CIWEM Arts and the Environment
Art, Water, Environment - AWEinspiring!

“Putting creativity at the heart of environmental policy and action”

As part of CIWEM’s commitment to widening public understanding of the challenges to our planet, a major new strategic programme on Arts and the Environment was launched in 2007.

To view CIWEM's full policy position on Arts and the Environment please click here

The Need

• To foster a new resourcefulness by the linking of skills and insights across different disciplines
• To enrich diversity of thought and action by combining the best of intuitive, improvisational and non-linear approaches with the rigour of science and technology
• To recognise the interdependence of the natural, socioeconomic and cultural values and processes involved by taking a “whole systems” approach

Our Vision

In “putting creativity at the heart of environmental policy and action”:

• By 2011 CIWEM will have built strong new alliances, and will have made a distinctive and influential contribution to public policy, general awareness and targeted project activities in the field of arts and the environment; both by leadership and by collaboration with others.
• By 2020, art and artists will be an assumed component of multidisciplinary approaches to environmental issues and solutions, on a par with other disciplines.  Sustainable environmental management, individual self-expression and community cultural vibrancy will all be enhanced and will be more mutually reinforcing than at any time in the preceding five decades.

Key Objectives

• To bring CIWEM’s niche professional and global networking strengths to a contemporary trend of widening and deepening connections between agendas on the arts and the environment
• To connect the arts community and environmental professionals, and support the exploration and promotion of the relationship between the arts, science, technology, business and the environment
• To inform individual and societal attitudes to environmental sustainability, to enhance knowledge, skills and understanding, and promote appropriate action
• To engender a positive sense of personal and social responsibility for the environment
• To inspire and motivate individuals and communities
• To develop collaborative programmes and projects
• To raise the profile of artists whose work addresses key themes of environment and sustainability
• To develop long term relationships with organisations and individuals who share CIWEM’s vision

The Opportunity

CIWEM understands that people do not always respond positively to dire messages of global warming and dwindling natural resources.  An unremitting focus on crisis can sometimes prompt feelings of helplessness, resulting in further detachment from nature, rather than stimulating positive action.

From the Rg Vedas, some of humankind’s earliest writings, we find the origins of the word “art”, in the word “rta”, which refers to the dynamic process by which the whole cosmos continues to be created, virtuously.

The arts help us to understand the environmental problems facing the world today, and suggest and bring some of the solutions within reach, on a human scale.  They tell stories and paint pictures, which inform, inspire and show how things can be changed by the actions of individuals with a common purpose.  This is vital in generating critical thinking for our management of water and the environment.

CIWEM sees enhanced connections between agendas on the arts and the environment as a crucial enrichment of society's responses to the technological, ecological, cultural and moral challenges of the twenty first century, and as an equally crucial enrichment of the lives of individuals.  We welcome the new opportunities this provides to challenge and refine our perceptions, awaken our sensibilities and persuade us to review and renew our relationship with the environment.

Projects and Policy

The Arts and the Environment programme is being taken forward by a small Steering Group, supported by a wider CIWEM Arts and Environment Network. Meet the AEN Steering Group here.

Information on individual projects and activities undertaken in the context of this programme will be widely disseminated over time. A Rationale for CIWEM’s engagement in projects and initiatives can be found here . Please read this when considering potential collaborations with CIWEM.

We aim to lead and influence national policy dialogues on the subject.

For more information, or if you are interested in becoming part of the Arts & Environment Network, please email arts@ciwem.org

Arts and Environment Award
CIWEM has launched an Arts and Environment Award, in association with the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World (CCANW). Each year this initiative will celebrate an artwork, arts project or body of work by a living artist (or group) that is contributing innovatively to the Arts & Environment Network (AEN)’s vision of “putting creativity at the heart of environmental policy and action”. It will recognise innovation and excellence in work by arts practitioners, or environmentalists engaging with arts practices, whether well-established or newly emerging.

The focus is on rewarding identified work, not simply a person.  All forms and modes of arts practice, and geographical locations, may be considered.

There are no formal calls for nominations: instead candidates are short-listed by informal consultations conducted through the AEN. Winners are selected by a panel of judges, and will be announced in the press. Winners will be presented with a certificate and citation at a prestigious event, and their work will be given wide publicity.

This scheme symbolises the growing significance of cross-disciplinary approaches in relating imaginatively to the world around us, and in responding to the environmental and cultural challenges of the age. CIWEM, CCANW and their collaborating partners at the forefront of evolving new thinking on these issues, are committed to highlighting positive examples of effort, talent, leadership and insight for us all.