Rex Nettleford College Conference the Arts: Decolonizing the Spirit
by Caitlyn Kamminga

ABSTRACT

Creative Climate Communication: Metaphor, Imagination, Transformation, and Sustainability

There is a gap between what scientists suggest needs to be done about the climate crisis and the human institutions’ slowness and inaction in doing what is needed.

Metaphors are a way of sparking the imagination, so that we can visualize new possibilities. While imagining may occur “outside” reality, the alternatives it brings to light can provide ideas on how to move people and organizations towards change and even transformation to a different reality. In the case of climate change, that alternative reality is one where life on the planet goes on because of the transformation of existing human systems so that the planetary systems will hold, allowing life to be sustained.

Metaphors have the potential to spark a transformation, to invoke the need for ‘action’ to quite literally make a sustainable future for our species and many others simultaneously. Metaphors are also the key to a good calypso.

“To be a good calypsonian, you must be a good metaphor man so that you will be able to mix and be very creative with words…using metaphors is the best way to say the inappropriate appropriately and get away.”

Dr. Hollis Liverpool (The Mighty Chalkdust)

Calypso is rooted in traditions developed by West African enslaved people brought to the Caribbean. Unlike many other folk traditions, calypsonians traditionally speak directly to politicians, offering prescriptive solutions to social problems.

In this lecture presentation we will investigate the role of the artist in creative climate communication, examine an arts integrated project proposal for school residencies that explores climate change in small island developing states (SIDS), and identify why the fight for climate justice is also a fight for racial justice.

CONTEXT

The Arts: Decolonising the Spirit! was the theme for the 6th Rex Nettleford Arts Conference which was hosted online by the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, October 6-8, 2021.

From the website: “Signaling the role and place of the arts in current dialogue on social, cultural, and political discourse, this theme underscores a journey of decolonisation that is

pivotal to and through the arts, especially in the 21st century. In “Decolonizing the Spirit” (2009), Rex Nettleford reminds us that this ongoing project “finds answers in the exercise of the creative imagination.” The arts and culture are thus central to the effort. But, like every other ecology, it too is disrupted.

As the world becomes more interconnected, our individual experiences expand into the collective, shared milieu. Global declarations, a pandemic, and a fight for race and identity representation have marked diverse journeys and learnings that must be explored together to present renewed understandings, perspectives, and directions for continuity.”

PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE

According to Michael Taylor, professor of climate science and dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Mona campus, 2 degrees Celsius (ºC) is too much for small island developing states (SIDS). Even at 1.5 ºC, the islands of the Caribbean “are only guaranteed half a chance of a livable future.”

This virtual conference was a call to workers engaged in critical arts and culture practice to offer presentations, papers, roundtables, workshops, and performances addressing the sub- themes listed below. The aim was to strategise for our renewal and continuity, even as we confront ongoing shifts to our lives and landscapes.

METHODOLOGY

• Research
• Professional development on impact assessment
• Interviews with secondary school teachers
• Panel discussions with teaching artists working at the intersection of participatory arts and action on climate change through the International Teaching Artist Collaborative (ITAC), where I currently serve as the ITAC Coordinator of the Climate Collective

THEORETICAL APPROACH

Scientists are not trained in storytelling, which has led to issues with climate communication. Scientists and artists need to work together to spur action on a much grander scale, by tapping into what moves our collective human consciousness.

Arts Integration Learning (AIL) is a framework of experiential learning which provides an equitable environment for all learners. By engaging students in a creative process

that authentically connects the performing arts with the physical and social sciences, we can transform the traditional learning experience to one in which students construct personal meaning about the effects of climate change through an art form and imagine and achieve

new solutions for their community. My aim is to create a model arts-integrated curriculum that can adapted to cultures across the globe. My project offers an opportunity to study the curriculum's impact on young people’s beliefs and behaviors in a Caribbean context, to support schools in multiple contexts in taking it on.

REVIEW OF RESOURCES

Lesson plans for climate mitigation and adaptation http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/ED/CCESD/classroom/day-3/files/ assets/common/downloads/day-3-teachers.pdf

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/unit/climate-change-challenge/ https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/

Evaluation questions

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 280660392_Climate_Change_Survey_Measures_Exploring_Perceived_Bias_and_Question_In terpretation

https://www.questionpro.com/survey-templates/climate-change-awareness-survey-template/ https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2015/11/30/six-tough-questions-about-climate-change/ REFERENCES:

Allison, D., Miller, T. Why science needs the humanities to solve climate change. The Conversation. August, 2019. https://theconversation.com/why-science-needs-the-humanities- to-solve-climate-change-113832

Arts Education Makes a Difference in Missouri Schools: A Study of Fine Arts Education in Missouri School Districts Funded by the Missouri Arts Council. Missouri Alliance for Arts Education, 2010.

Bower, S. (2010). Environmental Art: Animating Democracy. Americans for the Arts. December, 2010. http://animatingdemocracy.org/resource/environmental-art

Climate Change/United Nations: https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/climate- change/

DeMoss, K. & Morris, T. (2002). How arts integration supports student learning: Students shed light on the connections. Chicago, IL: Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE).

Dillon, J., M. Rickinson, K. Teamey, M. Morris, M.Y. Choi, D. Sanders, et al. (2006) The value of outdoor learning: Evidence from research in the UK and elsewhere. School Science Review, 87 (320), pp. 107-113.

Frasz, A. (2016) Can Art Change How We Think about Climate Change? An interview with Anthony Leiserowitz. Grantmakers in the Arts. https://www.giarts.org/article/can-art-change- how-we-think-about-climate-change

Hagen, R. (2019) 16 Sustainability Leaders Weigh In: How YOU Can Help To Reverse Global Warming. Crowdsourcing Sustainability. https://crowdsourcingsustainability.org/ sustainability-leaders-how-you-can-help-stop-global-warming/

Heath, S., Soep, E., and Roach, A. Living the Arts Through Language-Learning: A Report on Community-Based Youth Organizations. Americans for the Arts. Vol. 2, No. 7. November, 1998.

Meredith J. Ludwig, M., Boyle, A., and Lindsay, J. Review of Evidence: Arts Integration Research Through the Lens of the Every Student Succeeds Act. American Institutes for Research November 7, 2017.

IPCC, 2014: Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, R.K. Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, 151 pp.