The Culture Climate Collective supports collaborative creative practice that promotes a holistic vision of change, working to increase students’ sense of hope and wellbeing while also strengthening their skills as climate justice advocates. I’m looking forward to seeing how students and artists can work together to imagine alternative futures.
Beatrice Pembroke, Executive Director, Culture, King's College London
13 October 2022
Introducing King's Culture Climate Collective
How can we develop a sense of agency and create new narratives in the context of the climate emergency?
With good news stories few and far between, and climate anxiety on the rise amongst university students, the arts can play an important role in creating new dialogical spaces, helping to generate new visions, and supporting students in finding community.
King’s Culture Climate Collective centres the arts, creativity and storytelling as powerful forces to realise sustainable futures for King’s students and the planet. Conceived by King’s Culture and Sustainability together with students, the Collective deploys intensive arts projects alongside vibrant participatory events that together allow King’s students to build community, envision new futures and take action.
The Culture Climate Collective upholds three priorities for students. They are:
- To build community — by creating spaces and art that foster hope, agency and reconnections to students’ shared roots of support.
- To embrace new values — by increasing students’ awareness of environmental injustices and amplify their voices in the fight for change.
- To seed superblooms — by providing students with new knowledge, networks and skills, supporting students’ professional development as emerging social and cultural leaders.
Collective activities will include:
Weathervane Gatherings
Telling us which way the wind is blowing these empowering events will bring together King’s students - ranging from the passionate to the simply curious - for collective art making, ideas exchange and sustainable feasts. Students will set the agenda, sharing wellbeing practices and creative strategies for climate activism. The first Weathervane event is taking place on 13 October 2022.
Groundwater Projects
Groundwater Projects bring together students interested in expanding their art and climate activism into a team with cutting-edge professional artists to dream up and deliver cultural experiences that highlight climate issues and inspire change. Each Groundwater Project will be unique to the vision of the students and artists leading it: from zinemaking to short films, from campus installations to pop-up street performances.
Spring showcase
As Spring arrives, this is a moment for the seeds that have been sown by the Culture Climate Collective to burst into bloom. Bringing together the work of the Collective, alongside student societies and others from across the King’s Community, it will be a moment to celebrate and share new visions for the future.
Find out more
King’s Staff and students who are interested in engaging with the Culture Climate Collective can find out more here or get in touch with the team at culture@kcl.ac.uk.