Culture and Environment Roundtables

In summer 2021, a series of digital Culture and Environment Roundtables were held in four countries: Turkey, Indonesia, Colombia and Nigeria with a final event in Milan to coincide with Youth4Climate.

Julie’s Bicycle convened the Roundtables, alongside four in-country organisations, in partnership with The British Council as part of The Climate Connection, a global platform for dialogue, cooperation and action against climate change, in the lead up to the United Nations climate conference, COP26.

Selected participants from environmental and cultural fields came together – including policy-makers, municipalities, artists and cultural organisations – to explore how culture, and cultural policy specifically, is responding to the climate crisis.

The Roundtables were held under amended Chatham House Rule, but the findings, insights and themes were collated into a suite of short reports and visual minutes. In spite of widely different cultural contexts many of the themes and insights were shared.

Watch the plenary event in full, read the Outcomes and Insights Reports, and view the visual minutes from each Roundtable below.

Translations of these reports into the partner country languages will be available shortly.

Rewatch: Culture: The Missing Link – A lens on policy

Turkey

This Roundtable was hosted in Turkey and convened in partnership with the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) and the British Council in Turkey.

Visual Minutes

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Indonesia

This Roundtable was hosted in Indonesia and convened in partnership with Indonesian organisation INSPIRIT, and the British Council.

Visual Minutes

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Colombia

This Roundtable was hosted in Colombia and convened in partnership with Fondo Acción and The British Council in Colombia and the Americas.

Visual Minutes

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Nigeria

This Roundtable was hosted in Nigeria and convened in partnership with Five Cowries Arts Initiative and the British Council in Nigeria

Visual Minutes

Hear from The Climate Connection Roundtables

Below you will find an excerpt shared as part of our plenary session, with updates from representatives of each roundtable event, and Darren Henley, CEO of Arts Council England, in response to the roundtable process and findings.

Acknowledgements

Julie’s Bicycle is extremely grateful to everyone who was part of the Roundtables series, who contributed so generously. Your insights, ideas and dedication are deeply appreciated. We would like to thank Rami Tawfiq and The Climate Connections team at the British Council, and the Italian team who organised events in Milan to coincide with Youth4Climate, hosted by the Italian government, the COP26 UN Climate Conference joint host along with the UK. Thank you to everyone involved in the Roundtables for breathing life and soul into the conversation. Special thanks to the British Council teams in Colombia, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey, for all your commitment, connections and ideas. Any, finally, our partner organisations: Fondo Acción, INSPIRIT, Five Cowries Arts Education Initiative and Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV).

The Roundtables are part of a programme of work also encompassing an international research project and a series of short-films, led by Julie’s Bicycle, in partnership with the British Council for The Climate Connection, intended to strengthen the link between cultural and environmental policy. Find out more about The Climate Connection here.