A call for African storytellers to lend their voices to the fight against the climate crisis

A portrait about climate change. Picture: Facebook

A portrait about climate change. Picture: Facebook

Published Sep 30, 2022

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From the deadly Durban floods to Hurricane Ian in Florida, to the recent heat waves, droughts and water shortages, these are some of the many examples of the climate crisis that we are facing right now.

To shift the conversation around climate change through storytelling, Climate Story Lab ZA is inviting all creatives from Southern Africa to participate in a four-day residential lab in Cape Town in January 2023.

The first Climate Story Lab ZA is an incubator programme aimed at shifting the narrative and amplifying communication around climate change in order to make positive impacts on the global crisis.

Theatre makers, dancers, choreographers, content creators, comedians, filmmakers, animators, visual artists, musicians, writers, podcasters, poets and performing artists are invited to creative narrative-based projects to communicate a message about climate change.

“We keep hearing about the issue and how dire the situation is,” said Dr Liani Maasdorp, CSL ZA co-director, impact consultant and UCT film lecturer.

“People feel overwhelmed and sometimes don't do anything because they don't think they can make a difference. But one person can, as long as we all do something.

“Statistics and graphs don't move people to action, but emotions do. That is why we are inviting creatives to come together to make their stories as strong as possible and make sure they reach the right audiences to take action against the climate crisis.”

Echoing Maasdorp’s sentiments, climate justice activist, producer and CSL ZA co-director, Anita Khanna added: “Creatives can help spread the message about how urgent this is, push back against false solutions to the crisis in accessible ways, help to get people to see that climate impacts are affecting every part of their lives, and importantly, give us a vision of a world that sustains life, not one that destroys it.”

This initiative is open to creatives from Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“We firmly believe that storytelling can reach into the hearts and minds of people and shift behaviour and inspire action,” explained Miki Redelinghuys, CSL ZA co-director, documentary filmmaker and impact producer.

“Now is the time to harness our creative energy to support urgent and innovative action on the climate crisis”.

This intensive residential Lab is supported by the UMI Fund and hosted by the UCT Centre for Film and Media Studies in partnership with Doc Society and the Climate Story Unit.

Artists can submit their applications online by visiting www.climatestorylabza.org/application-form/ by October 7, at 5 pm SAST.