Roots of Resilience: building secure societies through preserving cultural heritage (Follow-On to Build Back Better AH/V006355/1)
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen Mary University of London
Department Name: Drama
Abstract
This follow-on project expands the impact of the original research project 'Build Back Better' (AH/V006355/1) through the continued engagement of the original partner organizations, local teachers and students, alongside a range of local, regional and international stakeholders. It will ensure that research findings about the value and role of cultural heritage in sustainable development resonate long-term with the communities who were the subject of - and agents in - the original research. The original research highlighted the role of civil society in building more resilient futures, and the need to mobilise young people through schools and education facilities. Education focused on understanding, valuing and developing skills to promote heritage preservation was understood as a vital route to sustainable development that is independent from mining companies operating in the region. 'Build Back Better' also demonstrated the unique capacity of local arts organisations to build community confidence around the preservation of local knowledge systems in aid of sustainable development and climate action.
This follow-on project will ensure that findings from the original research are shared widely and engage young people for positive impacts, facilitating a broad range of social and educational outcomes. This will be achieved through a Young Ambassadors programme that builds on methodologies used in the original research to facilitate critical engagement with the value of creative and cultural heritage in the Iron Quadrangle. The programme is designed to ensure that young people and their communities are connected with policy planning and can take a leading role in knowledge exchange activities and the development of a "Green Paper" through a series of think-ins, warm-up workshops and an international webinar. Young people - alongside other participants - will be connected in an international knowledge exchange network including other researchers/communities addressing similar challenges around the world (Cultural Heritage and Climate Change (CHCC) cohort) to ensure sharing and mutual learning from different methodologies/dissemination/mobilisation strategies. These will also be shared widely with more general audiences (with a focus on young people) using a 5-minute animation. Building on HERITAGE (PI)'s experience of creating arts-based toolkits, an educational toolkit will be designed by the local artists and one of Brazil's leading design agencies, Hardcoure. The arts organisations, follow-on team and education specialists from Instituto Inhotim will develop the toolkit (available for free download online), which will include a series of creative workshops/activities as well as videos, glossaries, inventories and interactive creative games. These will be simple and adaptable so that they can be run by non-arts teachers in schools to engage children and young people in issues surrounding the threats facing, as well as ways of protecting and preventing cultural heritage in the region.
The ambition of this project is to connect community values and action with policy planning to support the development of more effective disaster policies, risk reduction strategies and interventions, which protect the value of cultural assets and unlock their potential in the region. Through promoting knowledge exchange with different actors in society (including policy-makers, educational actors, civil society organisations and NGOs), as well as international research collaborators, this follow-on will strengthen and amplify the voices of cultural actors and young people who collaborated on the original research whilst developing the critical role they can play in promoting sustainability and protecting cultural heritage.
This follow-on project will ensure that findings from the original research are shared widely and engage young people for positive impacts, facilitating a broad range of social and educational outcomes. This will be achieved through a Young Ambassadors programme that builds on methodologies used in the original research to facilitate critical engagement with the value of creative and cultural heritage in the Iron Quadrangle. The programme is designed to ensure that young people and their communities are connected with policy planning and can take a leading role in knowledge exchange activities and the development of a "Green Paper" through a series of think-ins, warm-up workshops and an international webinar. Young people - alongside other participants - will be connected in an international knowledge exchange network including other researchers/communities addressing similar challenges around the world (Cultural Heritage and Climate Change (CHCC) cohort) to ensure sharing and mutual learning from different methodologies/dissemination/mobilisation strategies. These will also be shared widely with more general audiences (with a focus on young people) using a 5-minute animation. Building on HERITAGE (PI)'s experience of creating arts-based toolkits, an educational toolkit will be designed by the local artists and one of Brazil's leading design agencies, Hardcoure. The arts organisations, follow-on team and education specialists from Instituto Inhotim will develop the toolkit (available for free download online), which will include a series of creative workshops/activities as well as videos, glossaries, inventories and interactive creative games. These will be simple and adaptable so that they can be run by non-arts teachers in schools to engage children and young people in issues surrounding the threats facing, as well as ways of protecting and preventing cultural heritage in the region.
The ambition of this project is to connect community values and action with policy planning to support the development of more effective disaster policies, risk reduction strategies and interventions, which protect the value of cultural assets and unlock their potential in the region. Through promoting knowledge exchange with different actors in society (including policy-makers, educational actors, civil society organisations and NGOs), as well as international research collaborators, this follow-on will strengthen and amplify the voices of cultural actors and young people who collaborated on the original research whilst developing the critical role they can play in promoting sustainability and protecting cultural heritage.
| Title | Para além das galerias (Beyond galleries) |
| Description | This short documentary was a direct result of Roots of Resilience Young Ambassadors Programme in Passagem de Mariana. Raed, the Young Ambassador, directed and produced a film on the history of Mina da Passagem, a mining cave that for years served as a location for gold extraction but is now deactivated. With enterviews with the owner and some of the workers of the mine (that is now deactivated and became a tourist site), Raed explores the history of mining in the region and the socioeconomic impacts of Mina da Passagem on the city. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | The screening of the film happened in June 2022, during the Roots of Resilience Local Seminars in Passagem de Mariana, and the audience cheered the initiative because it highlights the historical impact of mining in this region. |
| Title | Rap music "O clima tá tenso" (2022) |
| Description | Thiago SKP was one of the artists who developed the Educational Programme as a part of Roots of Resilience. He worked with +200 students from 4 public schools in Itabira to promote a dialogue with children and young people on culture, climate and heritage using art and rap as a tool of connection between him and the students. One of the main results of his work was the creation of the rap song "O clima tá tenso", which tells us about the importance of acknowledging the urgency of climate action in the context of territories already affected by predatory mining and environmental catastrophies. |
| Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | The music and the videoclip are being used by Thiago and other educators in schools all over Itabira to raise awareness of children and young people on climate change and the importance of arts based approaches to deal with the challenges imposed by environmental changes. |
| Title | Vale? Five artists at the frontline of Brazil's worst environmental crime |
| Description | The documentary "VALE?" showcases five Brazilian artists from Minas Gerais who, with music, poetry and circus performance, speak of their pain, fears and hopes four years after the collapse of the Brumadinho dam that killed almost 300 people. The documentary, directed by Paul Heritage and Marcelo Barbosa, looks at the art and cultural heritage of Minas Gerais and asks: how much is it worth? |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Impact | The documentary was released in Minas Gerais in February-March 2023, and will be further explored in festivals and other events that aim to raise awareness on the threats imposed by predatory mining in the Iron Quadrangle. During the screening of the film in Belo Horizonte, Brumadinho and Ouro Preto, audience members related that they were deeply touched by the documentary, and that they felt more connected than ever to the communities affected by the dam break in Brumadinho. The film was seen as an important tool for remembering the severity of the Brumadinho dam break, and it was also noted that the communities affected all over the Iron Quadrangle felt that the film approached this very serious issue in a sensitive way, while also raising awareness of the importance of culture and arts in the resistance against mining activities. |
| Description | The arts organisations and artists have led the development of the projects since the start of the Educational Programme. They designed the format of their educational activities and also organizing the final seminars where they showcased the project results to their own communities. This approach allowed their ideas to bloom, resulting in the creation of six diverse projects with varied goals and results. The proximity of the cultural organisations and the artists with their local communities allowed their projects to become spaces for sharing knowledge and building resilience. Although each organisation developed different approaches within their local context and target audience, there were commonalities: all projects highlighted (i) the importance of education as a connecting point between the cultural sector and the communities, (ii) the recognition of heritage as an amalgamation of community experiences and (iii) environmental awareness as a key tool for local empowerment facing climate change and mining-related risks. Various different artistic methodologies were utilised by the organisations and artists during the implementation of the Educational Programme: lectures and workshops, music therapy, literary workshops, rap sessions and theatrical presentations are some of the examples of the activities led by the cultural organisations and the artists. This variety of methodologies allowed the initial theme - Climate change, culture and heritage - to be tackled from different viewpoints simultaneously, which positively contributed for the Educational Programme's impact in the various contexts in which it was applied, while also enhancing the continuity of these projects based on their appropriation by both cultural organisations and communities from the Iron Quadrangle and other territories. Throughout the implementation of the projects, organisations and artists tested the use of different cultural heritage practices: hip-hop/rap, theater/performance, band music (brass orchestra), creative reading/writing, and other African-Brazilian cultural traditions. In general, raising awareness about heritage and climate issues started with the application of the aforementioned methodologies, with cultural and artistic practice as a bridge to dialogue with communities. |
| Exploitation Route | The Educational Programme was an important development of the initial Roots of Resilience research. In order to leverage the research results and this Programme in particular, the goal is to start a new phase of work in March 2023 with a network of partners in Minas Gerais and other locations in Brazil, in order to encourage the development of policies and practices that integrate cultural heritage with resilience strategies in the face of climate change. In this new phase, new methodological contributions will also be introduced, based on strategies for measuring the vulnerability and resilience of cultural heritage, which can be used by public policy makers and cultural institutions throughout Brazil. The proposed new activities will disseminate the methodologies implemented in the Educational Programmes, in order to work the triad of culture, climate and heritage with young people from all over the country. The results of this Educational Programme will have the potential to maximize the impact and engagement of the research that gave rise to the Programme. The general objective of this new phase is to extend the impact of the original research carried out in the Iron Quadrangle in Minas Gerais, activating several networks of institutional partnerships to increase public engagement, further exploring the role that tangible and intangible cultural heritage plays in building resilience, recovering from environmental catastrophes and facing the climate crisis. Through new educational initiatives, the specific objective of this new phase of the Educational Programme is to transfer, test and expand the implementation of projects based on artistic-based methodologies to engage young people in debates on the interconnection between cultural heritage and climate change in Brazil. |
| Sectors | Education,Environment,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Description | The six projects were based on activities developed with young people from communities in Passagem de Mariana, Brumadinho, Quilombo de Marinhos, São José do Paraopeba, Itabira and Nova Lima. All projects highlighted the importance of cultural heritage in the context of climate crisis, whilst prioritizing the inclusion of local practices that involved material and immaterial heritage and the promotion of artistic projects that encouraged reflection on the climate/cultural context of the territories where the projects were developed. The intersection between heritage, culture and environment was the main focus of the Educational Programme, with varying methodologies and approaches developed by each organisation and artist. Each cultural collaborating organisation was asked to define its target audience according to its own particular needs, which varied from groups defined by age (young people/children) to groups defined by knowledge or social position (community leaders/educators/artists). The need for replicability and adaptability was another important issue in the development of the Educational Programme. Each organisation and artist had not only to create a specific timeline for their projects, but also to suggest strategies for the project's continuity, so that they could reach greater audiences and further the project's impact. The artists and organisations created projects that could be applied within the context of other communities and territories inside and outside of the Iron Quadrangle. This is one of the main achievements of the Educational Programme and allows PPP to continue developing the impact of the work by bringing the training materials together as an educational toolkit for use in other regions of Brazil. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Education,Environment,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | Impact Accelerator Account: HSS Impact Awards 2022-23 |
| Amount | £50,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Queen Mary University of London |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2023 |
| End | 07/2023 |
| Description | Culture, Climate, Action! Series of webinars |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In April 2022, a series of four webinars was conducted following the discussion on the importance of building resilience through cultural activities on territories affected by mining in the Iron Quadrangle. Each webinar had a theme: 1. Climate change (in)action: how to protect heritage 2. Do look up: policies for climate and heritage 3. Artivism: the artist in face of disasters 4. Paths to resilience: how communities design a future The main goal of this webinar series was to discuss how local communities can articulate and resonate cultural practices as a way of fighting against climate change and other environmental threats deriving from mining activities. Community leaders, artists and scholars from Brazil and the UK discussed the ways in which arts and culture can pave the way for resistance in territories affected by climate change and mining, showing that resilience must be built with the recognition of cultural heritage - both material and immaterial - as a factor of social cohesion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=magOLMqHVh4 |
| Description | ECo-Nversations: The Role of the Arts in the Climate Emergency |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | How do we change hearts and minds about the climate crisis? Is it time to get cultural institutions, artists, and storytellers on board? When will we paying attention to the voices on the front line of the fight for climate justice? Eco-nversation is a podcast that brings together activists, artists, and academics to discuss our roles and responsibilities in the climate emergency, produced by People's Palace Projects at Queen Mary University of London In this first episode, we talk about the role of artists and arts organisations in responding to the climate emergency. Guests: Madani Younis and Zoe Svendsen. Madani is chief executive producer of The Shed (New York, USA) and former creative director of the Southbank Centre (London, UK), and artistic director of the Bush Theatre (London, UK) and Freedom Studios (Bradford, UK). Madani says we must make active commitments, drive change and find ways to hold each other accountable. Zoe Svendsen is an associate artist at Donmar Warehouse (London, UK) and lecturer at Cambridge University (Cambridge, UK), with vast experience as a director and dramaturg, including at the Barbican, Young Vic and Shakespeare's Globe (London, UK). For Zoe, the questions we need to ask about who we are and how we live in the world must be articulated as a conversation, both in and beyond the theatre. Hosted by Paul Heritage, director of , an art research centre for social justice and Professor of Drama and Performance at Queen Mary University of London. Executive production and script: Yula Rocha/ People's Palace Projects Audio design: Image: #ShowYourStripes by University of Reading |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://open.spotify.com/show/5IheM3KhVjgJpQ7BafoFQL |
| Description | Gestores Culturais pelo Clima - Sandpits - Rio de Janeiro (July 2022) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Gestores Culturais pelo Clima is a project that arises from the partnership between the Municipal Secretariat of Culture of Rio de Janeiro and People's Palace Projects with the objective of developing projects that seek to insert culture as a promoter of climate education in the city. Through a laboratory of ideas, 20 managers of municipal cultural venues participated, in July 2022, in an immersion led by People's Palace Projects in which they developed projects that showed the connection between environment and culture, with the purpose of being directly linked to the space and territory in which these cultural venues operate. The immersion lasted 4 days and was hosted at Centro Municipal de Artes Helio Oiticica. In this opportunity, cultural managers worked together to build projects that left a positive impact on their cultural venues and their territories, while raising awareness of climate and environmental challenges faced by their communities. In the mornings, researchers and relevant actors in the cultural and climate field presented debates on four issues, each on a different day: 1. Culture for climate: how do cultural organizations understand their role on climate action? 2. Climate change and infrastructure: fighting for a regenerative culture 3. Culture feeding the world 4. Activism and networks Each of these sessions aimed at inspiring the managers on solutions for climate and environmental-related problems that could be tackled with cultural and artistic/creative approaches. On the afternoons, the managers discussed these potential solutions with each other, and, on the last day of the sandpits, each manager presented their project ideas to a panel of experts on both cultural and climate areas. The projects were further developed on all 10 cultural venues during the months of August and September of 2022, and in total reached over 300 people. The methodologies developed by each cultural venue had as their main objective the reproduction of strategies to raise awareness of the communities in which the facilities were inserted, taking into account the reality of each territory and the specific demands of each location. This initiative has great potential for replication in cultural facilities throughout Brazil, due to the relevance and innovative nature of the methodologies developed by each action - storytelling, graffiti workshops, recycled art workshops, planting workshops, music and dance were some of the tools used to raise awareness of the communities in environmental issues. The initiatives developed by Gestores Culturais pelo Clima make room for culture to act on the front line in climate education, leading communities to discuss environmental issues in order to engage the territories in the struggle to preserve our future. Community involvement is one of the main legacies of the project, and it indicates the direction that climate education actions must take to ensure the leadership of territories in the fight for climate justice. This is a project that speaks, above all, of the future; it is in this sense that the actions developed indicate the possible places that culture can (and should) occupy in building a positive legacy for future generations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://peoplespalaceprojects.org.uk/en/publications/gestores-culturais-pelo-clima-booklet-2/ |
| Description | Research team attendance at COP27, Egypt |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Research team members Thiago Jesus and Shirley Djukurna Krenak attended the COP27 Climate talks to participate in policy dialogues about Indigenous people's protagonism within international solutions to the climate crisis. (Thiago Jesus's participation was funded by Queen Mary University of London). Press coverage was secured, and interviews were recorded with other participants of the COP27 talks. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2022/pr/queen-mary-tackles-sustainability-and-environmental-challe... |
| Description | Roots of Resilience Educational Programme Final Seminar in Minas Gerais (June 2022) - Brumadinho |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In June 2022, as a part of the Roots of Resilience project, the organizations and artists who were part of the Educational Programme organized local seminars to present the results of their projects and connect with their communities, policymakers and other interested audiences. In Brumadinho, the cultural organizations Banda São Sebastião and Casa Quilombê organized an event at Banda São Sebastião headquarters. Amongst many other issues, the audience raised a discussion on the importance of empowering culture as a means of facing the threats imposed by predatory mining activities in the regions, especially remembering the context of the 300 lives lost in the 2019 dam break in Brumadinho. After the discussions, the organizations presented their results of the Educational Programme in Brumadinho and Quilombo de Marinhos. Lucas Fabrício, one of the artists that developed the Educational Programme in Nova Lima, also presented the results of his project. In the end, the Young Ambassadors from Quilombo Marinhos and Brumadinho, presented the results of the projects they implemented as part of the Young Ambassador programme. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Roots of Resilience Educational Programme Final Seminar in Minas Gerais (June 2022) - Itabira |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In June 2022, as a part of the Roots of Resilience project, the organizations and artists who were part of the Educational Programme organized local seminars to present the results of their projects and connect with their communities, policymakers and other interested audiences. In Itabira, Thiago SKP was the artist that, in cooperation with Fundação Cultural Carlos Drummond de Andrade (FCCDA), organized an event at FCCDA's headquarters. In the first part of the event, Paul Heritage chaired a discussion on cultural heritage and mining with Prof. Leonardo Reis (UFOP), Itabira's Secretary of Environment Denes Lott and Sinara Rubia (Rio de Janeiro's Municipal Secretariat of Culture). After the discussion, Thiago SKP presented the results of the Educational Programme in Itabira and, in the end, he premiered the short music clip for "O clima tá tenso", a rap song he made as a result of the Educational Programme. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Roots of Resilience Educational Programme Final Seminar in Minas Gerais (June 2022) - Passagem de Mariana |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In June 2022, as a part of the Roots of Resilience project, the organizations and artists who were part of the Educational Programme organized local seminars to present the results of their projects and connect with their communities, policymakers and other interested audiences. In Passagem de Mariana, the cultural organization Clube Osquindô organized an event at Banda São Sebastião headquarters. Amongst many other issues, the audience raised a discussion on the importance of empowering culture as an economic activity in opposition to mining, which monopolizes the working perspectives for young people in Passagem de Mariana and other cities in the region. After the discussions, the organization presented the results of the Educational Programme in Passagem de Mariana, and Raed (the local Young Ambassador) presented his documentary "Para além das galerias" ("Beyond Galleries"), as a result of the Young Ambassador programme. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |