YOUTH CLIMATE ASSEMBLY: ENGAGEMENT AND IMPACT - A PUBLIC SHARING EVENT 02 FEB 2023 11.30-2 (refreshments and light lunch included) in the Helen Martin Studio, WAC. Over the course of 2022, a team of Warwick researchers, external artists, and young people from schools in Coventry have been working collaboratively and creatively in response to the global climate crisis and the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This event is in partnership with Sarah Shalgosky (Curator of the Mead Gallery, WAC) and WAC’s Creative Learning team. We will showcase these three interrelated creative arts education Impact projects, exploring how they have used drama, dance, digital arts, creative writing, and performance poetry as ways of navigating the messy, complex, and often overwhelming topics of climate change and environmental degradation.

11.30 – 11.45 Guests welcomed. Morning refreshments available.
11.45-12.45 Youth Climate Assembly and ACTING ON CLIMATE project presentations.
12.45-1.30 LUNCH
1.30-2 Roundtable discussion about climate education, politics and arts with contributions from across disciplines/art forms.
At the heart of these projects has been an emphasis on co-creation and collaboration. Guests will learn more about the opportunities and challenges of complex cross-sector partnerships that aim to engage non-academic publics directly in research. Together, we question the exciting interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary implications involved in co-creating artistic outputs and producing research impact.
On 2nd Feb, the research team, Warwick postgraduates and young people will assemble to present their findings in the form of ‘ethnodrama’ – a method which involves bringing research data to life through performance. Invited guests will also:
• Watch a short documentary film that summarises part of our creative process.
• Learn about a new online learning resource containing performance-based teaching materials.
• Participate in a discussion about the role education, specifically arts education, can play in addressing the UN’s SDGs.
• Discover how young people and artists have engaged in and contributed to academic research.
• Learn about interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary pedagogies and how these can be applied in different learning contexts and across different sectors.
• Explore opportunities for collaboration with partners across the University and related networks in Coventry & Warwickshire.
Our diverse network includes two secondary schools in Coventry and some of those young people and their teachers will participate in this event. Charlotte Hale-Smith (FLUX) – an arts practitioner specialising in STEAM education; Ashley James Brown – digital artist; Luke Newbold – videographer and creative director of Lens Change Ltd; John Bernard – spoken word artist, rapper, and youth mentor.
Our academic research team includes Rachel Turner-King (Education Studies), Bobby Smith (Theatre and Performance Studies), Naomi Waltham-Smith (Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies), Jonathan Clarke (Global Sustainable Development) and Karen Simecek (Philosophy).