21 October 2024
Fábrica das Palavras, Vila Franca de Xira

Now available

Climate change has become a climate emergency. Culture professionals in different countries come together, in an organised and structured way, in working groups, associations and other types of initiatives, aware of two essential things: the impact of the climate emergency on the sector itself; and the role that the sector can play in creating policies for transformative climate action.

In Portugal, we cannot say that the cultural sector is mobilised. There are several projects and initiatives, but they respond to individual concerns and have a local reach. There is no widespread and shared awareness, much less vision and demand, regarding the emergency we are facing. This reality, at the same time, is not specific to the sector. During the election campaign, the climate emergency was not an “issue” for most political parties.

At the end of our conference last year, there were people suggesting that the theme in 2024 would be, precisely, the climate emergency. Here we are and we launch the invitation to join. We need to listen, we need to talk, we need to act.

Special thanks to António Pedro Lopes and Margarida Ferra.

Programme

Apart form the keynote speech, the conference will take place in Portuguese.

9.45 Welcome

10.00-10.40 Keynote speech
Máret Anne Sara, Art as a vital weapon when your war is invisible

10.40-12.30 What do we know in Portugal?
In 2023, two studies were presented in Portugal: “The part for the whole: Ecological and sustainable practices in the performing arts in Portugal” (Vânia Rodrigues, Fernando Matos Oliveira, António Ventura; Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Coimbra) and “The impact environment of an exhibition” (Maria do Rosário Palha, Patrícia Fernandes, Sara Pais; Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian). What knowledge did these studies bring us? And what developments were there after your presentation?

10.40-11.00 Vânia Rodrigues, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Coimbra
Not everything is green: a reflection based on the study “The Part for the Whole. Ecological and Sustainable Practices in the Performing Arts in Portugal”

11 -11.30 Coffee break

11.30-11.50 Luís Jerónimo, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Arts and culture as catalysts for climate action

11.50-12.30 Debate
Moderation: António Pedro Lopes

12.30-14.00 Lunch

14.00–15.30 Let’s listen to activist groups
In recent years, the climate justice movement has challenged the Culture and Arts sector, in particular, with regard to its role, functioning and responsibility. Is the role of Culture in the climate emergency clear? What forms did this contestation take? Has it worked? What are the criticisms and how do you respond?

In a State of Climate Emergency: The role of Culture
Climax: Sinan Eden, Sara Gaspar, Ana Maria Valinha
Two years ago, António Guterres at a climate summit: “We are on a highway to climate hell, with our foot still on the accelerator.” Last year, scientists published an article in the journal Nature in which they said they were “horrified” because “we have entered uncharted territory” in which not even scientists could predict how worse the situation is. There are already more people displaced by the climate crisis than by all other crises combined. In this context of climate emergency, what is Art and Culture for?

What can culture do? Much, much more.
Community Leads: Matilde Caria Secca
In the latest report released by the IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2023), the importance of the arts in delivering narratives that lead to sociocultural change was recognized for the first time. Culture and the Arts, engines of connection and empathy, now have the responsibility to become true allies of climate justice. Even though the environmental agenda increasingly appears in cultural programming, efforts are still insufficient. We need a society that prioritizes the environment. To achieve this, cultural institutions must motivate proximity projects and collaborate closely with nature: attentive to local characteristics, and focused on their communities.

Debate
Moderation: Margarida David Cardoso

15.30-16.00 Coffee break

16.00-17.30 Climate justice, climate racism: Is it the words that bother us?
With António Brito Guterres, Joana Simões Henriques (MAAT), Vânia Gala, Colectivo Guarda Rios (to be confirmed)
Moderation: Margarida Ferra

17.15-17.30 Final report
Joana Guerra Tadeu, Imperfect Environmentalist

17.30 Closing