Artist Brigade
Bringing arts and artists to the front lines of climate action
Artist Brigade is a leaderless, national movement. Our goal is to bring imagination, vision and the heart of artists into the telling of the climate story in order to mobilize a society paralyzed by climate anxiety and grief. We work in cross-sector partnerships with those currently telling the climate narrative, environmental organizations, activists, scientists, journalists, and scholars.
Artist Brigade 100
In 2022, we welcomed the first official cohort of the Artist Brigade to bring arts and artists to the front lines of climate action. The artists were selected from a large pool of applicants to spend the year meeting and learning, going on field trips, partnering with others telling the climate story, and, as David Maggs says, ‘reauthoring the world.
Basic Training
Greenhouse, a two-day paid intensive for 100 artists. Greenhouse took place outdoors in the sunshine at UBC Botanical Gardens with the goals of climate literacy and new perspectives on the role of the artist in the climate crisis, connecting both with our ancestors and a hopeful future
Field Work
After the artists completed Greenhouse, they had the opportunity to go on one of 4 ‘field trips’ to places where they could see the climate in crisis. Afterwards, artists had the chance to pitch artistic projects that addressed the crisis. Some of the pitches were commissioned and all of their work was paid.
Front Line Action
We work with the others in society that are telling the climate story: environmental organizations, scientists, activists, journalists, and government. By partnering on tough questions, we can bring forth big ideas, that vivify and mobilize society at this critical time.
來跟我在林里做夢 | Come dream with me in the forest
This piece was a commissioned piece that came out of The Artist Part field trip as part of this year's Artist Brigade. Artist Statement The inspiration for this project came from the Greenhouse event in 2021 where I was moved by the power of names shared by a few of...
Imagine-in
Designed as an antidote to the die-in’s that have become a regular protest, Imagine-In was a way to use the power of the youth climate movement as visionaries into a world they want to inhabit. Four hundred signs were made and personalized for the Climate March in...
Sea of Hearts
In the fall of 2019, Greta Thunberg had agreed to speak at a rally where 15 Canadian kids were announcing their lawsuit suing the federal government for policy that aligned with a livable future. Large crowds were anticipated. Sherry Yano from David Suzuki Foundation...
Bear With Me
[metaslider id=3285] Dakota Bear Sanctuary, an ancient forest in traditional and unceded Skwxwú7mesh territory on the Sunshine Coast, has been threatened with logging for the last decade. In August 2020, The Only Animal brought the Artist Brigade there, and unleashed...
Art of Resistance
Everyone is affected by climate crisis. But those under 25 are known as Generation Hot, because their entire lives will be shaped by global warming. Global youth protest is the new face of the climate movement. These youth are keen to innovate the tired motifs of...
Greenhouse
Greenhouse was a 2-day paid intensive for a cohort of 100 local artists across disciplines who brought together a diversity of climate experiences. Held outside in small groups at UBC Botanical Gardens, Greenhouse was a place to tend to the growth of ideas and...
Climate Change Theatre Action
This program asks companies to read or create a performance of one of 50 short climate change plays in support of the United Nations COP23 meetings chaired by Fiji and hosted in Bonn, Germany. These 50 plays come from over 25 different cultures and address different...