Creative Climate Accelerator

The Creative Climate Accelerator is a new training programme supporting diverse participants working within or connected to an NPO or IPSO to step into climate leadership.

The Creative Climate Accelerator supports participants to translate knowledge around climate issues into positive action. Participants are nominated by an Arts Council England NPO or IPSO, who will commit to supporting their nominee to implement collaborative legacy projects following the workshop series. The nominee can be a staff member or a freelancer / associate that the organisation wishes to collaborate with. This may be through making time, resources, professional development, and/or other relevant support available to the participant.

This six-part programme runs April-May 2024 and includes key introductory themes for culture and climate action. The workshop series covers the causes of climate and environmental degradation; adaptation and mitigation; climate justice; biodiversity; and leading change. We will also support participants to work on action plans for their project.

The first five Creative Climate Accelerator sessions will be held online on Zoom, with a final session in person.

This programme will equip emerging leaders with the skills and understanding to act as agents of change in the sector, with a particular focus on underrepresented groups, for example, people of colour, disabled people, LGBTQ+ people, or people from working class backgrounds. Participants will have some knowledge or experience in climate issues but would like to be supported to advance their skills. You don’t have to be an expert, for example, you may have been part of writing an environmental policy for your organisation, a voluntary group around environmental issues, or have been involved in a creative project addressing climate change.

Participants will be nominated by an Arts Council England NPO or IPSO to take part. They will be in current roles that have the ability or potential to make change happen and this does not have to be tied to seniority.

The Accelerator will be hosted by Julie’s Bicycle’s Climate Justice Lead, Farah Ahmed (she/they), supported by the broader Julie’s Bicycle team and sector-leading guests.

• NPO/IPSO nominators will have dedicated support from the Julie’s Bicycle team and external experts to embed climate action either within their teams or through a meaningful partnership with a freelancer/associate.
• The participant will have access to a wealth of knowledge and resources from the Julie’s Bicycle team to build their capacity for climate leadership.
• Participants and their nominating organisations will be part of a network of supportive peers.

• Consider who you would like to nominate to apply for this programme and collaborate with them to develop the initial project or action idea and application.
• Define the commitment you are making to support the legacy project and the participant, (for example through space for them to work, mentoring, materials, funding to support their time/travel/plans); and ensure that there is structure in place to deliver on this commitment. If the participant is a freelancer, we would expect your commitment to include fair compensation for their time.
• The named NPO/IPSO contact person should be available attend the final action planning session in person on May 22nd.
• We strongly encourage that you support the travel costs for the freelancer to attend the in-person day on May 22nd, however if this proves a challenge or a barrier, please do get in touch with us at Julie’s Bicycle.

Each online workshop will be hosted on Zoom, from 10am-12:30pm on the following dates. The final session will be one-day workshop, held in-person (location TBC).

• April 10th – Online (introduction: culture and climate)
• April 17th – Online (The big picture: science and justice)
• April 24th – Online (Biodiversity)
• May 1st – Online (Making change)
• May 8th – Online (Action planning part 1)
• May 22nd: In-person workshop (Action planning part 2)

The Creative Climate Accelerator is free to attend. We expect participants to be available to attend all sessions. We also invite the nominating person from the organisation to join the in-person workshop on May 22nd with the participant, in order to support the development of the project or idea.

Applications are live from Feb 1st – March 4th.

The application form asks for a contact for both the nominating organisation and the nominated participant. Please use the downloadable document below to prepare your responses collaboratively.

To apply, fill out the google form below or fill out the answers on the downloadable word document and email them to farah@juliesbicycle.com

Google application now

Downloadable word document

If you need this in another format, please contact Farah Ahmed.

Applications will close on Monday 4 March, 5pm. We will inform you of whether or not your application is successful by Friday 15 March.

Applications will be assessed based on the following criteria:

• Eligibility for the programme
• Strength of collaboration and commitment between the participant and the nominating organisation
• Potential to create impact through the project or idea