THINKHOUSE one of 43 recipients of creative Ireland €5.8 million Creative Climate Action Fund II
THINKHOUSE has been named by Creative Ireland as one of 43 recipients of the €5.8 million Creative Climate Action Fund II - Agents for Change. Supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in collaboration with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Department of the Taoiseach, the Creative Ireland initiative supports creative, cultural and artistic projects that build awareness around climate change and empowers citizens to make meaningful behavioural changes.
THINKHOUSE’s funding will support a nationwide campaign to create alternative visions of the future. Together with Purpose Disruptors, the team will harness the power of the advertising industry, building on interventions from the Good Life 2030 project to ignite the ‘Good Life Ireland 2030’ platform. Good Life Ireland 2030 will unearth visions of Irish Citizens and help embed these visions into public consciousness - through cultural installations, a nationwide PR and digital campaign, and workshops that invite creative practitioners to think about their work servicing a thriving, sustainable future. The project will put Ireland at the forefront of a global climate movement and act as a catalyst for deeper systemic change required of creative commercial industries.
Laura Costello, Strategy Director of Purpose & Planet, THINKHOUSE and Ireland Lead at Purpose Disruptors said: “We’re hugely grateful to Creative Ireland and the Irish Government for accelerating our ambition to foster alternative visions of the future, leveraging the impact of the advertising and communications industry. This moment signals a clear recognition of the ways in which our industry skills can be harnessed to support Ireland’s Climate Action Plan. Many visions of the future informed by the climate and biodiversity crisis are getting caught up in distracted dystopian narratives. The Good Life Ireland 2030 project is an invitation for Irish citizens and the creative industry to imagine better and emotionally connect to the future in new ways.”
Welcoming the announcement of the funding recipients, Minister Eamon Ryan said: “Climate change can be such a huge issue that people can too often feel overawed, or that it’s something they can’t do anything really meaningful about. This change can be achieved through fully exploring avenues for innovative and creative ways to inspire people to take action. Once again the Irish cultural sector and our enterprising communities have responded with initiatives that will challenge us all to make the changes needed to secure a better future for us all. This is exciting and important work and I wish to commend everyone involved.”
The Creative Climate Action Fund II: Agents of Change is unique in that it pairs creative minds with experts in climate science, sustainability and biodiversity, all with the aim of connecting the public to the profound changes that are happening in our environment, society and economy arising from climate change and can transform that connection into behaviour change or climate action.
More information on the Creative Climate Action Fund II is available here.
Interested in being part of the industry-wide project ‘Good Life Ireland 2030’? Email planet@thinkhousehq.com.