The British Council will participate in the one-day Assuming Responsibility for Climate Change (arCc) project conference in Ganja, Azerbaijan, supported by the British Council’s Creative Commissions initiative, which is an integral part of our global #TheClimateConnection campaign.
The Creative Commissions have been awarded through a competitive open call process and over 480 proposals were received from all over the world. The British Council-funded commissions will be developed by individuals and organisations in the UK working with partners in 33 countries. The aspiration for these commissions is to stimulate global conversations about climate change and to inspire transformational change. Rosanna Lewis, the British Council’s Creative Commissions Lead, says:
“The Creative Commissions are an impressive set of unique and bespoke projects addressing climate-related challenges from around the world. Each project explores our relationship to ourselves, to one another, and to our environment. [...] The British Council is honoured to work with such talented and passionate partners to raise awareness of climate change and the role of arts and culture to address shared global challenges.”
Khazar University and their arCc project (Assuming Responsibility for Climate Change) was selected as one the joint winners of our Creative Commissions call. The project was collaboratively designed and submitted by Middlesex University and 13 institutional partners from 13 countries, including the UK, Azerbaijan, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Nigeria.
Project arCc was inspired by a realisation during Covid-19, that institutions and organisations from almost twenty different countries were lacking in the platform and infrastructure to share knowledge of the crisis. The same challenge exists for creative and innovative responses to climate change. In collaboration with Oracle TES, a UK- based organisation with expertise in educational services, Middlesex University will coordinate institutions from twelve different countries to increase awareness of climate change at an international level. Emphasis will be given to trigger empathy at national level by educating a critical mass of students and citizens about their share of accountability and responsibility towards climate change. This project is intended to be the first step towards establishing a network of partners who are capable to scale up the project outputs with subsequent actions.
The one-day conference will take start on 8 October, 09.30am in Ganja, Azerbaijan, and involve broad groups of teachers and students from the schools and universities of Azerbaijan. Ganja is one of the historical and cultural centres of Azerbaijan, and its second most populous city. The conference speakers will include representatives from three universities and several schools in Azerbaijan, and will be jointly opened by Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Mr. James Sharp, Founder and Chairman of Board of Directors and Trustees (Khazar University), Prof. Hamlet Isakhanli and the director of the British Council in Azerbaijan, Mr. Francis Gardener-Trejo.
Our #TheClimateConnection campaign is taking place in the run-up to the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow.
The 17 commissions, including Khazar University’s Project arCc will receive a total share of between £750,000 - £850,000 and will be developed between March and November 2021. Throughout the year, the selected projects will share their outcomes through a range of digital approaches – from web-based digital storytelling, digital comics, animation to virtual reality experiences. We will be showcasing the latest news on the projects on our channels and using hashtags #TheClimateConnection, #COP26 and #TogetherForOurPlanet.