possible futures

Join Henry McGhie, (Founder of Curating Tomorrow and the ICOM International working group on sustainability WGS, UK), one of the curators of the Reimaging Museums for Climate Action (RMCA) on a Climate Justice 4 All webinar cohosted by the Ban Ki-Moon Centre for Global Citizens and the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy. During this webinar, participants will discuss the importance of different art forms and institutions for shaping the discourse around climate change, sustainability, and justice. How do creatives communicate the complex and interwoven topic of climate justice and what affect does it have on its audience? How can science and art cooperate in the fight against the climate emergency?

Agenda 2030 might seem inspiring, but also difficult for local actors to relate to because of its global scale. The first session of the conference will explore what localising the SDGs actually means and how it can help both regionally and by sector. Panellists will report on progress with the Global goals, in Europe and in the Baltic States – from a general overview to the specifics of the museum and library sectors.

Join Henry McGhie for the keynote entitled, Museums and the SDGs: local actions for global agendas.

This online event is organized by the Italian ecomuseums network (as part of the celebration programme of 50 years of ecomuseology), the Milan Bicocca University and the Cateran ecomuseum (UK). It will focus on the role of ecomuseums and community museums in achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in particular climate action. The ecomuseums and community museums will illustrate methods, tools and community based projects that engage with the climate crisis and the sustainable use of common heritage for integral development both at the local and global scales.

Join Henry McGhie for the concluding address entitled An ecomuseums' and community museums' coalition after the COP26.

Climate change is a threat to cultural heritage. We live in a time with rapid changes; both environmentally and politically. All the countries in the Baltic Region have signed the Paris Agreement and committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This commitment means that we must act immediately to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with 50 percent by 2030. Oslo Forum 2021 aims to mobilize the cultural heritage sector to action.

With mitigation and adaptation as two key concepts, we bring together stakeholders from the cultural heritage sector, museums, researchers, students, architects and urban planners, NGOs and municipalities in the Nordic and Baltic Sea region for a three-day digital conference. Join Henry McGhie (Curating for Tomorrow & RMCA) for the Reduction of climate change - how cultural heritage can be part of the solution panel. Broadcast from Oslo, Norway – European Green Capital in 2019.

Join Henry McGhie (Curating Tomorrow & RMCA) for his presentation entitled 'Helping Things Go Right: Sustainable Development and the SDGs' at the Historic House Museums for a Sustainable World: Challenges and Opportunities Conference online from the Netherlands.

How can museums - especially those with colonial collections - be spaces for radical climate action?

Take part in a creative workshop that draws from UCL’s collections. Following an introduction by Rodney Harrison (UCL Institute of Archaeology), architect John Zhang will share his work that imagines the decolonisation and rewilding of museum spaces. Take part in a hands-on workshop that explores this allegory within UCL’s collections and reflect on your ideas through a drawing workshop led by artist Bryony Benge Abbott.

No experience necessary. This event is free. Places are limited, book in advance online.

This event is part of UCL’s climate campaign ‘Generation One’. Join our new era of climate action at ucl.ac.uk/generation-one

Keynote Panel: The Climate Crisis - What Role for Museums?

Museums have been grappling with their climate and environmental responsibilities for years. But with Cop26 taking place in the UK this year and the problem growing ever more urgent, what is the role for the museums sector? What interventions make a positive contribution? And how can museums learn from other sectors to reduce their own environmental impact while mobilising communities to take action?

Join Professor Rodney Harrison (University College London) and Henry McGhie (Curating Tomorrow) as they address the above questions.

How are cultural heritage institutions, researchers, practitioners and policy makers responding to the climate emergency, and how might we achieve more integrated and radical action? This event, hosted in the EU Pavilion as part of COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, will present a range of European and international projects, policy initiatives and frameworks which aim to inspire radical change for climate action in and with the cultural sector.

Co-organised by the Reimagining Museums for Climate Action (RMCA) team, the Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage and Global Change (JPI CH), Climate Heritage Network (CHN), and Europa Nostra.

Including contributions by JPICH, CHN, RMCA, Europa Nostra, International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), International Council of Museums (ICOM), International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), The Climate Museum New York, Italian Ministry for Culture, EU DG Education and Culture.

From 1-12 November 2021, the COP26 (UN Climate Change Conference) Green Zone will be open to the public at the Glasgow Science Centre. During this time, the Reimagining Museums for Climate Action exhibition will be a part of the official COP26 Green Zone at the Glasgow Science Centre.

Youth groups, civil society, academia, artists, business from across the UK and all over the world will be hosting events, exhibitions, cultural performances, workshops and talks. With over 100 exhibitors, 200 events and 11 sponsors taking over the space, there will be amazing opportunities to listen, learn and celebrate climate action.

Tickets will be free of charge and available shortly through the COP26 website. If you are unable to attend in person you can join virtually via the COP26 YouTube channel and the (virtual) Digital Green Zone. Members of the Reimagining Museums for Climate Action team, and colleagues, will be on site to discuss the exhibition and to meet with members of the public throughout the time of COP26.

Rodney Harrison will discuss the Reimagining Museums for Climate Action project, competition and exhibition and reflect on its reception at COP26 Glasgow and what the team have learned about the potential roles of museums in empowering public participation in action for climate.

In this session on museums and sustainability, Henry McGhie will present his toolkit Museums and Sustainable Development Goals, published in 2019, and a new publication Mainstreaming the Sustainable Development Goals, to help museums, as well as galleries, libraries and archives, to plan, deliver, evaluate and communicate their actions for a better future. Rodney Harrison will discuss Reimagining Museums for Climate Action as an example of a project linked to Action for Climate Empowerment, following the exhibition and various activities he and Henry participated in during COP26 in Glasgow.

Emma Woodham (Glasgow Science Centre) and Henry McGhie (Curating Tomorrow and the ICOM International working group on sustainability WGS, UK) are leading a session focused on the Reimaging Museums for Climate Action (RMCA) exhibition. The RMCA exhibition gathers together a range of thinking about how museums and science centres might address the challenges of a warming world. The competition behind the exhibition, and the overall approach taken, help bring to life the public-facing aspect of the Paris Agreement (Action for Climate Empowerment), which museums and science centres are ideally placed to support.