Sustain: from the Past, for the Future – Symposium
One-day symposium · Registration now open
Sustain:from the Past,for the Future
Working across Art, Heritage and Sustainability
This project is part of the Fixing Our Broken Planet programmeLink opens in a new window in partnership with the Natural History Museum, LondonLink opens in a new window.
Organised by Yanni ChenLink opens in a new window, Ilaria RavazzoloLink opens in a new window, and Lily CrowtherLink opens in a new window, Curator at Leamington Spa Art Gallery & MuseumLink opens in a new window.
How can art, heritage and cultural practice help us respond to sustainability challenges?
18 November 2026
10.00am–4.30pm
Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum
About the event
A space for discussion, exchange and collaboration across different disciplines and sectors.
This one-day symposium invites PhD students, early career researchers, emerging artists, and museum and heritage practitioners to share work that explores the relationship between culture and sustainability.
We are especially interested in contributions that think beyond sustainability as a topic to be represented or communicated. Instead, this event asks how museums, galleries, heritage sites, creative practices, and research communities can actively contribute to more sustainable ways of thinking, working, and living.
Submit a proposal
Bring your work into the conversation.
Extended deadline
31 August 2026
Decisions will be communicated by 14 September 2026.
Download and complete the application form, then email it directly to curators@warwickdc.gov.uk. Support is available to cover travel and accommodation costs for speakers who would otherwise find it difficult to attend.
Download application form ↗Link opens in a new window
Download full call for proposals ↓Link opens in a new window
We welcome proposals in formats including, but not limited to:
- 15-minute presentations
- Practice-based reflections
- Case studies
- Creative research
- Experimental formats
Themes
Four lines of enquiry
01. Collaboration across disciplines and institutions
This theme explores how people from different fields and organisations work together to respond to sustainability challenges. We welcome contributions that reflect on collaboration between artists, researchers, museums, communities, local authorities, charities, and other partners.
02. Museums and cultural institutions as spaces for sustainability action
This theme considers how museums, galleries, archives, and cultural organisations can do more than display sustainability issues. It asks how cultural spaces can support public discussion, community participation, learning, and practical action around environmental and social change. This also extends behind the scenes to sustainable practice in conservation and collections care.
03. Creative methods for researching sustainability challenges
This theme focuses on creative and experimental ways of understanding sustainability issues. We are interested in how art practice, storytelling, exhibition-making, walking, mapping, performance, visual methods, and participatory workshops can open up new ways of researching and communicating complex challenges.
04. Embodied knowledge, memory and objects
This theme explores how objects and artefacts can carry memory and meaning across time and generations. Collections can shape our intergenerational understanding of landscape, climate, weather and nature. We are interested in how this is linked to embodied knowledge, identity, community, heritage, material culture and lived experiences of belonging and care.
Alongside the exhibition
25 September 2026 – 10 January 2027
This exhibition explores how people in the past lived more sustainably, using less stuff, less energy, and making space for nature. These examples from history can inspire us to make positive changes today.
Programme
Symposium programme
Wednesday 18 November 2026 · 10.00am–4.30pm
| 10:00–10:25 | Registration |
|---|---|
| 10:25–10:30 | Welcome, opening remarks |
| 10:30–11:30 | Panel 1 – Curating Sustainability: Exhibitions and Creative Interpretations |
| 11:30–11:40 | Morning break |
| 11:40–12:40 | Panel 2 – Collections and Communities: Preserving, Connecting and Remembering |
| 12:40–13:40 | Lunch break |
| 13:40–14:40 | Panel 3 – Places in Transition: Landscape and Heritage |
| 14:40–14:50 | Afternoon break |
| 14:50–15:50 | Panel 4 – Crafting Knowledge: Traditions, Practices and Engagement |
| 15:50–16:00 | Thanks, closing remarks |
All sessions will take place in the Conservatory at the Royal Pump Rooms. There will be light refreshments available throughout the day. No lunch will be provided by the organisers but the room will be open during the lunch break.
Attend the event
Join the conversation.
Attendance is free. Advance registration is required. You can attend without submitting a proposal.
Registration
Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum
Royal Pump Rooms
The Parade
Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire CV32 4AA
Registration is now open. Please use the online registration form to reserve your place.
Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum
Royal Pump Rooms · The Parade · Royal Leamington Spa · Warwickshire CV32 4AA