Climate Emergency Network presents Earth Day: Appetite for Justice

Call for proposals

Internal open call for participation - Friday, 22 April 2022

Closing date: Midnight, 18 March 2022

Link to application form

The context

We are living through multiple emergencies. Escalating climate impacts, the horrors of conflict - in the midst of these realities - our demand for justice cries out.

Since 1970 communities around the world have come together to honour the planet and celebrate Earth Day, yet so many of the environmental challenges we face have only become more urgent.

We are learning how to care for ourselves and our global community during these times. Let’s nourish our collective imaginations through our creative response.

Share your appetite for justice!

We want to hear from you about how you would contribute to our Earth Day action!

The event

This Earth Day, the Climate Emergency Network invites you to take a seat at the table. Throughout the day, all over UAL, communal spaces will be taken over to create a series of collective experiences in the name of social and ecological justice.

Opportunity

You are invited to host a table at one of the UAL sites, a table where ideas can be shared, justice defined and fought for, collective action planned and where ritual, ceremony and the unexpected are welcome. Participants will be allocated a production budget of up to £50 for solo projects, up to £100 for group projects.

The brief

The brief is framed by a table: a table you can set, curate, create. A kitchen table. A conference table. A workbench. A reception desk. A coffee table. A Iftar feast at sundown. A table designed, adorned, arranged by you. As an individual, a pair, a group or a whole cohort, create a table-top space where we can demonstrate the vital role of culture and creativity in processing the challenge of the climate and ecological emergency and reimagine our lives in its wake.

The table is where we connect with our gut and digest ideas. We gather at the table to devise, discuss, debate and replenish. At the table we transform raw materials, consider their origins, transmit recipes and memories. Around the table we share jokes and joys, mend, mould, plot and plan.

The plan

Tables will be distributed across our College campuses in various configurations and at different scales. All contributions will be collected and amplified across our social media.

The Climate Emergency Network will curate site-specific meal-time focal points, harnessing the rhythms and arcs of the day - all the while disrupting business-as-usual behaviours - whether online or in person.

Some activities will last all day, others will pop up and disappear. Some will occupy specific spaces, others will be roaming, still others will exist in digital spaces. Surprise guests will turn up as participants or hosts. All will be connected through a networked communications team of students and staff.

What might each of us bring to The Table? And who?

To express your interest in being an Earth Day host, please fill in this form by 18 March 2022.