Bring down the curtain on C-Change

It has been 4 years since Jonny Sadler of the Manchester Climate Change Agency suggested that URBACT would be interested in what we had been doing on culture and climate here in Manchester. He saw something special, and we proposed the practice.

In October of 2017 we travelled to Tallinn and were recognised amongst many other cities for the innovative things we had been doing.

I didn’t tell him, but I was really nervous, I worked in a theatre, this was so very different.

I thought I didn’t know what to say or wear or…

I need not have worried – it was a fantastic and inspiring experience.

Thank you URBACT for being so welcoming, supportive, and interested.

Little did I know that a remarkable journey had begun that would see us bring together 6 great cities under the banner of C-Change. As we travelled during the first phase to put together the network, we met so many wonderful people on a whistle stop tour in the summer of 2018. The more places we visited, the more the project took shape.

Claire Buckley our Lead Expert from Julie’s Bicycle and I have worked closely together over the years, and she brings so many great qualities. I was so pleased she wanted to do this project and has done such an amazing job to take the MAST model and make it into a replicable and adaptable methodology for any city, anywhere.

As we travelled Europe, we met both city representatives and their cultural sector and we knew that we were onto something rather special. People were so receptive and all the cities so rich in culture and creativity.

It took all these first city visits to finalise the ingredients that would make this project such a success.

It has been shaped by Mantova, Gelsenkirchen, Wrocław, Šibenik and Águeda as well as Manchester. Working with our partners at Manchester City Council I have been struck by their energy and dedication to change things for the better.

Thank you Grainne Bradley and your team, you have taught me much.

C-Change is an unusual project because it is all about starting a conversation at city level that will lead to mobilising their culture sector to come together and act on climate. Sometimes it was hard to explain this model because in essence it was kind of simple but needed a lot of people to come together and collaborate. Cultural and Environmental functions in cities working with theatres, cinemas, festivals, music venues, heritage spaces, museums, galleries and more. I’m very lucky to have met so many talented people on this journey.

The results have been brilliant, and the legacy of C-Change will live on with the people who have made it happen and the new relationships that have been forged. We have collaborated with a network of extraordinary people, and we have had a great time doing it.

Despite the drama of Brexit and the arrival of a terrible pandemic so much has happened and that is down to the many, many people that have given their time, energy, and passion to this project.

We have all had to isolate over the past 15 months, be our own little islands.

We’ve all had to face many things, professionally and personally.

We share a huge challenge when it comes to our ensuring that our climate and ecology is secure and just in the future.

As we bring down the curtain on this project, I am full of hope because I know when we come together and take time to understand and enjoy our difference so many great things happen.

It’s time to sign off and toast my friends across Europe.

I’m sad, proud, happy and all at the same time it seems.

There are so many things that will remind me of our time together.

Thank you, C-Change, for the richness you have brought to these four years.

Simon x