Programmes

Creative climate programme

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We are passionate about walking our talk with regards to the world we live in, and in supporting environmental issues and concerns.

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To deliver on this we have partnered with Art and Energy to develop a programme of activities that connects the creative sector in Plymouth and the climate and ecological agenda.

Working together to understand overlap and synergy, we created a three-year programme that consists of learning opportunities, workshops and a digital space to share best practice, and focuses on addressing climate anxiety, decarbonising the sector and supporting creative responses to the climate and ecological emergency.

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Let’s Make Change

‘Let’s Make Change’, our 2025/26 climate action programme, was created to support Plymouth-based creative freelancers in developing bold, imaginative projects that respond to the climate crisis.

We’ve selected ten talented creatives who embarked on a journey to explore sustainability through their artistic practices - ranging from visual arts to performance and design.

Hear from them in the video below about how the programme impacted their practice:

Meet the Participants

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Abgail Eaton

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  • Abigail Eaton is a sustainable fashion design consultant who has worked in the responsible fashion space for over a decade. She specialises in guiding individuals and businesses toward sustainable practices through design and product development, empowering clients to embody sustainability with clarity and confidence. Her work explores how thoughtful design can reduce environmental impact while remaining both desirable and functional. Abigail works across design and development, from designing for longevity, pattern cutting and toiling, to creating technical packages and sourcing ethical factories. By providing practical tools and tailored guidance, she helps clients navigate complex challenges and grow their businesses responsibly.

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Laura Quigley

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  • Laura Quigley wants to create an environmental arts magazine, enabling Plymouth designers and writers to reach new audiences.  Laura is a published author of poetry, biography, non-fiction and short fiction. Starting out in theatre, she’s had some work performed. She’s also volunteered with local arts and heritage organisations. Currently she runs an art business in Plymouth for her autistic son. As a full-time carer working with support organisations, she’s witnessed the restorative capabilities of our precious green spaces. Now she wants to help promote the work of green creative practitioners through collaborative storytelling, combining stunning images with accessible text.

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Samantha Webb

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  • Samantha Webb is a children’s author and illustrator, a bear maker, a puppeteer; and a mum of two but rarely in that order. Samantha has a real passion for arts and crafts and a strong belief that both things should be easily accessible to everyone who wants to try them. Samantha has been a full time artist for over 14 years and runs both Moby and Puddle and By Samantha Webb, as both have a special focus on story telling and characters they often end up entangled in projects together. 

    Samantha loves a cup of tea, always has a Sherbet Fountain in her bag and a notebook close by to scribble ideas and doodles.

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Rebecca Trim

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  • My name is Rebecca Trim, and I am the Artistic Director and founder of Inspire Theatre Collective. I am a theatre maker, facilitator, and teacher with experience working in local communities and educational settings across Plymouth and Greater Manchester. Recently, I graduated from Marjon University with a Master’s in Arts, Health and Wellbeing, achieving a Distinction. I am excited to take the next steps in my creative career, particularly through developing my own theatre company. I hope to bring several of my playscripts to life and deliver more community-focused projects and events that inspire connection, creativity, and wellbeing through theatre.

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Lisa Howard

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  • Lisa Howard is a creative facilitator and producer who works on community-focussed creative, media and research projects. Lisa is a strong advocate for the value of creative and visual practices, and practitioners, in projects which tackle social justice issues. 

     

    Currently Community Research Coordinator, Lisa supports a team of five Community Food Researchers based in Whitleigh in Plymouth who co-design local research and engagement activities. She also is a representative of the local project partner, Food Plymouth CIC, where she is a core team member. 

     

    Lisa also works at Fotonow CIC (since 2017) where she devises and produces creative media projects for young people, notably Unlocked, Fotonow’s established, permanent youth programme (2020 ongoing) and recently Culture Connectors Collective, a collaboration with Plymouth City Council Youth Justice Services and Plymouth Arts Cinema (2023). She also works on evaluation commissions for Fotonow, recently Green Minds, Creative Commissions, Plymouth City Council (2022). 

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Kate Crawfurd

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  • Kate Crawfurd is a painter and environmental artist whose work explores the connections between art, science, and ecology. Originally trained as a theatre scenic artist, she later worked as a marine biologist specialising in phytoplankton and climate change. Her large-scale murals and participatory artworks invite people to engage emotionally with environmental issues, from ocean acidification to plastic pollution. Kate has collaborated with the University of Plymouth and The Box, and also leads Precious Plastic Plymouth, a community recycling initiative. Her current focus is on developing sustainable creative practices and exploring how materials themselves can tell stories of change.

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Erica Luke

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  • I’m an artist creating mixed media pieces often inspired by nature, place and memories. Through abstraction and heightened colours, I aim to capture the essence of the scene and the feelings experienced within that environment. The foundation of my artistic practice are my sketchbooks - I use these to record my observations of the landscape and people. 

    I also have a background in horticulture, with a particular passion for community gardening and permaculture. Having relocated from London to Plymouth, Devon in early 2025, I am enjoying taking inspiration from this.

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Kathy Wray

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  • I am a visual artist and poet whose practice intertwines somatic movement, expressive mark-making and emotional states of being. Rooted in Plymouth and now based in Torpoint, my work explores loss, abandonment and resilience through visual and participatory projects. Alongside exhibiting across the South West, I lead wellbeing-focused sessions that merge drawing, mindfulness and movement, influenced by meditation and qigong. With a renewed focus on exhibiting, I am deepening my exploration of body, memory and emotion. Nature remains central to my process, grounding a practice that bridges contemporary art, social engagement and arts for wellbeing, connection and reflection.

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Grace Beswick

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  • I am a Plymouth-based printmaker, originally from Staffordshire. I graduated from Arts University Plymouth in 2024 with a BA (Hons) in Painting, Drawing, and Printmaking. Following this, I have been developing a professional practice with a focus towards creating work that connects people with contemporary print and design.

    Since 2023, I have been developing The Blossom Series, an ongoing body of work that explores blossom as a motif through printmaking. I am now driving my creative business forward to bridge the gap between fine art and everyday living, to produce sustainable, functional art that enhances people’s daily environments.

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Rosie Perdikeas

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  • Rosie works as  a multi-disciplinary artist and performer and has a dance and theatre background. Her practice is based around the interdisciplinary exploration and expression of rhythm, flow and movement through the body and natural environment  merging art, dance, sound and live performance. Her main impetus is to highlight vital life force  in the present moment allowing for creative flow and expression, demonstrating it through performance art that is immersive, instinctive and sensory inducing. Rosie was recently  an artist in residence with RAMP at Ocean Studios and completed Studio Practice a yearlong course with Newlyn Art School. She is currently developing The Knowing body a live performance art piece.

Outcomes 2023 and 2024

Plymouth Culture declares emergency

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Plymouth Culture is one of the 1,757 organisations and individuals who have declared the climate and ecological emergency through Culture Declares,  a network of individuals, organisations and international and UK-based Hubs, sharing knowledge and practical support to seek justice, work towards regenerative change and provide care through culture, heritage and the arts.

We are putting action into creative practice, and culture into environmental activism. Our partnership with Art and Energy demonstrates our declaration in action. 

READ OUR DECLARATION