade. Every year, a wooden scow travels many kilometres, carrying people from the artistic community, who spend their time there and develop their environmental awareness. Ewa Ciepielewska talks more about this project in a conversation with Aleksandra Jach (2021).
> Siostry Rzeki cooperate with the coalition Ratujmy Rzeki (Save Rivers).
> The House of Nature and Culture in Teremiski (Dom Przyrody i Kultury w Teremiskach) is building a community around nature issues. More on this topic: Jędrzej Dudkiewicz, ‘W sercu Puszczy. Jak Dom Przyrody i Kultury w Teremiskach buduje społeczność i chroni przyrodę’ [‘In the heart of the forest. How the House of Nature and Culture in Teremiski builds community and protects nature’], (2024).
> A project around the Irrigation Fields in Wrocław initiated cooperation between the cultural world and environmental organisations, public institutions and science: the Natural History Museum in Wrocław, the Department of Sustainable Development of the City of Wrocław, the Municipal Water and Sewage Company of Wrocław, the State Archives in Wrocław, the EcoDevelopment Foundation, and EkoUnia. More about the project here: Arek Gruszczyński, Fields (2021).
> The Wola Cultural Centre (WCK) organised the ‘Ecologies of Culture’ festival in collaboration with the Culture for Climate collective (2025).
> An example of an inter-institutional initiative is ‘C-Change: Culture and Art in the Fight Against Climate Change’ implemented in Wrocław, which aims to establish cooperation between the city and cultural centres in order to take action to protect the environment, and its main goal is to establish relationships between institutions in a given city.
> Coalitions of creative individuals can take the form of a collective supporting activism in the fields of culture, society and politics. The Post-Artistic Services Office (BUP) is involved in anti-fascism, but also climate and other issues, cooperating with institutions without being dependent on them. The BUP’s slogan is: ‘imagination is our weapon’, which they have proven many times by participating in protests, marches, conventions and meetings where it was important to combine different dimensions of social function with creative thinking.
> One of the BUP’s projects is its involvement in Opolno-Zdrój, a former spa village which was swallowed up by the Turów lignite mine. After the mining concession was extended, a group of creative and local people got together and decided to highlight the specific environmental, social and economic costs of this rampant extractivism.
Coalitions for climate
You can also build alliances with other institutions and organisations associated with culture. You do not have to start off by setting up an intercity network with the most important cultural institutions. It is much better to start with a narrower but deeper local collaboration. It is easier then to find time and space to work out common goals and values, and define directions of action.
> One of the most inspiring coalitions of culture-for-climate networks is Manchester-based GMAST.
> Cultural institutions and organisations from Brno have also set up a coalition for climate and are calling the city authorities to declare a climate emergency. Arts and culture institutions from Prague also create a network and have proclaimed a climate emergency.
> Climate emergency is also referred to by the Culture Declares Emergency movement, which collects signatures on its website from individuals and organisations in the UK who wish to support ‘justice, work towards regenerative change and provide care through culture, heritage and the arts’. In their manifesto, they state explicitly that culture and the arts bear joint responsibility for the ecological and climatic state of the world. They point to the need for a fundamental change in the way institutions are run.
> Museums Facing Extinction is a research project that places great emphasis on working with different communities in the context of climate change.
> Museums for Future is a grassroots global network of museums and cultural institutions, building a community based on an environmental declaration signed by its members.
Apart from making declarations and working with your institution for change, you can join working groups with a wide range. An example of such a group is ‘Wikipedia for climate’ which is supported by the Nauka o Klimacie portal (Climate Science). As we know, Wikipedia is a basic source of knowledge for nearly everyone. Therefore, the reach of well-written entries for the ecological and climate crisis will be really significant. As institutions, we can also support climate movements.
> While making its first exhibition, the Virtual Museum of the Anthropocene decided that the proceeds from the exhibition and the accompanying events will go to the Wild Carpathians Initiative. This means that all the funds donated during a voluntary collection will be handed over to this initiative, which protects the trees of the Carpathian forest from logging.
Exerting influence on regulations
When working in a partnership, network or other community to minimise the effects of the climate crisis, it is worth setting increasingly ambitious goals. With your attitude and actions, demand changes to regulations in city and municipality offices and actively participate in creating local environmental policies. Finally, influence trends and change the law on a national scale. This stage requires a lot of willpower and commitment, so act together and do not get discouraged by failures.
Inspired by cultural institutions and organisations, the City of Warsaw began to include environmental criteria in competitions for director positions in cultural institutions, strategic documents supporting municipal cultural policy, and grant competition rules.
> This document is the result of joint efforts by cultural education practitioners and the City of Warsaw. The natural environment and climate change were deemed two of the most important topics in the field of education. Read more: Cultural education (2022).
> ‘When analysing the candidate’s programme for the day-to-day operation and development of the Theatre, the selection committee will pay particular attention to… proposals for pro-environmental activities within the framework of the cultural institution’s operation and plans for their implementation’: this quote comes from a stipulation in the announcement of the competition for the position of director at the Zbigniew Hübner Powszechny Theatre (2024).
> The rules of the competition organised by the Cultural Education Fund include the following provision: The production of events submitted in the competition should be environmentally sustainable and, where possible, based on the use of local resources, the reduction of energy-intensive promotional projects and cooperation with environmentally friendly suppliers and contractors. Guidelines on energy-intensive production can be found on the Culture for Climate website. We encourage you to use the Cooperative’s resources.
> Entry in a competition for social organisations for cultural education in Warsaw: “The processes of planning, creating, producing and presenting cultural objects and events should take into account concern for the social and natural environment – for resources, climate, and economic and social cohesion.” (in: Competition announcement, Additional information, point C).
