Role of art in the global climate change movement

Abstract

The findings presented in this publication suggest that artists and arts administrators have significant roles to play when using the arts to address climate change. Responses from three artists and four scientists during in-depth one-on-one qualitative interviews indicate that the role of art in the global climate change movement is to deepen personal engagement with climate change issues by providing new platforms for deeper reflection and discourse—with or without the intent to catalyze activism. Artists do not need to maintain strict fidelity to climate change data, although there may be an inverse correlation between manipulating climate data and validation of the work to accurately comment on climate change. The contemporary climate change movement requires the integration of artists to respond to the challenges of climate change not merely as buffers between the public and the hard data but to incite a richer and more complex conversation through the cumulative impact of all art that addresses climate change.M.S., Arts Administration -- Drexel University, 201