Page 24 - APAP - Inside Arts - Summer 2020

In early March, I joined a cohort of artists, arts an arts touring industry that could re-imagine how we work
administrators, cultural workers and scientists from the U.S. and Canada gathered at Biosphere 2 in Oracle, Arizona for the inaugural Creative Climate
Leadership USA intensive program. CCL is a new program for artists and cultural professionals to explore the cultural dimensions of climate change and take action with impact, creativity and resilience. In the midst of this intimate learning and leadership exchange focused on developing creative responses for a new climate future, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic escalated in the U.S. and around the world. The interconnectedness of these two issues—climate change and an emerging global pandemic—were not lost on me. Our interconnectedness became clearer as humans impacted by and responsible for both, and as members of
to address that impact in our own communities.
Vijay Mathew’s article was published on HowlRound more than a year ago, but it seems prescient and timely today. With tours currently grounded and live performances on pause, we are forced to learn new ways of programming and collaborating with each other. How might we apply this learning to re-imagine how we work and our industry’s impact on climate change? Think of Mathew’s article as a road map of sorts—or simply more support for discourse, consciousness and action.
KRISTA BRADLEY
DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS AND RESOURCES ASSOCIATION OF PERFORMING ARTS PROFESSIONALS
22 INSIDE ARTS SUMMER 2020
SCREEN SHOT FROM APAP MEMBERS' CREATIVE RESPONSES TO COVID-19 ON YOUTUBE: VOIR UN AMI PLEURER BY ALFREDO MERAT