Connecting Climate Change and Canadian Theatre: Reflecting on the Impact of the NAC’s Climate Cycle

Abstract

The arts have a unique way of affecting the way that people feel about environmental issues in ways that other forms of communication cannot. The National Arts Centre (NAC) Climate Cycle was a program that the NAC English Theatre developed as a response to the escalating climate crisis to engage artists deeply in discussions on climate change and to grapple with how the performing arts can respond. It took place over two meetings: the Summit in Banff in 2019, which was in person, and the Green Rooms in 2020, which was online. To answer our main question of how participating in these events impacted artists’ behaviour and professional practices, we engaged with the participants through a series of surveys and in-depth interviews. Based on the results, we found that artists were impacted in three main ways: (1) instilling a sense of community among the participants; (2) encouraging the participants to continue their learning; and (3) enacting strategies to ‘green’ their practices, such as reducing touring and using alternative materials in set design. This project was helpful in understanding how the Cycle impacted artists, but it also contributed to our overall understanding of what meaningful engagement with artists on environmental topics looks like. This project was first completed as part of an undergraduate thesis in May 2021. In this most recent article, we reflect on what this research means a year later.