Climate Connections is an arts and culture project raising awareness about climate change and enabling diverse, migrant and working class local people from Oldham to have a voice in the environmental movement. In 2022 we have concentrated our focus on community engagement work with Northmoor Library, and developing a Climate Connections Women’s Group comprising members mostly from the local Bangladeshi community.
The project began in 2021 with a focus on digital art and moving image. Local people taking part were also connected with people in Bremen and Hamburg in Germany, through Oldham’s participation in the ‘Building Bridges’ programme connecting libraries and their communities between different part of Europe. The project was also part of the wider ‘Sanctuary, Climate and Libraries‘ project.
Climate Connections at Northmoor Library, 2022
Climate Connections Project, Oldham 2021
Featured video:
Watch the Voices For Action full length live-stream from Sat 25 Sept here:
Voices For Action
Concluding the Climate Connections project
Mini-festival of songs, art, poetry, media, debate, community connections, raising voices to protect our environment – both live and online.
Saturday 25 Sept, 12-4pm
Live in Oldham, UK / Live-stream on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter
Featuring songs and music from Amani Creatives and Sarah Yaseen, a drop-in art and poetry workshop with Rabia Begum, special social media art commissions from Emmanuela Yogolelo and Murad Chowdhury, videos and social media created with Lifelong Learning Oldham, Fatima Women’s Association and Arabischer Frauenbund (Germany), a ‘Climate Fresk’ group card game, plus debates with Climate Emergency Manchester, Sai Murray / Racial Justice Network and Climate Hub Hamburg.
We’re also launching a compilation video of media produced by local communities which will play for two weeks on public screens across four libraries – Oldham, Manchester, Bremen and Hamburg.
A project which aims to make climate connections
Led by Crossing Footprints in partnership with Oldham Library Service and CAN, the Climate Connections project delivered a series of online and in-person creative workshops between April and July 2021. Participants explored key issues of environmental destruction and injustice, going on to develop writing and digital skills to create the core content for social media posts and videos. The project engaged with Oldham Lifelong Learning groups, Fatima Women’s Association in Oldham and Arabischer Frauenbund in Bremen, Germany. An open online competition for communities connected to Oldham and Bremen libraries was also organised, including a visual media resource from which to generate ideas and narratives. A strong presentation of this work and process took place at the ‘Making Climate Connections‘ online event on 19th May 2021.
Through these participatory workshops, the competition and also a set of artist commissions, the content created is generating work to be exhibited online and compiled for presenting on screens within libraries. These will be launched during Great Big Green Week in September 2021 with simultaneous screenings in Oldham, Manchester, Bremen and Hamburg Libraries. This multi-format and multi-location exhibition, also part of Oldham’s Libraries of Sanctuary programme, will allow local and mostly unheard voices to raise issues of environmental urgency in the lead up to COP 26 in November.
A special event including screening the community and artists’ productions, ‘VOICES FOR ACTION mini-festival: climate justice, music, art, media, debate‘ will take place on Saturday 25th September both at Oldham Library and streamed online.
This project home-page is under development, please contact us if you would like more details about the project.
This is a project by Crossing Footprints for Oldham Libraries, in partnership with Community Arts North West’s series of events to celebrate the Libraries Of Sanctuary initiative in Greater Manchester to create welcoming spaces for people who come to the UK to seek safety and sanctuary. Additional partners in the project are Greater Manchester Libraries of Sanctuary. Financially supported by Arts Council England, CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) and Great Big Green Week 2021.
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