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The project “Climate Circus”* reveals the fears and hopes of young people about their future

SLLC “Rigas cirks” together with the Donorstate partner from Norway – NVO “Acting for Climate” till July 31, 2023 will realize the project “Circus for Climate”. First project story is from the project promotor – SLLC “Rigas cirks”:

“With the support of EEA Grants, Riga Circus (“Rīgas cirks”) in cooperation with the Norwegian network for performing arts and sustainable circus company “Acting for Climate” in March 2022 launched a new international project called “Circus for Climate”.

The main goal of the project is to explore the collective empowerment that multidisciplinary approach to education, art and activism can provide. The aim is to create a space for youngsters, artists and environmental specialists to meet and to work together across different regions of Latvia around the topic of art activism for environmental sustainability.

The first major phase of this project has come to an end: our creative laboratories are now over. Altogether, we run five labs with young people from all over Latvia. The purpose of the laboratories was to talk about climate through the language of contemporary art and find out what young people are concerned about in relation to environmental and climate problems. How do they see climate change? How can we fix it? What solutions do we need?

In the laboratories, young people discovered circus, dance, theater and visual art techniques, participated in discussions on climate change issues and talked about possible solutions.

“The understanding of young people when it comes to environmental issues is much deeper than we can even imagine. We can really feel the change of generations. Our young people think and talk about ecosystems, about structural changes and even about the problem of consumption, so about very deep issues. This new generation gives hope that climate change may yet be averted. It is so important to give them a platform through which to express themselves,”

says Ieva Ozoliņa, project manager.

When asked, young people identified Latvia’s biggest environmental as follows:

• Deforestation, extinction of forests and ecosystems;
• Dependence on oil and natural gas for heat and energy production;
• Amount of waste, natural pollution, non-separation of waste and plastic use and pollution;
• Transport: quantity of vehicles;
• Air pollution from production and heating;
• Pesticides and agricultural pollution.

The biggest climate related and doubts of young people are obviously about the future: will we make it? What will the world be like affected by the effects of climate change? Or will humanity succeed in “fixing” the climate? Are people ready to change? Young people, of course, live with the hope that it will work out and that the future can still be better than it looks now.

The time together with “Acting for Climate” artists also gave the young people the opportunity to discuss how environmental problems are solved in countries where the artists live: Norway, Denmark, France and Italy.

The topics discussed in the laboratories, and the collaboration of artists and young people will result in a contemporary circus performance that will take place at the end of May.

Another product of co-creation to see the light soon will be the comic strip book, produced by artists Ingrīda Picukāne and Vivianna Maria Stanislavska the with incredible and daring creative input from the young people during the Lab #1.

* “Circus for Climate”