The Arctic Cycle

Not only does it take a village, as the saying goes, but when it comes to addressing the climate crisis, it takes a global community. As such, any help I and my organization can get in reaching and engaging this global community is invaluable. With our window of opportunity to avoid the worst impacts of climate change rapidly closing, the need for people to get involved in climate efforts, and our own work over the past decade having uniquely positioned us to respond to this moment, we would use The Elevate Prize to expand our reach and stabilize the organization. We are excited about the prospect of connecting with a network of leaders from various disciplines working on related issues (for example: youth, women, education...) and finding ways to amplify each other’s mission. At the moment, everyone, myself included, is working on a project basis. The funding would allow us to create salary lines, increase our fundraising efforts by having a staff member dedicated to it, and provide additional support in the form of micro-grants to the communities we work with. The award would also increase our visibility and underline the quality and impact of our work.

I’m a Montreal-born, New York-based playwright and the founding artistic director of The Arctic Cycle, an organization that uses storytelling and live performance to foster dialogue about our global climate crisis, create an empowering vision of the future, and inspire people to take action. For more than a decade, my work has focused on the intersection of science, policy, art, and climate change. I have been influential in getting the theatre and educational communities, as well as diverse audiences in the U.S. and abroad, to engage in climate action through programming that includes live events, talks, publications, workshops, national and international convenings, and a worldwide distributed theatre festival. In addition, I am working on a cycle of eight plays that look at the social and environmental impacts of the climate crisis on the eight Arctic states. I am passionate about the role that the arts can play in strengthening communities facing the double threat of climate injustice and environmental degradation. We, artists, can uplift the voices of frontline and marginalized communities, provide a way to express and process grief, strengthen local partnerships and networks, and help envision a just and regenerative future for us all.

News stories about the climate crisis tend to be dominated by extreme weather events and policy failures, leading people to worry about the problem but feel powerless to address it – what has been termed the “hope gap.” In addition, a 2019 study by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University shows that 63% of Americans rarely or never discuss global warming with family and friends, presenting a significant barrier to engagement. The Arctic Cycle aims to fill this gap using four interconnected strategies: 1) we provide artists with opportunities to learn about, explore, reflect on, and engage with issues related to climate disruption, encouraging a whole generation to consider their responsibility in addressing this urgent existential crisis; 2) we bring communities together around relevant climate stories in order to spark demand for sustainability, strengthen local networks, and increase resilience; 3) by working internationally, we bridge the gap between local and global issues, and encourage thinking at large ecological scales and; 4) we uplift the voices of women as well as frontline and marginalized communities to situate climate within a larger context of socio-political issues.

For over 40 years, scientists have communicated information about the climate crisis in the hope of steering society on a more sustainable path. But complex, nuanced, and empowering stories are far more effective at engaging people than technical or policy language. From the very beginning, stories have been how human beings have learned, shared wisdom, and made sense of the world. Recently, neuroscience has shown that when we hear stories, neural activity in our brain significantly increases. Stories trigger the release of the neurochemical oxytocin, which increases empathy and makes us remember and care. In line with these findings, The Arctic Cycle harnesses the power of stories to make climate change accessible and relatable. Our aim is to trigger reflection, generate empathy, and foster new ideas. We help people connect and imagine different ways of being and relating – a crucial first step in creating a better world. We also create the conditions for people to cultivate a sense of agency and feel that change is not only possible but can be joyful. And we do this using a grassroots approach, ensuring that individuals and communities can determine what is best for them and how they want to contribute.

Artists who participate in our programs often choose to engage more deeply with climate change issues, and audience members change their behavior – for example, taking up the challenge of making their institutions more sustainable, giving up single-use plastic, or reconsidering how what they eat impacts the environment. At the university level, students develop curiosity for sustainable practices, writing research papers on this newly found interest and/or becoming environmental activists. We have seen first-time participants in our Climate Change Theatre Action program scale up their event the second time around, either programming multiple performances of a show or, in the case of universities, moving from a small event in a classroom to a mainstage event as part of their regular theatre season. Relationships developed in the course of organizing events sometimes outlive the project, building tighter social bonds between those involved and a shared sense of identity – essential aspects of movement building. Our work has and continues to be studied in academic settings: a recent dissertation looks at the impact of our work on environmental behavior and an upcoming research project will investigate whether the stories we commission can contribute to closing the “hope gap” mentioned above.