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The Centre for Reworlding in partnership with Mount Alexander Shire Council held a 2-day Creative Resilience Lab at Newstead Community Centre where to amplify our collective knowledge to bolster collaborative capacity in context-specific climate emergency and disaster preparedness. Through invitation and Expression of Interest (EOI) the Lab included approximately 70 people from Mt. Alexander Shire representing (but not limited to) Indigenous knowledge-keepers, culture & the arts, physical & social sciences, emergency services, local government, funders and community groups. This is lab was NOT about reinventing the wheel or duplicating efforts, but unifying and futuring togetherā¦to build the scaffolding needed for our current + future generations to survive and thrive.
The Centre for Reworlding work is grounded in Indigenous knowledge systems and protocols based in the concept of relationality that foreground inclusion, mutual benefit sharing and the plurality of knowledges including those often absent in climate and disaster management discourses. This is not a spectator sport - everyone has a role. Through a range of formats, speakers + participants will share knowledge on the role of culture and the arts in climate emergency disaster risk reduction + resilience; context-specific climate risks, impacts and opportunities; local emergency management processes; and, the interconnection between disasters and chronic societal stresses and global risks impacting communities. Together we will map potential disaster scenarios through an equity and justice lens and use creative backcasting methods to scaffold alternative futures. What happens next is ours to determine. It might be a āshovel readyā project, a missing piece or connection to amplify existing projects, and/or something simply remarkable that creates new partnerships and deep work together.
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To bolster literacy about the localised climate emergency context and the role of arts + culture; cultivate greater understanding of creative resilience approaches in response to the local disaster risk; relationship building to enable longer and deeper cross-sectoral collaboration and how to work with diverse community members and equity-denied groups.
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Questions do the heavy-lifting for us to explore:
How might working with artists and other creative practitioners reimagine disaster preparedness, response and recovery?
How can we apply creative scenario planning to better understand plausible futures and as a result pathways to be better prepared?
In what ways can we foster transdisciplinary and intersectional pathways for sustained collaboration and community engagement?
How might we prioritise intergenerational justice in our disaster preparedness, response and recovery?
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Professional development to critically, creatively and carefully understand and negotiate the complexities of the climate crisis - as they relate to disaster risk reduction and resilience in the current context;
Deepen understanding of natural hazards and disaster risk, with practice mapping future scenarios as a capability for application;
Learn new skills in transdisciplinary collaborative methodologies;
Identify opportunities to collaborate to dive deeper given the intersectionality between climate emergency, disaster resilience and arts and culture; and,
Enhanced understanding of community-led emergency management and disaster resilience for a broad range of stakeholders;
Connect with local artists, Indigenous Custodians, scientists, community representatives and emergency managers for collective knowledge exchange about disaster resilience;
Experience a collaborative process and elements thereof that could be applied in various contexts, environments and scales in community-led disaster risk reduction and resilience: and,
Learn more inclusive ways to work with equity-denied communities.
Every disaster is different.
Every community is different.
Every Creative Resilience Lab is different.
What is Creative Resilience?
Creative resilience somewhat of a new(ish) neologismā¦combining two popular buzz words (more on this later). In a nutshell..
It is the enhanced capability for individuals, communities and organisations to optimally adapt under the immediate challenges and changes. It enables people to anticipate and absorb the context of a given situation and to problem find and respond using a diversity of skills, knowledges and networks. It supports people to speculatively imagine alternative futures and most importantly some of the āhowā in making them happen. It allows individuals and organizations to stay agile in the face of change, and to continue to innovate and create even in difficult circumstances. Not to mention, it may just be the key to humansā success as a species.
When we have creative resilience, we have the ability to thrive, to support others, think in distant timescales, locate ourselves in the present and see possibilities rather than obstacles. Where some see scarcity, we see abundance.
Reworlders for the CR Lab: Mount Alexander Shire
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Maree Grenfell
COMMUNITY + RESILIENCE STRATEGIST CO-LEAD, CREATIVE RESILIENCE LAB
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Dr Jen Rae
CO-FOUNDER + CREATIVE RESEARCH LEAD CO-LEAD, CREATIVE RESILIENCE LAB
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Claire G. Coleman
CO-FOUNDER + LEAD WRITER
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Kamarra Bell-Wykes
DRAMATURG + DIRECTION
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Kate Sulan
DRAMATURG + DIRECTION
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Ryan Hale
PRODUCER
This project is possible thanks to the support of the Foundation for Regional and Rural Renewal funding and partnership with Mount Alexander Shire Council.
In 2019, we partnered with the City of Vancouver to deliver our first Creative Resilience Lab.
Check out this video to learn more about the lab and partnership
