Culture Declares Emergency
Culture Declares Emergency is a growing international movement of individuals and organizations in the cultural sector declaring a climate and ecological emergency. This means speaking truth, acting and seeking justice.
In times of emergency, we must be emergent as resilient professionals and organizations, prepared to adapt to external changes and “be the change.”
In ecology, “emergent” means to be above others, to be visible or prominent, so this is an opportunity to announce our position on the planetary crisis and its many implications for justice.
We are committed to working for the co-creation of a regenerative culture – one that is inclusive, healthy, life-sustaining, resilient and adaptive – and this requires rebuilding just and ethical relationships among ourselves, and with other species and the landscape.
Our statement
At QUIERO and through this platform we declare a climate and ecological emergency. We commit to work with and support our local community and government to address this emergency, and we ask others to do the same.
These are our intentions:
1. Tell the truth
Governments, and their public broadcasting and cultural agencies, must tell the truth about the climate and ecological emergency, reverse incoherent policies, and communicate the urgency of far-reaching systemic change.
We will communicate with and support citizens to uncover the truth about the Emergency and the changes that are needed.
2. Take Action
Governments must enact legally binding policy measures to reduce emissions to net zero by 2025 and reduce consumption levels. We commit to work to reduce our emissions to net zero by 2025.
We will challenge policies and actions by local and national governments and their agencies, when we interact with them, that do not help reduce emissions or consumption levels.
We will actively work to imagine and model ways in which our organization can regenerate the planet’s resources.
3. We are committed to justice
Emergence has arisen from deeply systemic injustices. Art and culture can imagine and forge changes in the ways we relate to each other and to the world, in our values and behaviors.
We will do what we can to enable dialogue and expression in our communities about how the Emergency will affect them and the changes that are needed.
We will support demands for more democracy within our civic institutions and government. We believe that all work in pursuit of truth, action and democracy must be underpinned by a commitment to social and environmental justice.