What you need from this movement
17 Sep 2023
On 13th September, we held a movement-wide online assembly with 95 declarers registered, 12 speakers and around 45 active participants. We asked the following provocations:
- What are you struggling with? What gets in the way of you unlocking agency to create justice, care & welfare? How do you keep your compassion and energy for action for yourself and others?
- What inspires hope? What kinds of practices are working well to create justice, care & welfare that we can amplify and adapt in our work? (We’re inviting very brief shares of cultural and change-making practice.)
- What can we do together? What does the movement need to unlock the agency for this work? What is our energised plan of response to the systemic barriers that face us?
There were many shared stories and brilliant ideas for how we in Culture Declares will move forward, to be more responsive to the intensifying emergency and grow capacity for supporting declarers in their creative & activist practice and in their Hubs and collaborations with our allies.
One big finding was that many declarers are unaware of what resources are already provided and what activities we are doing. CDE will respond further to what was shared in the assemblies through a refreshed strategy, which we are working on now.
This aims to signpost what exists that you can use based on some of the suggestions made about what we should do.
The invitation still stands to any new and existing declarers to get involved in working groups, local hubs and events. If you have ideas on how to improve any of the resources or statements below, please make suggestions.
‘Create an easily shareable invitation to join CDE’
You are welcome to widely share the Declare page of this website.
Our social media profiles frequently host invitations to join and support CDE. Head over to any of these to find a recent call to action you can share to your network: Facebook @culturedeclares; Twitter @culturedeclares; Mastodon https://mstdn.social/@CultureDeclares ; and Instagram culturedeclares
‘Create a digital guide of starting points, such as how we can start a hub’
Here is an overview of Ways to Get Involved, including the simplest steps you can take.
Here is a guide to how you can start your own hub (which we are working to improve)
Ideas for joining a sector specialist group amongst our Alliance of Declarers and allies.
‘Could CDE create a summary text with a cultural frame – which we could share widely?’
This is our short summary declaration, found here:
“We declare that the Earth’s life-supporting systems are in imminent jeopardy, threatening human civilisation and the biodiversity it depends upon“
As a response to the event, we wrote a longer description of our movement on the home page. Scroll down to find it, and please share it.
Also, see the Why Declare? page for a summary of the crisis and why the Cultural sector needs to take action.
‘A manifesto/framework/set of principles & values’
As above, you can find our short declaration, followed by our Mission, Vision and Values on the About page.
‘Clarity on what things we can do for the crisis, and how that links to our own practice’
- We have produced a toolkit called Pathways to Action, based on 8 areas of possible action
- See the Inspiration section of this website for many examples of practice.
- The YouTube series from The Offer events, online gatherings since 2020, provides ideas for action and links to practice.
- You can also explore our social media hashtag #CultureTakesAction for many inspirations.
‘Run a buddying or mentoring scheme, or increase self-help coaching’
We have run been running peer-to-peer mentoring sessions on running assemblies and the ‘the Art of Invitation’, led by Ruth Ben-Tovim. We’d be really happy to get more ideas on how we can grow capacity for more buddying, mentoring and coaching. In the meantime, you can attend:
- The Offer events (see info on the next one on Water Ways in November)
- Declarer’s Breakfasts, which offer break-outs for peer mentoring and short training sessions.
- Events run by local Hubs which exist to provide network support.
‘Produce some jointly authored statements on big relevant issues’
We have produced several, and sent these to press contacts, key policy makers, our network and social media platforms. The older statements still contain valid content that could be re-used and re-shared, and more statements will continue to be issued.
Our response to Arts Council England on their draft strategy for 2020 to 2030
Our statement in response to the Covid-19 pandemic
Overview of our strategic plan for 2021-2022
Open letter in solidarity with campaigners against fossil fuel sponsorship of the Science Museum
Our statement on COP26 in Glasgow in 2021
Our statement on COP27, 2022
Earth Day call to action sent to DCMS, 2023
Statement on Sunak throwing the environment on the political bonfire, September 2023
