Art in Nature Co-design Session
In March 2023, we brought people together from communities of place and practice in Rotherham to plan a new project which will use art as a tool to tackle climate change and support nature recovery.
Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust have been working with communities across Rotherham for the last four years through the natural neighbours project to encourage people to take action for nature.
Artful - Make it happen have been delivering creative community led projects in the borough for the past 20 years.
Arts Catalyst have recently relocated to Sheffield and have a strong track record of developing and delivering co-created projects which support communities to engage with climate change through creativity.
These three organisations have identified an opportunity to work together to create a partnership project which would work alongside key communities in Rotherham, focussing on some of the least well served communities, to co-create an creative programme to take action against climate change and support nature recovery.
In February 2023, we made contact with a number of key creative, strategic and community organisations and invited them to attend a co-design session to scope out this project.
19 people attended from the 14 organisations including community representatives.
Based on the findings from the session, we are going on to develop a project which intends to deliver against the following purposes:
To be Youth and Future Focussed
To take action for people and nature
To lead to community connection and growth
Our co-design sessions identified a strong focus on being youth and community focussed. Partners wanted the project to create opportunities for young people to learn, act and use their creativity. They wanted the project to help young people develop pride in place and an appreciation of the place they live whilst helping them develop the knowledge and skills to support communities to live well in a sustainable future.
The people who attended the co-design session expressed a strong desire for the project to be action oriented. The size of the challenge of the climate emergency and nature loss was keenly felt and at times overwhelming. People expressed a desire to protect nature and the planet and work collectively to conserve nature and create a healthy natural world. This project will purposely encourage people to stand up and take action for the climate.
The design sessions identified strong themes of community connection, shared learning and the creation of shared identities. Art and creativity was seen as a key tool to connect people of different ages and from different backgrounds and the opportunity to create a new and future focussed shared identity to help people connect and take action together.
The following principles were also identified to guide project design and delivery:
Knowledge led and focussed on growing skills and capabilities
Treat people equally and meet them where they are
Promote social justice
Listen to and value all contributions
Collaboration and partnership are essential to delivery
Be joyful, positive and celebratory
Test and learn along the way
There was support for the project to focus on four specific communities: Canklow, Eastwood, Ferham and Kimberworth. The project will need to engage and involve 4 key stakeholder groups:
Strategic organisations
Environmental experts
Youth Organisations
Community organisations and groups
