Putting Climate Centre Stage

Recently, we have been thinking about Climate Justice / Injustice and trying to figure out how an arts production company like ourselves can address it. It took us a while to get our heads around what it meant for us and how we could help.

Tree on a theatre stage

Friends of the Earth UK defines Climate Injustice as –

Unjust systems that continue to drive climate breakdown, like economic growth at any cost, also worsen existing oppression and further marginalise poorer and more vulnerable communities“.

Working with this definition it struck us there is a direct way we can address the imbalance.  We deliver at least 20% of our work to communities and young people living in areas high on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD)- for these communities we provide either free or subsided arts provision, ensuring that economic factors do not disallow children to engage with high-quality creative experiences.  

We know that people living in areas high on the SIMD (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation) face Climate Injustice in Scotland, as the changing climate pushes up food production costs, causes issues within their homes, requires more energy to heat and cool the spaces in which they live and adverse weather conditions affecting public transport and peoples ability to get to work, all have a huge economic impact on families already struggling. Visible Fictions can play a part in addressing this by continuing and increasing our focus on the affordable delivery of art in these communities.  

Our new Programme of Work for the next three years strongly focuses on well-being and mental health. We believe it is vital that young people feel equipped to tackle climate anxiety and our productions, animations and Creative Learning projects will provide the tools and safe space to discuss these feelings and make sense of them.

We found this PDF document from the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) really useful – you might too.

Our journey to Net Zero continues.  Join the conservation – drop us a line on Facebook, Instagram or X. Or why not follow us on TikTok.