Would you like to host a Creative Climate Cafe?
Climate cafes are a great opportunity for organisations, schools and community initiatives to offer staff, students or service users support around eco-anxiety or other difficult emotions that may arise out of climate crisis. The Creative Climate Cafes use a range of expressive arts practices to explore emotions in a way that foregrounds possibility and personal action while understanding the complexity of the struggles faced. They are suitable for people who whether they have expert knowledge or no knowledge of the current climate situation. We have worked with experienced scientists and activists as well as children, and people simply wanting to learn more who are completely new to the topic and all benefited from our unique approach.
Our workshops can focus on a particular topic (such as energy use, biodiversity, conservation, pollution, sustainable living) or allow for an open discussion on the topic. We use a variety of express arts mediums which can include clay, paint, charcoals, natural paints, pastels, collage or other upcycling practices. We can work with you to tailor the session to your needs. Our sessions can also be run for children, or in a family-friendly way. We have run many successful intergenerational workshops bringing adults and young people together.
Workshops run from 2 – 2.5 hours and we are happy to have a chat with you about what would work best for your group. They can be run as one-off sessions or as a series of events.
What is expressive art practice, and how can it help with mental well-being and eco-anxiety?
Expressionism is a style of art in which we engage with a topic via emotions, rather than focusing on making things realistic. It is about thinking and feeling, making marks and playing with colour, rather than simply observing and representing. There is no right or wrong, and participants can explore freely whether they have experience in art or not, it should be fun, freeing and liberating! It can be particularly powerful when working with a topic as immense and often overwhelming as the climate crisis.
Creating abstract art intuitively provides important benefits to our mental health. Engaging in non-representational, intuitive art is a safe, secure, and at times therapeutic way to explore our inner worlds, express ourselves, and develop a healthier understanding of who we are and what we need. Spontaneously choosing colours and shapes, rather than words, to express feelings provides a sense of security and anonymity. Tools like expressive art can help people access and express both difficult and positive feelings in ways we might otherwise find difficult. Ultimately it can help move people from a place of exhaustion or anxiety, to a place where they feel more comfortable and able to take action.
Our fees operate on a sliding scale to allow us to invest fully in developing the programme and allow access to our services by smaller groups.
The cost of running a single cafe includes the cost of two experienced facilitators, arts resources and a consultation about content, context and accessibility as the cafe(s) will be tailored to your needs. Each session can (depending on the space you have available) hold up to 18 participants. If you would like to run a larger group we can bring in another facilitator and are happy to discuss costs.
We are happy to help organisations seeking funds to run these cafes, or to find other organisations to partner with to save costs, as well as negotiate discounted rates for a series of cafe events. Please contact us on swamp@magneticideals.org for more details.
Your annual income Fee per Creative Climate Cafe Event
£0 – £35,000 – £475
£35,000-£100,000 – £575
£100,000-£250,000 – £675
£250,000-£500,000 – £775
£500,000 + – £875
If you would like to attend one of the Creative Climate Cafes that are currently being run as part of our Rampion Windfarm Community Fund Programme please see our Eventbrite for booking information: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/magnetic-ideals-8356623738
Climate Cafes are run as a partnership project between Magnetic Ideals, Arts for Life and Ecotopia Now!
