*This project is supported by funding from Canadian Heritage and is being developed in partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Practices in the Arts
As Canadians continue to feel the intensifying effects of climate change, the performing arts is among our industries heavily impacted by wildfires, flooding, and worsening storms, among other extreme weather phenomena. While Canada has a wide variety of ecosystems and environments, communities across the country all experience the impacts of climate change, and are looking for ways to both adapt to changing conditions and look forward to a greener, more sustainable future.
To respond to this need, CAPACOA has launched a Climate Change Adaptation Program (CCAP) to support the national performing arts sector in responding to the impacts of climate change. Partnering with Ian Garrett from The Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts (CSPA), the program will research and build practical tools to help performing arts organizations adapt, with Erin Kennedy leading as the program manager.
Project Goal:
The Climate Change Adaptation Program seeks to research, develop, and build performing arts organizations’ capacities to adapt to climate change through a national funding program, in an equitable and impactful way. This program will help prepare the national performing arts sector to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
The program is currently in its first stage, in which we are creating an environmental scan to map out the economic effects and vulnerabilities of each bio region, and the methods and tools needed for the assessment of adaptation. This includes an assessment of the work that has been done and identifies the gaps in information that still need to be filled.
Upcoming Events:
- Erin Kennedy and Ian Garrett will be attending PACTCon on behalf of the CCAP in Whitehorse this April
- Erin Kennedy and Ian Garrett will be attending Contact East on behalf of the CCAP in Saint John, NB, this April and will be connecting with delegates through climate-focussed activities
Project Team:
Erin Kennedy – Project Manager
Erin Kennedy is the program manager for CAPACOA’s Climate Change Adaptation Program. A multidisciplinary arts programmer based in Vernon, British Columbia since 2010, Erin has played a key role in supporting and expanding contemporary performance in Western Canada. In 2022, Erin founded the popular annual North Okanagan Children’s Festival.
As an arts programmer deeply engaged in the growth of contemporary circus, Erin served as Co-Chair of the national working group Presenting Circus in Canada for the International Market for Contemporary Circus from 2021–2024. Erin is also a board member with BC Live Performance Network and serves as a programmer for the Sundog Festival.
Prior to working as an artistic director and programmer, Erin was a freelance theatre maker specializing in design and management, with professional experience in Montreal, Vancouver and the Okanagan. Erin is a graduate of The National Theatre School of Canada’s Technical Production Program.
Ian Garrett – Project Consultant
Ian Garrett is a designer, producer, educator, and researcher in the field of sustainability in arts and culture. He is the director of the Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts; Professor of Ecological Design for Performance at York University; producer for Toasterlab, a mixed reality performance collective and media production company; and Venue Manager and Producer for Venue 13 in Edinburgh. He maintains a professional and research practice focused on ecology and accessible mixed reality technologies in performance. Creative work includes the set and energy systems for Zata Omm’s Vox:Lumen at the Harbourfront Centre, Crimson Collective’s Ascension, a solar 150’ wide crane at Coachella, and co-direction of the Climate Change Theatre Action with Chantal Bilodeau. His writing includes Arts, the Environment, and Sustainability for Americans for the Arts; The Carbon Footprint of Theatrical Production in Readings in Performance and Ecology, and articles including Art & Health, Canadian Theatre Review, the International Journal of Performing Arts and Digital Media, and the CSPA Quarterly. He is a founding member of IATSE ADC 659 and sits on the boards of the Associate Designers of Canada’s national service organization; Pentacle (DanceWorks, Inc.) which provides management support services, programming, and alternatives models to traditional staffing for performing artists in the US; and Future 13 SCIO a UK charity supporting artists in making more accessible, sustainable and hybrid performance for the Edinburgh Festivals. He is sought after subject matter expert and consultant on sustainability and the arts.