Hybrid Futures: Making, Showing and Collecting Art in a time of Climate Crisis
10.00 am – 4.30 pm, Friday 10th May 2024
Schedule:
We are delighted to welcome you to the Hybrid Futures Symposium this Friday. Please arrive at The Old Fire Station from 10am. Tea and coffee will be available in the Albert Adams room. All sessions will be held in the Council Chamber unless indicated otherwise.
The Old Fire Station is opposite Salford Museum and Art Gallery and is marked ‘W’ on the campus map: https://www.salford.ac.uk/travel
You enter the building through the red door on the right of the building as you approach it. You will be directed from reception.
(Click the black triangles to expand for more information)
Morning:
10:00
Meet & Register at The Old Fire Station
A chance to meet the other delegates over a cup of tea or coffee ahead of the day’s activity.
10:30
Welcome and introduction to Hybrid Futures
Panel: Helen Cooper (remote), Shezad Dawood, Lindsay Taylor (host and convenor), Helen Wewiora
This opening panel discussion will set the scene for the day of activity.
11:00
Resonant Objects
Exercise: led by Kit Abramson
Join Kit Abramson for this optional icebreaker to encourage openness and trust throughout the day. The exercise is based on an activity Collective Futures undertook in 2023, read more about their experience here.
We would like delegates to think of and bring along an object which has resonance for them in connection to the climate crisis. If you need an example of how you could approach this task, please see how Kit describes her chosen object and why it’s meaningful to her. There’s no right or wrong way to approach this task and delegates are encouraged to be as playful or serious as they like. Delegates need to be prepared to talk up to two minutes about their chosen object and have this object or an image of it with them.
11:30
Comfort Break
11:40
What are the opportunities and challenges of running a multi partner pilot project that aims to embed sustainability into exhibiting and collecting?
Panel: Paulette Brien, Shezad Dawood, Rowan Pritchard, Lindsay Taylor, Kate Wafer (convener), Helen Wewiora
Is there the potential to test ideas and new ways of working in order to create a robust and effective model to change the way that galleries should operate in the future? What did we assume would happen and what actually happened?
Join the Hybrid Futures project team for this second panel session, exploring partnership, distributed leadership, and what we learnt along the way.
12:10
What happens when arts organisations connect with change makers on creativity and the climate crisis?
Presentation followed by panel: Kit Abramson, Paul Dennett, Lindsay Taylor (convenor), Caroline Edge, Alison Criddle, Feimatta Conteh
Lindsay Taylor and Kit Abramson introduce Collective Futures and explore how Hybrid Futures challenges what engagement can look and feel like.
Followed by a panel discussion with Lindsay, Kit, Paul Dennett (Salford City Mayor), Alison Criddle (Museum Development North), Feimatta Conteh (Arts Council England) and Caroline Edge (Photography lecturer & Collective Futures member).
13:00
Morning Recap & Outline Afternoon – Lindsay Taylor
13:10
Lunch and Informal Networking
To avoid unnecessary waste and to keep down costs we will not be providing lunch. Please feel free to bring your own lunch to eat in the venue or we encourage you to explore the locally sourced and plant-based options available at:
- Old Fire Station Bakery
- Salford Museum and Art Gallery
- Maxwell Refectory or Subway in Maxwell Building
In addition, we invite you to support the University’s commitment to biodiversity by visiting the Hedgehog Friendly bake stall, located at the University House Foyer, for Hedgehog Awareness Week.
Tea and coffee provided in Albert Adams Room.
Hybrid Futures exhibition will be open.
Afternoon:
After lunch, choose from a number of activities and opportunities to connect one-to-one with the day’s speakers, project partners, and local organisations and networks working across the arts and sustainability.
Choose From:
14:00 – 15:00
Marketplace: Albert Adams Room
Drop in and meet representatives from a range of networks and organisations concerned about art and climate change.
See the Marketplace section below for the full list of those participating.
14:00 – 14:25
Brew and a chat – Danny Chivers and Rowan Pritchard: the practicalities of sustainable artistic practice and exhibition making
Join Hybrid Futures Sustainability adviser Danny Chivers and Exhibition Coordinator Rowan Pritchard in Room G02/3 to explore some of the practical ways the Hybrid Futures worked to make the 5 Hybrid Futures exhibitions more sustainable.
Brew and a chat – Kit Abramson, Caroline Edge and Rachael Burns: What happens when arts organisations connect with change makers on creativity and the climate crisis?
Join Collective Futures Creative Producer along with two members of Collective Futures in the Council Chamber to find out more about the unique engagement programme and its legacy.
Hybrid Futures Exhibition Tour – Claire Corrin
Meet Exhibition Manager Claire Corrin at the East Wing of Salford Museum & Art Gallery for a tour of the Hybrid Futures exhibition, bringing together the work from across the 3 years of the Hybrid Futures project.
14:30 – 14.55
Brew and a chat: Shezad Dawood, Jessica El Mal, Parham Ghalamdar and Helen Wewiora; the role of the artist in addressing climate change
Join the Hybrid Futures artists and Castlefield Gallery Director Helen Wewiora in G02/3 to explore in more depth the role and responsibilities of artists during the climate crisis.
Brew and a chat: Paulette Brien and Stephanie Fletcher: co-commissioning for co-acquisitions
Join Grundy Art Gallery Curator Paulette Brien, and University of Salford Art Collection Assistant Curator Stephanie Fletcher in the Council Chamber to delve into the project’s collective approach to commissioning and acquiring new work.
Tour to Energy House 2.0: Led by Mike Brown with Mishka Henner and Emily Speed
Join the two current artists in residence with Energy House 2.0, Emily Speed and Mishka Henner, to visit the University of Salford’s world-leading research facility, and find out more about this alternative approach to connecting artists and scientists to explore ideas around sustainability.
Meet at The Old Fire Station Reception.
15:00
Comfort Break
15:10
What we learned: hear from the partners and artists about the practicalities of sustainable artistic practice and exhibition making
Panel: Paulette Brien, Danny Chivers (convener), Jessica El Mal, Parham Ghalamdar, Matthew Pendergast
Look back across the three years of Hybrid Futures with curators Paulette Brien and Matthew Pendergast, artists Jessica El Mal and Parham Ghalamdar, and sustainability advisor Danny Chivers and explore the real findings, the challenges, and what we might do differently in the future.
16:10
Summing up. Led by Kate Wafer
Evaluation Consultant Kate Wafer brings the symposium to a close, summing up some of the key messages from across the day of activity.
16:30
Close.
We invite all participants to join us for a social drink and informal networking at Old Fire Station Café, Bakery and Brewery.
About the Event
Hybrid Futures was developed in the context of the growing climate emergency. It is a collaborative pilot project initiated in 2021 by Castlefield Gallery (Manchester), Grundy Art Gallery (Blackpool), Touchstones (Rochdale), University of Salford Art Collection and Shezad Dawood Studio to explore collective and more sustainable ways of working by pooling expertise to commission, exhibit, and collect new work by visual artists.
We also reached out to members of our communities and invited them to shape a process; to share, learn, explore, and tackle the climate crisis issues which most concern us. Collective Futures brought together people who may not usually have connected, to explore themes and ideas including power, regeneration and legacy, leading to discussions from the global to the deeply personal through a series of meetings, walks and workshops.
Join the Hybrid Futures sector partners, along with artists, commissioners, local authority staff, funders, community members and consultants, for a day of conversation and activity; sharing our learning and exploring together actions our sector can take to create enduring and effective models of sustainable practice for galleries and museums.
There will be an opportunity to visit the Hybrid Futures exhibition at Salford Museum and Art Gallery that presents the story of this project alongside new commissions by artists Shezad Dawood, Jessica El Mal, Parham Ghalamdar and RA Walden that address the urgent thematic focus of climate change. The exhibition continues until 22 September 2024.
You will leave having met like-minded colleagues and equipped with practical knowledge and encouragement to make changes and take action.
Speakers & Conveners
Kit Abramson, Collective Futures, Creative Producer
Paulette Brien, Grundy Art Gallery
Rachael Burns, Touchstones Rochdale
Danny Chivers, Hybrid Futures Sustainability Advisor (Gallery Climate Coalition)
Feimatta Conteh, Senior Manager, Environmental Responsibility, Arts Council England
Helen Cooper, Senior Manager, Philanthropy/Visual Arts, Arts Council England
Claire Corrin, Salford Museum and Art Gallery
Alison Criddle, Museum Development North
Shezad Dawood, Hybrid Futures lead artist
Paul Dennett, Salford City Mayor
Caroline Edge, Lecturer in Photography, University of Salford and Collective Futures Participant,
Jessica El Mal, Hybrid Futures artist
Stephanie Fletcher, Assistant Curator, University of Salford Art Collection
Parham Ghalamdar, Hybrid Futures artist
Mishka Henner, Artist in Residence at Energy House 2.0, University of Salford
Matthew Pendergast, Castlefield Gallery
Rowan Pritchard, Exhibition Coordinator, University of Salford Art Collection
Emily Speed, Artist in Residence at Energy House 2.0, University of Salford
Lindsay Taylor, University of Salford Art Collection
Kate Wafer, Hybrid Futures Evaluation Consultant
Helen Wewiora, Castlefield Gallery
Visual scribe – Grace Collins
Marketplace
Carbon Literacy Project
The Carbon Literacy Project is a UN-recognised, multi-award winning low carbon culture change initiative enabling everyone who lives, works or studies access to a day’s worth of relevant and impactful climate action training. This training is delivered by employers, educators and communities via our externally verified adaptable framework that emphasises relevance with every learner, enabling them to devise actions that optimise their contribution to minimising the impact of the climate crisis. With rapidly expanding take-up across the UK and globally, more than 90,000 citizens have now been certified as Carbon Literate.
Blackpool Council, Coastal Partnerships
Kerry Payton, Costal Partnerships Officer for Blackpool Council joins us. Her work brings together partners locally and across the Northwest to collaboratively explore and seek to address issues affecting the Irish Sea. This involves growing and developing the Turning Tides Partnership, which is led by Blackpool Council and supported by the Environment Agency and United Utilities. This partnership brings relevant stakeholders together to address water quality and ocean recovery issues; such as plastic pollution. Kerry also leads on a Blackpool ocean recovery plan for coastal town resilience which is aligned with Blackpool Council net zero 2030 targets and Green and Blue Infrastructure plan, aiming to increase green spaces to reduce surface water flooding risk, which in turn lessons the risks of climate change from flash flood events.
Gallery Climate Coalition
Aoife Fannin (she/her), Project Manager at Gallery Climate Coalition, joins us on the 10th. Prior to her work with GCC, she worked in a variety of roles within interdisciplinary contemporary art programmes at the intersection of art, social impact and environmentalism, including at the Eden Project, an educational charity, social enterprise and environmental visitor attraction, and E-WERK Luckenwalde, a centre for renewable energy and contemporary art housed in a former coal power station. She has written for publications including It’s Freezing in LA, 34minus1 and Bloom. Fannin holds a BA in Culture, Criticism and Curation from Central St Martins, London and is currently undertaking an MSc in People, Planet, Prosperity at UCL.
GCC is an international coalition of arts organisations working to reduce the visual art sector’s environmental impacts. GCC’s primary goal is to facilitate a reduction of the sector’s CO2e emissions by a minimum of 50% by 2030, as well as promoting zero waste practices. We develop and share best practice, provide leadership on sector specific environmental issues, and work to leverage the collective power of our membership to achieve systemic changes. As a registered charity, we do not operate for profit and provide our tools and resources free of charge. GCC relies on voluntary donations to maintain operations.
GMAST
GMAST brings together the cultural and creative community across Greater Manchester to reduce our environmental impact through working collectively.
LANDS
LANDS is the name of a new arts and sustainability working group programme seeded by Arts Lancashire. An acronym for Lancashire Arts Network for Developing Sustainability, LANDS is a vital programme of climate action, engagement, advocacy and support for Lancashire artists and arts organisations. Its aim is to deliver Climate Justice by working together as a sector to address the unequal impact of the climate crisis and foster a sustainable creative community. We will do this by sharing knowledge and best practice across our local sector about making artistic practice more sustainable as part of a wider commitment to contribute to Lancashire’s net zero target.
Manchester Museum
Hannah Hartley, Environmental Action Manager for Manchester Museum joins us. Hannah drives forward Manchester Museum’s commitment to building a sustainable world and develops programming which catalyses public conversations about the climate and ecological crisis. She co-manages Manchester Museum’s ‘Top Floor’ environmental and social action hub which opens up the museum and its resources to people taking action for social change. Hannah is also a Senior Assessor for the A Greener Festival certification scheme and a steering board member for the Greater Manchester arts and cultural sustainability network GMAST.
Manchester Museum, part of The University of Manchester, opened in 1890. It is one of the UK’s largest university museums with a collection of about 4.5 million items spanning natural history and living cultures. The Museum reopened in February 2023 following a £15 million transformation project, making it more inclusive, imaginative and caring to the diverse communities it serves. A two-story extension has increased the Museum’s floor space and existing spaces have been reconfigured to create new galleries, telling powerful stories and engaging with big ideas.
www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/making-the-museum/sustainableworld
Museum Development North
Museum Development North (MD North) provides advice, gives support and creates opportunities for Accredited museums and those working towards Accreditation across the North of England to connect, collaborate and grow.
MD North is funded by Arts Council England until 31st March 2026, enabling strong, agile museums to contribute to the distinctive life, cultures and identify of the north of England and be widely valued for their transformational impact.
MD North is managed by a partnership between York Museums Trust, Manchester Museums Partnership, Cumbria Museum Consortium and Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums.
University of Salford, Sustainability Office
At University of Salford we recognise the climate and biological crises and that climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing our society across the globe. As a higher education provider we have a major role to play in enabling our students and staff to respond positively to global challenges through their study, work and life. Our sustainability vision is that by embedding sustainability in all aspects of University life, we will enable our University community to have maximum beneficial impacts for society and environment. To enable this we have established three layers to the strategy: sustainable campus, sustainable impact and sustainable communities. The Sustainability Office has responsibility for the holistic sustainability strategy and works with teams across the whole University to enable and embed sustainability.
Location & Accessibility
The Old Fire Station, University of Salford & Salford Museum and Art Gallery
The Old Fire Station is opposite Salford Museum and Art Gallery and is marked ‘W’ on the campus map https://www.salford.ac.uk/travel
You enter the building through the red door on the right of the building as you approach it. You will be directed from reception.
Need To Know
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- We will not be recording the symposium. This is to encourage all contributors and participants to be present on the day, and feel able to fully express themselves about their concerns.
- We will not provide print outs of the schedule on the day – however there will be posters with the schedule that you can photograph.
- Drinking water will be provided throughout the day. We encourage you to bring a reusable water bottle that can be refilled.
- A cloakroom will be available to store coats.
No longer able to attend?
If your plans have changed, please let us know by following this link: https://forms.office.com/e/s8WEXfE4u4
Places at the symposium are limited. By letting us know if you are no longer able to attend, we can reallocate your tickets to our waitlist.