Native Events has been working since early 2021 to create and facilitate climate action education and training programmes specific to the creative and cultural sector in Ireland. In 2022, we joined forces with Julie´s Bicycle Europe and The Green Arts Initiative in Ireland to work more closely with The Arts Council, and this year we have been rolling out a comprehensive programme on climate and environmental policies and action plans, aiming to inspire and empower the sector to take action today!
Now we are beginning to see the positive effects of these educational programmes, as sustainable practices become increasingly visible at festivals, cultural events and within arts organisations. Where before, we had struggled to find case studies from within Ireland, now there are plentiful examples to draw from when designing new training programmes. Just as can be seen in the latest educational work we have done with The Arts Council in creating the Climate Action Resource Hub.
It often happens that in the face of the climate and biodiversity crisis, people begin to lose hope. We start to feel that we can’t change things, or won’t change quickly enough. At Native Events, we agree that the task ahead may seem insurmountable, but we are seeing concrete evidence of positive change across the creative sector as a whole. And we know that this is going to continue well into 2025 and beyond!
For instance, through the Climate Action Resource Hub Summer Series, participants from Arts Organisations all over Ireland learned how to
- Assess their organisations´sustainability
- Bring their team along on the journey
- Develop an action plan
- Understand their impact in specific areas such as energy, materials and procurement, and nature and biodiversity.
We are excited to see how the participating organisations begin to champion sustainability and what new practices, examples and case studies emerge as a result. We are seeing the role of sustainability officer or co-ordinator becoming common practice, and training programmes such as this one go a long way to filling the existing knowledge gap in arts organisations.
The current Autumn Series of Climate Action Training is aimed at educating festival organisers and production companies. Thereby shifting the climate action focus onto travel and transport, climate change adaptation, and content programming and communications.
All recordings are freely available for everyone to watch at the Arts Council Climate Action Resource Hub.
If your organisation is looking to upskill on climate action and sustainability, we would be delighted to create a tailored training programme that works for you. You can reach us at info@nativeevents.ie or Call us directly on +353 (0)83 020 4525.
