Please note this site is currently under development and not optimized for mobile view. This is a pre-print draft of the forthcoming publication to be published 07/2025. If you wish to cite this material before publication, please contact cai.weaver[at]xamk.fi. Thank you!
Practical tools for
CREATIVE
CLIMATE
ACTION
How can we work in synergy for more impactful climate actions? How does co-creation and collaboration relate to sustainability? CCI4Change explored new ways for the local authority to join forces with the creative professionals for innovative climate actions.
Open the toolkit to learn more!
What is this about?
The toolkit is designed to support local authorities and creative actors building purposeful collaborations. In the CCI4Change project, we tested it in the context of energy consumption behavioral change trough community engagement. However, the toolkit can be adapted to address a wide range of complex ecological and societal challenges, offering creative ways to tackle topical issues in the communities. It provides tools fostering the practical collaboration of local authorities and creatives working in synergy for joint goals.
Inside this Toolkit, you will find:
Customizable tools that can be adapted to different local contexts
Inspiring case studies showcasing results of collaborations in Finland, Latvia & Sweden
Detailed paths for collaboration
What does this mean?
Are you a public officer in the local governance looking to create change trough creative enagement? Maybe you work with culture, urban development or sustainability and climate issues? Or are you a creative professional as in an artist, designer or a creative entrepreneur seeking for new ways to contribute to sustainability efforts? This toolkit provides the resources and guidance for your support.
Explore the tools, apply the methods, and start looking for impact through collaboration!
Are you a public authority?
-
Are you working in a public sector organisation?
-
Is your role promoting sustainable development and reducing energy consumption in your region?
-
Are you working with culture or community engagement?
-
Are you interested to explore innovative methods together with creative professionals?
Are you an intermediary?
-
Are you interested to facilitate change in your community?
-
Are you closely connected to the creative sector?
-
Do you want to support local authority in working with the creatives?
Are you a creative professional?
-
Do you work in the cultural & creative industries (CCI) as a designer, artist, musician, writer, filmmaker, performer, architect, photographer, game developer, or other creative professional?
-
Can you bring creative approaches and methods to help solve challenges related to sustainability?
-
Are you interested in collaboration with your local authority?
Are you a local authority?
-
Are you working in a public sector organisation?
-
Is your role promoting sustainable development and reducing energy consumption in your region?
-
Are you working with culture or community engagement?
-
Are you interested to explore innovative methods together with creative professionals?
Are you a creative professional?
-
Do you work in the cultural & creative industries (CCI) as a designer, artist, musician, writer, filmmaker, performer, architect, photographer, game developer, or in some other creative field
-
Can you bring creative approaches and methods to help solve challenges related to sustainability?
-
Are you interested in the collaboration with your local authority?
Artists engaging local communities to act
In spring 2024, the CCI4Change project called for pilot proposals from arts, culture, and creative actors to work in local communities with the goal of energy reduction. The project partners received several strong proposals and ultimately chose five pilots to be implemented.
Ifö Center: Zero Sum Residency
The closed factory property, managed by the Ifö Center association, covers 43,000 m² and is being repurposed as a site for art manufacturing and more. Ifö Center, located in the small municipality of Bromölla in the Skåne Region of Sweden, aims to transform the property into a so-called ‘zero-sum’ building and initiate an energy cooperative with the building as its hub.
In preparation for this, the pilot project investigates how to proceed and explores the property’s potential, such as housing battery packs to stabilize the grid and installing solar panels to produce energy.
Duncan Geere: Energy waste and sonification art
Duncan Geere is a sonification artist and generative musician who plans to create a musical composition derived from data collected from different communities about the overnight energy consumption of various objects in their homes. Smart plugs that monitor energy use will be distributed among the participants, who will collect and share data that will be transformed into music. The aim is to raise awareness of and stimulate discussion about energy use among the volunteers in Malmö who participate and among a broader audience. The simple process of observing and quantifying their appliances’ energy footprint is likely to prompt self-reflection on their own consumption. Additionally, the project is expected to generate interest and curiosity among wider audiences on the topic of energy consumption.
Read moreTatu Heinämäki & Camilla Pentti: Community Energy Game: “Energy Waster”
In the city of Kotka, a video game will be developed that specifically addresses the issue of energy consumption and encourages its reduction.
High school students in the city are developing the game around this theme, with the goal of having it ready by 2025. At that time, the game will be open to all citizens of Kotka, as well as others who are interested.
Tatu Heinämäki is a visual artist, game designer, and media arts teacher, while Camilla Pentti is a visual communications professional and game designer.
Banja Media Ltd: Video Pilot:
''No, that’s not how you save the world!''
Banja Media‘s pilot project aims to produce short, humorous yet informative videos on energy saving, the circular economy, and sustainable development.
The goal is to inform and inspire viewers to think about what we can do to promote sustainable development and save energy. The videos are created in collaboration with youth groups of various ages in the city of Kotka.
Juha Metso is the director, Mika Roikka is the main illustrator and editor, and Petri Pietiläinen is the screenwriter.
INITIUM: “Neighbourhood House”
The INITIUM Foundation is a professional arts and culture production platform that implements sustainable projects to support social, educational, and cultural initiatives in Latvia. In Kauguri, Jurmala, the creative team created the ''Neighbourhood House”, an environmental installation by INTIUM artists in collaboration with local residents. Inside the installation, like in a home, the different stories of the neighbors were revealed, anonymously but personally, telling the stories and fates of one or more people in the house.
The internal content will directly depend on the outcome of co-creation workshops, inviting Kauguri residents to take part in the process. The installation symbolically acts as both the eyes of the building and a connector between the inner and outer worlds.
The window is also often a point of heat loss in a building, symbolizing the difficulty of tackling issues that concern the whole community one by one.
The total budget of the CCI4change project is 470,000 EUR, of which 80%, or 380 000 EUR, is funded by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region programme and the remaining 20% by the project partners.
CCI4Change is a project co-funded by the European Union, joining together 7 partner organisations: