As part of Julie’s Bicycle Europe, the Creative Green team has been working in partnership with The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon and Creative Ireland – an all-of-government culture and wellbeing initiative which seeks to inspire and transform people, places, and communities through creativity – to build capacity and connection on climate action.
Julie’s Bicycle Europe, based in Ireland, is a partnership between Native Events and Julie’s Bicycle, born from a shared vision and a long-standing commitment to creative climate action.
Arts Council of Ireland
Since 2022 we have been supporting the Arts Council to develop its approach to climate action, across both corporate action and its sector-facing work.
Key actions since 2022:
- Undertook a sector consultation on Climate Action – including interviews, a survey and a roundtable, engaging about 400 people in total – see the summary report on the consultation outcomes.
- Supported The Arts Council in developing its corporate climate action and Climate Action Roadmap and introducing climate action funding requirements for Strategically Funded Organisations (SFOs) and Arts Centres, about 150 organisations in total. These organisations are now required to have a Climate Action Policy and Plan from 2025.
- Designed and delivered tailored climate action training and support for SFOs and Arts Centres, following consultation with 30 arts organisations. To date, we have delivered 10 introductory workshops across Ireland (143 attendees), 17 training webinars (400 attendees), six drop-in clinics and three peer-to-peer exchanges (70 attendees), and one networking event (25 attendees). Webinar recordings and training materials are available on The Arts Council’s Climate Action Resource Hub.
- Developed a Climate Action 101 guide for the arts (to be launched in summer 2025).
- Delivered internal climate action engagement and training for Arts Council staff, arts managers and senior management.
Creative Ireland – Creative Climate Action Fund II
Creative Ireland’s Creative Climate Action Fund supports creative solutions to change how we think and act in response to the climate crisis. Fund I (2021-21) provided €2 million to support 15 projects. Fund II (2023-2025) is providing €5.8 million to 42 projects (19 two-year Ignite projects with up to €500,000 each and 23 one-year Spark projects with up to €50,000 each).
Between 2023 and 2024, we worked with Creative Ireland to design and deliver a programme to build a community of practice and connection across the 42 Fund II projects. We ran two residentials as well as a day for artists combining different approaches – some creative, some outdoors, some serious, some fun – providing time and space for peer learning and exchange and for people to connect informally.
This immersive programme emphasised:
- Cross-disciplinary co-creation and co-learning
- Collaboration with local authorities and communities
- Behaviour change strategies
- Exploring ways in which creativity can create connection, build trust and influence behaviour change
- Evaluating project impact and outcomes
- Addressing barriers and opportunities within Irish policy contexts
In October 2024 we ran The Gathering at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin – a sold-out event with 130 participants – to showcase and celebrate the Creative Climate Action projects. It acted as an end point of reflection for the Spark projects to celebrate all that they had achieved and learnt. For the Ignite projects, it served as a time to connect with the wider creative climate action community and take learnings on-board that could still be implemented within their own projects. The Gathering also brought national and local government representatives and policy makers alongside the creative community to experience the creative outputs and project stories, highlighting the ways in which creativity has created connection, built trust, and inspiration. This work has helped to build an emerging community of practice and amplify the story of what creativity brings to climate action.
Together, we are empowering leaders in Ireland to drive transformative action for a sustainable future.
