Creative Climate Action Tool Kit

The Creative Climate Action Tool Kit is for small creative businesses, SMEs, freelancers, and organisations to support their climate action journey.

Most of us want to act and do our bit, but the climate crisis can feel totally overwhelming – we can feel like we have to be an expert to talk about it, like what we do won’t make a lick of difference or feel paralysed at the scale of change needed.

And further, most resources for climate action in the creative sector are geared towards larger creative and cultural venues, organisations and entities who have buildings, large staff sizes, regular income, exec groups and boards. This doesn’t represent a large proportion of our thriving creative sector in the South-West. For smaller and more dynamic creative entities, the challenges and opportunities are totally different and require smaller scale, more flexible approaches.

This tool kit is the outcome of a series of interviews and workshops with a broad range of small creative practitioners and businesses in the Watershed and Pervasive Media Studio community – and is geared towards creatives wanting to be more environmentally responsible within their practice but are unsure of where to start. The Tool Kit includes:

1. Creative Climate Action Video: This video gives an overview of key principles which help make the task of climate action feel more achievable and exciting, and breaks down different pathways to action. Laying out the unique barriers and opportunities for smaller creative practitioners and businesses, it suggests a guided exercise to help map and prioritise which actions to take forward.

2. Creative Climate Action Worksheet: This is a worksheet to be used in accompaniment with the guided exercise, to help structure thinking and map ideas generation.

3. Creative Climate Action Checklist: This can be used in tandem with the guided exercise or entirely on its own. It introduces 6 action areas: Buildings & Energy, Digital, Finance, Travel & Touring, Materials and Waste, and People. For each of these, it has a list of action prompts (sourced from different small creative entities through workshops and conversations) and a directory of tools and resources that can provide more information or support further action.

Take time to watch the video and go through the checklist. If you have any thoughts or feedback, don’t hesitate to contact zoe.r@watershed.co.uk.