The value of creative practices for sustainability transformations – a dialogue about art, power and change between researchers, governing actors, and artists

Academics, artists, activists and others have argued that, in order to build more sustainable ways of life, we must examine and amend our cultures, value systems, worldviews, imaginaries and deeply rooted myths and metaphors to change how we live as a part of planetary ecosystems. They have suggested that creative practices– art, theatre, gaming, storytelling, creative community organizing and activism, and more - have a critical role to play. Creative practices might offer visceral challenges to existing systems, help imagine and experience new ways of engaging with the world, empower marginalized and radically transformative perspectives and movements, and more. However, creative practices are always operating within structures of power - more specifically, they are dependent on funding and support by powerful actors, as well as publics and networks of peers. Dominant societal values steer and constrain the artistic and creative directions that creative practices might pursue. This means that the societal valuing and evaluation of creative practices is a potential leverage point for transformative change. This Innovative Session seeks to bring together policy makers, funders, and other governing actors with interdisciplinary researchers and with artists/creative practitioners. In this highly interactive session, we will follow 3 activities:

A virtual exhibition of inspirational creative practice and art projects (1.5 hours);
Dialogues about 6 principles of valuing creative practices for sustainability transformations (1 hour);
A group exercise that offers a critical ‘hack’ of Theory of Change thinking to re-imagine the role of art for better futures (1 hour).
The creative practice and art projects and their creators will be derived from the Horizon 2020 project CreaTures (see for more information: https://creatures-eu.org/) and projects from elsewhere in the world. The governing actors who participate will also join from the extensive CreaTures network.