Community resilience along the River Exe - What role can the arts play?
How can the arts engage communities in climate resilience? That’s the question we asked groups at risk of flooding along the River Exe. Read on to find out what happened.
Resilience in the face of climate change: Arts vs science?
At JBA, we understand the benefits of synergy between creativity, culture, and business in driving climate resilience. We recognise that the arts and our scientific work are not polar opposites but, in fact, complement each other.
Where we use science, facts, and data to explain things and provide solutions to our clients, artists communicate through emotional engagement. Combining science and the arts allows us to explain complex issues, engage individuals and communities, and help explain the complex in ways everyone can relate to.
Building community resilience along the River Exe
We recently delivered a workshop for local communities at flood risk along the River Exe in collaboration with Hannah Mumby, a local artist and workshop facilitator from Exeter.
Participants from Lympstone, Topsham and Exmouth were invited to the event, as these are locations where JBA has supported flood risk management projects in recent years. Members of the local Environment Agency office and local authorities, including Devon County Council, were also in attendance.
The event focussed on the following question: How can the arts engage communities in climate resilience?
Hannah has recently worked on a project in Topsham, bringing together residents, community leaders and experts to produce personalised creative knowledge maps. The project explores the lived experiences of flooding and the potential impact of climate change on this local area.
Hannah kicked the event off with a reading from Daisy Hildyard’s book, The Second Body. In this passage, the author describes winter flooding inundating her home in Yorkshire. During this reading, audio of the River Exe flooding was played, encouraging the attendees to think about the reality of flood risk in their local area and how it can impact individuals and the community as a whole.
Anticipation - explored through creativity
The first activity invited the attendees to visit stations around the room, read, and respond to a series of questions related to flood risk through creative writing, drawing, or collage.
- What stops you from engaging with flood risk?
- What would confronting flood risk feel like?
- What stops you from making a flood plan?
- Who is most vulnerable to flooding?
- Where can people go for support to better prepare for flooding?
The Boxer's Guide to Climate Resilience
Following this, we all watched 'The Boxer's Guide to Climate Resilience' - a recording of the performance we commissioned last year to provoke a new way of communicating climate resilience awareness. The film introduced participants to the concept of Aware, Adapt, Respond, Recover and encouraged them to think about what climate resilience means to them and their communities.
Following the film, we held a series of group discussions, with each group focussing on one element of Aware, Adapt, Respond, Recover. Each group had quotes from the film to use as prompts, leading to fascinating discussions around community-specific resilience before, during and after a flood event.
Check out the photo gallery below for their responses.
Paving the way for a sustainable tomorrow
This event brought together community members and risk management authorities, giving them the opportunity to think about climate resilience in a more creative and integrated way.
We are increasing our focus on linking creativity and business to enhance climate resilience. By leveraging the strengths of science, art, and community engagement, we can empower communities, create legacies, and build a society that is more resilient to climate change.
Working together, we are not just addressing climate change — we are innovating, inspiring, and paving the way for a sustainable tomorrow.
