Creative Matters: Climate Stories
Explore the most pressing issue of our time and our collective future. Creative Matters: Climate Stories harnesses the power of creativity and storytelling to present different perspectives on the climate crisis from a wide range of voices.
Creative Matters originated from a need to listen, discuss and understand contemporary issues/current affairs through creativity, and has always involved partners, artists, and experts in the topic – we are certainly not the experts in climate science. As a creative organisation, what we can offer is the power of creativity and storytelling to discover different perspectives on the climate crisis from a wide range of voices; to use performances, workshops, events and conversations to facilitate a space for people to explore and challenge their thoughts and feelings around a topic.
The climate conversation is an emotive one for many. We aim to promote positive dialogue, welcoming people who experience these issues first hand, as well as those who are interested to find out more. Perhaps you might be struggling with eco-anxiety, or be an activist and want your voice heard, or perhaps you simply do not understand what the fuss is about. This Creative Matters season will have something for you.
It is not about getting it right, it is about exploring a complex subject, with others in a space that is safe, supportive and creative.
Recently announced is our Mind, Body, Earth series of workshops that allow you to explore and respond to anxieties about our climate and the future.
Green Community Enquiry
What do you expect a cultural organisation to be doing to tackle the climate crisis?
We want to hear your views on how institutions should be responding, what role theatres should have, and how Norwich Theatre can make the most impact.
Share your story
This is your chance to take to the stage. Anyone can be an activist and activism takes many forms – it’s not all arrests and soup. It can be community building, gardening, or sharing poetry and creative writing. What matters is you care. So what stories would you tell?
If you would like to share your work at one of our up-coming Climate Stories Open Mic nights, we would love to hear from you.
Email: takepart@norwichtheatre.org
Our partners
Norwich Theatre is not the subject expert in the issues we explore as part of Creative Matters, and so we are working with partners to co-design, co-create and co-curate the season. They range from individual creatives and activists to organisations such as Friends of the Earth, The Norwich Climate Commission, and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.
“Climate Stories brings soul and emotion and feeling to all the scientific numbers. It makes space for all the conversations that need to happen about today and tomorrow, to help with the void that can transform climate anxiety and despair into positive outcomes.”
Asher Minns, Executive Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
What is Creative Matters?
Creativity enables artists and audiences to imagine beyond the limitations of their own worlds, bringing voices together and revealing new paths forward. Creative Matters is a season of work focusing on important issues which affect people of all ages and backgrounds. Each Creative Matters season features a mix of performance, film, exhibitions, workshops and events, which aim to stimulate discussion and make connections through creativity. Since starting the project back in 2017, we have explored different themes in the following seasons:
Loss and Grief, 2021 & 2022 | Finding Refuge and Sanctuary, Oct 19 | Living with Homelessness, Feb 19 | Black British Identity, Oct 18 | Caring for Dementia, May 18 | Men’s Mental Health, Jan 18 | Gender and Sexual Identity, Sep 17
Norfolk Arts Award
We were honoured to be awarded the Diversity Award at Norfolk Arts Awards. This was given to us in recognition of the work we have been doing for our Creative Matters seasons. Each Creative Matters season features a mix of performance, film, exhibitions, workshops and events, which aim to stimulate discussion and make connections through creativity.