The Art and Energy Collective contributes to multiple United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by combining creativity with climate action and community engagement.

Can those of us working in support of a better world wear these badges better?

Over the past few months, we’ve been gathering in Plymouth, exploring how the culture sector can respond meaningfully to the climate and ecological emergencies. Through deep discussions, creative workshops, and shared inquiry, we’ve uncovered key questions, tensions, and opportunities that shape our ability to act.

During our most recent Let’s Change Culture session with the Culture Sector in Plymouth we explored ways to embed climate action in our teams and audiences.

Here is a summary of the group’s thinking.

Cultural organisations can play a pivotal role in addressing the climate emergency by equipping their teams with the necessary knowledge and skills. Implementing Carbon Literacy or climate and ecology training is an effective strategy to foster environmental awareness and action within your organisation.

For decades, fossil fuel companies have sponsored the arts, securing public goodwill and cultural influence. But as institutions sever ties, can renewable energy step in—and how should impact be measured?

For cultural organisations, creative venues, and artists, energy use is increasingly part of climate conversations. Many in the sector are being asked to assess their carbon footprints, cut emissions, and even offset their impacts. Reducing energy consumption is vital—but we must also look at the bigger picture.

It’s easy to get caught in the mindset that nothing is ever enough. But recognising progress isn’t about ignoring the challenges—it’s about fuelling ourselves to keep going.

In our Let's Change Culture discussions, we explored how the term "community engagement" is often misused or misunderstood, particularly by local authorities and organisations. True community engagement involves meaningful dialogue, trust-building, and agency for participants, but this isn’t always what people experience.

Let’s have enriching engagement experiences rather than purely extractive ones.

in a recent creative engagement session with the "Let's Change Culture" group, facilitated in collaboration with Plymouth Culture, I led participants through a collage-making exercise. The idea behind this session was simple but impactful: to understand creative engagement better, through doing and self-reflection to remember what it’s like to experience it first hand (rather than be the facilitator which is what most creatives usually experience!).