Climate Justice in Creative Practice

Climate justice is about the intersection between human rights, social justice and the climate and environmental movement. It is recognising climate change as a systemic issue, which is not only environmental or scientific but deeply connected to our ethics, economies, politics, laws, and ways of interacting with nature and one another.

But what has climate justice got to do with cultural organisations? How can we build climate justice principles into our programming and our organisational structures, and who can we learn from? How can the arts and culture support the wider movement for justice on a local and global scale?

We’ll hear from Julie’s Bicycle’s panel of experts, Charise Johnson, Vicky Sword-Daniels, and Farah Ahmed, as well as our special guest Alexandra Alberda, Curator of Indigenous Perspectives at Manchester Museum.

This event is part of the Arts Council England Environmental Sustainability Programme, coming together with Julie’s Bicycle’s Creative Green programme.

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What we will cover:

• What is climate justice?
• Tips and guidance for immediate steps you can take
• Panel discussion and Q&A

Speakers

Alexandra P. Alberda, PhD., is the first ever Curator of Indigenous Perspectives at the Manchester Museum (University of Manchester). She joins Manchester Museum from Bournemouth University where she was a doctoral researcher in Graphic Medicine and Curatorial Practice and research illustrator, including The Data Storytelling Workbook (Routledge 2020). Her research and practice critically engages with institutional structures of power that limit civic engagement and do not facilitate needed reparative reconciliation, amplification of marginalised voices, and displacement of (colonial) power.

Charise Johnson, science policy researcher and environmental justice advocate, joined the Julie’s Bicycle team in September 2021. She leads on the policy research across JB programmes, manages the delivery of the Creative Climate Leadership programme, oversees JB’s environmental and climate justice work alongside the Climate Justice Lead, and represents JB at public engagements.

Charise has a broad remit, with experience working on ocean conservation, scientific integrity, environmental justice and science policy.

Charise is a co-founder of Solidaritree, a creative environmental community run by women of colour who champion partnership and collaboration, challenge exclusionary narratives around the environment and the distribution of resources, and accessibly communicate the urgent need for change. She is a committee member of Science London, training and enabling scientists and science communicators to employ equitable practice within their work.

Charise served on the leadership board of the volunteer-led advocacy group 500 Women Scientists, where she worked on advancing gender and racial equity in STEM. She is also a mentor for Terra, an organisation that aims to get 100 million people from various professional backgrounds working on climate change by 2030.

She holds a BA in Psychology, an MS in Environmental Science, and is interested broadly in equity and justice aspects of science, environment and society, sprinkled with a good dose of humour.

Vicky Sword-Daniels is an expert in climate and disaster resilience with 14 years’ of experience. Her background in interdisciplinary research, knowledge exchange and evaluation, focuses on the social impacts of environmental change and building resilience. In her career she has worked across sectors including engineering, academia and international development. She is fascinated by the intersection between culture and climate, and in exploring the multiple connections between people, place and culture.

Vicky joined Julie’s Bicycle in November 2020 as the Arts Council England Programme Lead, supporting the arts and culture sector to understand and improve environmental performance and to share learning about experiences and solutions. Vicky is experienced in facilitation, participatory approaches, knowledge exchange, building and supporting partnerships, and supporting learning processes.

She has worked in partnership with a wide range of organisations on large international programmes and projects on climate and disaster resilience and research for development with a focus on finding out what works, and what can be done better, to improve both development outcomes and future programming.

Vicky is a social volcanologist and holds a Doctorate in Urban Sustainability and Resilience. She has lived in New Zealand and worked internationally, largely in Latin America and the Caribbean and the Sahel region in Africa.