Today I began looking in earnest at why and how to join Culture Declares Emergency, something I’ve been considering for most of this year; and I’m looking for other Teesside creatives to join me, because frankly I feel like we all need a bit of solidarity, accountability, and witness for this kind of stuff.

I’m starting by exploring Declarations other individuals have made, and I’m loving this durational intervention by Johannes-Harm Hovinga, who made confetti out of the huge official climate collapse reports that every government is ignoring. It makes me want to do a piece of durational blackout poetry, something I’ve fancied for ages but not known what source document to use. Hmm, ok, log that as Idea #1…

An inspirational individual Declarer local to me is Justine Boussard, who is an Amateur Ancestor – great concept! – coming at Climate Emergency through the lens of museum curation. I love the clarity and verve of her declaration – something I’m definitely going to try to emulate. And of course there’s the brilliant Lady Kitt, whose mentoring I hope to write about later…

Or how about the mysteriously-monikered XYZ Poetics? I love how their Declaration talks about joining the dots, which makes me imagine experimental ways to format my eco-poems as text-art installations dot-linked like murder investigation boards. Hmm, (overly-ambitious) Idea #2…

And I’m very exited by this STONKING Declaration from Threads In The Ground, a self-described “climate hope organisation”. They are one of the artist/groups to receive a Culture House commission – a list that also includes me and my colleague Ellie Clewlow working together on a recycled junk mail/community poem project. (I’ll blog more about that on another day)

The other thing I’ve done today is I’ve eaten delicious soup and had fascinating conversations with ARC staff at their monthly Climate Cafe, a space for sharing both anxieties and good news. We talked about everything from the hidden water costs of AI searches to the absolute swag available in Stockton for charities through a council scheme that re-homes unwanted office equipment and computers – I’m now hungry for a free whiteboard, to UNLEASH STRATEGIC PLANNING upon!

I applied for a small climate-themed commission from ARC Stockton‘s ‘Make New Work’ grant scheme, and although I wasn’t successful, I ‘m profoundly thankful that they liked my ideas enough to find a chunk of change down the back of their metaphorical sofa and offer me support towards opening up a space for Teesside Climate Creatives to connect in an informal way while I try to keep myself on track with my own thinking.

I’m going to hang out at ARC most Thursday afternoons for the rest of the year, working my way through Culture Declares Emergency resources and toolkit blueprint for change. I’m going to reflect on my personal practice, my organisation (Tees Women Poets), and what I can do in terms of environmental policies, processes, manifestos…and I’m offering an open invitation to any creative or cultural practitioner in Teesside to join me whenever they can. Together we can hopefully come to our individual Declarations.

If all goes well, I will write a Declaration that is a long-form poem. I will then write out that poem in liquid papier mache and let it dry into large sheets of paper lace, which will then get exhibited in ARC’s gallery next February. If lots of other artists join me, perhaps there can be a group exhibition of art that makes a Declaration of climate emergency, and which communicates our resolve to be part of meeting that emergency head on with all the creative tools at our disposal.

If you’d like to be involved, you can email me here for all the dates I’ll be here.